Why balancing your blood sugar is so important.
We usually only hear about blood sugar when talking about people who are diabetic or women with gestational diabetes, but it’s something everyone should be aware of because it has such a huge impact on our health.
Blood sugar or glucose comes from the food we eat and is how our body gets energy. Depending on what we eat it can cause a big or little spike in our blood sugar, but the goal is to maintain a steady and even line, not a roller coaster of ups and downs. That roller coaster of irregularities can show up as energy ups and downs, sugar cravings, foggy mind, headaches, mood shifts, and the dreaded afternoon slump.
When we eat food that is high in sugar or carbohydrates (especially refined flours/processed foods) without protein or fat our body quickly breaks it down into glucose providing us with that jolt of energy followed by an intense crash and can lead to issues mentioned above.
The ultimate goal is for each meal and snack to be balanced with the three macronutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Most foods will have all three to a varying degree like almonds, beef has protein and fat and olive oil contains just fat.
Two of my favorite resources Organic Olivia and Glucose Goddess offered an excellent explanation on The What’s the Juice podcast as to why continuous blood sugar ups and downs are a huge downfall in our health.
“…[blood sugar spikes] happens too often, our bodies get used to it and start to rely on those glucose spikes for energy, rather than tapping into its fat reserves for fuel. And the bigger the spike, generally, the faster you’ll become hungry again, as glucose spikes trigger ghrelin (the hunger hormone).
…[more] spikes you have, the more insulin gets released to manage them. Too much insulin doesn’t just overwhelm the glucose-to-energy process; it can also affect other hormones. It’s been shown to prevent the body from transforming androgens (male hormones) to estrogens (female hormones), which could lead to PCOS symptoms.
…[spikes] can lead to faster aging (especially of the skin, by speeding up a process called glycation) and more inflammation.”
So what do we do? Start paying attention to the meals you’re eating, is there protein, fat, and carbohydrates? If you aren’t sure what category it fits in you can google it or use a nutrition/calorie tracker like Cronometer or MyFitness Pal. And while I’m not a fan of counting calories because they don’t provide any insight into the nutrient density or quality of the food you are eating these apps can help provide info about your macronutrients.
Here are some food combos:
Fruit (Carb) + Cheese (Fat) + Jerky (Protein)
Toast (C) + Avocado (F) + Egg (P)
Pasta (C) + Quality Oil (F) + Meat Sauce (P)
If combining all three in one meal or snack is intimidating try just starting with two! Dress those carbohydrates and sugars with some fat or protein to help slow down the body’s process of breaking them down. Cheese and jerky are easy go-to’s for me.
Creating balanced meals is something that I’m constantly working on. Sometimes it comes easy to me and other times it definitely takes work, which is why I absolutely love planning my week of meals and snacks ahead of time in Notion.
I feel like I notice such a difference when I’m fueling myself with protein, fats, and carbs at each meal or snack and my energy levels stay consistent throughout the day I feel like I have more patience throughout the day, which with a toddler is huge!
If you’re unsure if you are having balanced meals, reach out! I would love to help and the meal planning option I offer would be perfect, so I can see where you are at and then provide options that are attainable for you.