How to keep your blood sugar levels well balanced
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The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
A balance in blood sugar levels is crucial in one’s life as it can lead to living a long healthy life. If not paid attention to, a person might develop hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels) or hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels) which is associated with diabetes and may be fatal.
High blood sugar levels (160 mg/dL and higher) occur when your body fails to effectively use of, or make enough insulin, a hormone that regulates blood glucose and helps enter sufficient amounts of it into your cells for energy. Because your body is failing to make use of the excess sugar, the blood sugar levels rise. This may cause a condition called hyperglycemia.
Foods that contain carbohydrates such as rice, cereals, bread, pasta, cola and fruits are part of our daily eating and are a significant cause of high sugar levels. To counter having too many carbs, adding proteins, fibres and fats to our diet can be very effective. A great example of a balanced meal could be rosemary chicken breast as your protein, blanched broccoli for your fibre, and a small portion of basmati rice for carbs. Check out more recipes on the Publix weekly ad this week or klinio.com for diet plans to help keep normal blood sugar levels.
On the other hand, hypoglycemia is the opposite of hyperglycemia. Hypoglycemia comes about when the body has too much insulin, this means all the sugar in your bloodstream is quickly regulated into your cells. As a result, low blood sugar levels at 70mg/dL (3.9 mol/L) and lower bring about anxiety, hunger, blurred vision and loss of consciousness and at times, seizures.
Below, we have a few more tips to help keep balanced or normal blood sugar levels which should read 140mg/dL.
Manage stress levels
To help control stress levels, you are encouraged to engage in relaxation activities such as yoga. Such activities help keep your mental health in check by reducing the release of hormones glucagon and cortisol, which tend to raise sugar levels. With a stable state of mind, blood sugar levels are kept regular.
Regular Exercise
Most, if not all, diabetic patients are encouraged by their doctors to exercise regularly. When you engage in weightlifting, swimming, running and hiking, your body maintains a moderate weight and increases insulin sensitivity. This means that your cells react quicker and can make better use of the sugar in your bloodstream. Thus, normal blood sugar levels are obtained.
Get ample quality sleep.
Bad sleeping habits or sleep deprivation can cause a decrease in the release of growth hormones and also increase cortisol release, which in turn increases blood sugar levels.
When you don’t sleep, you are most likely to fall hungry, and in most cases, the food that’s readily available are carbs. After eating when you should be sleeping, there’s very little physical exercise that one can do to burn the sugar that has been taken in. This disturbs metabolic hormones and affects insulin sensitivity, resulting in high blood sugar levels.
Low Carbohydrate intake for high blood sugar levels
A solution for hyperglycemia can be low carb intake. Foods such as greens, for example, spinach, brussel sprouts, and chard have low carbohydrate levels. Not only are they scrumptious, but they are healthy too. Incorporating these in your diet will help regulate blood sugar levels.
In addition, drinking lots of water can go a long way. This means you have to avoid drinking liquids such as cola as its sugar is very high. If plain water starts to get boring, add some flavor with a few cucumber slices or lemon slices. Water has very low carb percentages. This means by avoiding sugary beverages and drinking more water, your blood sugar levels are at their prime.
High carbs concentration for low blood sugar level
With low sugar levels, you need to do the opposite of what one would do when they have high blood sugar levels when it comes to food. To maintain a normal level of blood sugar, your carbohydrate intake needs to be higher in your diet. This means carbs over protein, fibre, and fat will help raise sugar levels to their normal state.
Conclusion
Your health is of great concern. By simply following the tips we provided, you are assured to sustain normal blood sugar levels with evenly distributed energy levels too.
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