Natural Ways to Manage Your Blood Sugar
Drug-Free Glucose Management
In the July issue of Naturally Well Today, I included an article on the potential dangers of taking Avandia, a drug designed to treat insulin resistance. Avandia helps lower fasting blood sugar levels and it reduces glycosylated hemoglobin (a measure of your long-term glucose control), but it can also cause significant, and often dangerous side effects. Some of the common side effects of this drug include weight gain, adverse lipid changes, fluid retention, edema, anemia, and congestive heart failure.
Rather than attempting to manage your glucose or blood sugar levels with prescription drugs such as Avandia, I like to follow a natural program for blood sugar control. It centers on using your diet to avoid spikes in blood sugar, providing your body with the important nutritional supplements it is missing, and supporting your general health through regular and consistent exercise.
Control Your Blood Sugar Through Your Diet
One of the primary processes of metabolism is the breakdown of foods into glucose. Your body uses glucose for energy, and you take it in by eating sugar, sweeteners, and other carbohydrates. When your body tastes something sweet or senses glucose in the bloodstream, it releases insulin. Insulin helps the glucose enter your cells, which then use the glucose as fuel. When your body doesn’t produce enough insulin to facilitate this process, the cells begin to starve. Cells can also starve if they become insulin resistant—which means they don’t respond to the insulin even though your body is producing it.
Though genetics do affect your body’s ability to appropriately process glucose, your diet and lifestyle play a big role. When life habits fall out of sync with biological directives for staying healthy and strong, the body’s mechanism for controlling blood sugar (the level of glucose in your blood) is disrupted.
Luckily, effective support for optimal blood sugar control can be obtained by reversing the eating habits that threw your body out of balance to begin with, and then adding a few new, healthier dietary choices. Start by limiting the amount of carbohydrates you eat and increasing your intake of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates (from vegetables). You’ll likely to notice a positive change in how you feel almost immediately.
At every meal and snack, include equal percentages of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. When consumed together, these foods help to slow digestion and blunt the meal’s glycemic index, which is a measure of how quickly foods raise your blood sugar. Following this simple rule will help you feel full for longer periods of time so you’ll be less inclined to eat between meals. Also, because of the slower and steadier digestive process, the level of glucose in your blood—and therefore the level of insulin—is controlled.
The concept of “three square meals a day” also needs to go out the window along with enormous portion sizes. Instead, you should eat several smaller meals more often—perhaps five to eight small meals a day of only 200 to 300 calories each. A handful of almonds, a slice of cheese with a few sardines, or some peppered salmon with lettuce on a whole grain cracker plus a carrot or celery stick are all good small-meal choices. Go for quality, not quantity!
In addition, I think we can learn a lot by emulating the diets of people who live in Korea, Japan, and other countries on the far side of the Pacific Rim. They are masters at eating a variety of healthy foods in one meal and keeping portion sizes small. Do everything you can to mimic their habits! At every meal in those cultures, the traditional diet includes soup, a variety of vegetables (bok choy and spinach are popular, along with sprouts, carrots, onions, and broccoli) and protein from sources such as fish, beef, chicken, tofu, and egg.
If Asian flavors aren’t your thing, apply the healthy food–small portion rule to diets closer to home. The South Beach and Mediterranean diets offer balanced food choices with high levels of fiber and phytonutrients.
Replace Lost Nutrients
The underutilization of insulin or insulin resistance that is characteristic of blood sugar management problems is typically accompanied by a number of uncomfortable symptoms, including weight gain. However, despite gaining weight, people with blood sugar management problems are typically vastly undernourished. In a cruel happenstance, some of the nutrients lost, particularly magnesium and vitamin B6, are necessary for glucose tolerance. Also, deficiencies in trace elements like chromium undermine the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels.
The first step in replacing lost nutrients is to make sure that you’re taking a high-quality multi-nutrient, such as Super Vita Boost Cellular Energy by Naturally Vitamins, which is available in health food stores. To find a store in your area, call 888-766-4406 or visit www.naturally.com. This will provide you with substantial amounts of key nutrients, including magnesium and the B-vitamin complex. Next, take other targeted supplements, such as alpha lipoic acid, which can help promote healthy blood sugar levels.
People with glucose management problems derive benefit from lipoic acid because it normalizes insulin sensitivity, leading to more stable glucose levels. The type of lipoic acid I recommend is available in stabilized capsules and liquid from GeroNova (www.geronova.com or 775-324-8559). I recommend 100 mg of lipoic acid per day.
There are a number of other nutritional supplements that help support healthy glucose management. If I had to choose, the most important additions to a daily multinutrient and alpha lipoic acid would be chromium and L-carnitine.
Chromium binds to insulin receptors, helping bring glucose out of the blood and into cells. Chromium supplementation at levels from 200–1,000 mcg (most studies used 100–400 mcg a day) has been successful in promoting normal blood sugar levels. I recommend 200–300 mcg of chromium picolinate or polynicotinate daily, taken with meals. Look for chromium picolinate by Twinlab in health food stores.
People with glucose management problems commonly show a deficiency of L-carnitine. Levels of 500 mg of L-carnitine three times per day help increase their insulin sensitivity, which in turn helps with glucose management.
Exercise Moderately and Consistently
No treatment for blood sugar management problems will be effective without regular (non-grueling) exercise. When choosing how you want to exercise, pick something that isn’t terribly difficult for you or you’ll never keep doing it. Try walking, stair climbing, gentle calisthenics, yoga, bicycling, or weights. Consistency, not how hard you go, will win back your health. Three to five times a week, as little as 20 minutes each time, is a great start.
I hope that my three-pronged plan helps you regain control over your blood sugar levels and allows you to slowly wean yourself off of drugs like Avandia so that you may remain naturally well today and every day.