Nutrition Tips For Balancing Blood Sugar Levels

2. A drop in blood sugar often leads to overeating.

3. Spikes in your blood sugar result in an insulin surge, and insulin promotes fat storage.

4. A spike or drop in blood sugar results in brain fog and lethargy.

5. A spike in blood sugar causes inflammation – the harmful kind.

As you can tell, those sugar highs and lows are not ideal for your health and don’t feel very good!

There are many factors involved in keeping blood sugar levels stable — protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and the hunger and satiety hormones (ghrelin and leptin) all play a role. Ghrelin is to blame when you skip meals, become ravenous, and are much more likely to overeat. In fact, ghrelin is so powerful that when it's really high in your bloodstream, it can actually make food taste up to 20% better. These nine nutrition strategies will support healthy blood sugar levels.

Meal Timing Is Crucial

It's important to eat often enough to stabilize your blood sugar and your hunger hormones (leptin and ghrelin). How often you eat depends on the person – I typically say don't wait more than 4 or 5 hours between meals. Why? When you skip meals or wait too long between meals, your blood glucose levels plummet. This plummet can cause a headache, mood changes, light headedness or poor concentration, and to deal with the low levels your system starts pumping glucose into your bloodstream, which forces your pancreas to release more insulin. A dangerous cycle has begun at that point. Instead, decrease the amount of food you eat at each meal, and eat every few hours.

Eating often enough also prevents the massive fat storage that comes from feast-or-famine eating. When your blood sugar remains steady throughout the day, and the body trusts there's more where that came from, it happily burns your meal for energy, confident you'll feed it more later.

Add An Appetizer

Eating a side salad or a broth-based soup with veggies, beans, or lentils, before a meal is an excellent strategy for lowering your hunger hormone, ghrelin. This relates to your blood sugar level because if you aren’t as hungry when your entrée arrives, you’ll eat less (considering you know how to listen to your body's internal hunger and fullness cues). Eating a smaller entrée portion means you’ll more than likely eat less carbohydrates, which increases blood sugar levels.

Fat!

I’m a fan of avocado, nuts and seeds, olives, coconut, and all their oils. Macadamia nut oil, pasteurized ghee, coconut ghee, MCT oil, and grass-fed butter are also great options. Fat has zero effect on your blood sugar, helps fill you up, and provides a long-lasting sense of satisfaction after eating. Every morning upon waking, I immediately take one tablespoon of liquid fat, straight off the spoon, to maintain my blood sugar level. Plus, I get a daily boost of essential fatty acids.

Fruit-Infused Water

Trying to break a sugary soda or juice habit? That's a good idea ;) Try adding sliced lemon, lime, cucumber, strawberry, mint, orange, lavender, grapefruit, rosemary, blueberries, or a combination of any, to your water. It will take your water to another level without adding many carbohydrates or calories, so it has minimal effect on your blood sugar.

Strawberries 

Don’t let the sweetness of this bright red berry fool you! A strawberry is 92% water! All that water, plus its fiber content creates less of an effect on your blood sugar than you would expect. Strawberries are considered a high-volume, low-calorie food, which is very effective at reducing your hunger hormone, ghrelin, long before you’ve overeaten. Strawberries, green veggies, and any other foods with a high water content count as high-volume, low-calorie foods.

Brightly Colored Vegetables

Just as strawberries are a high-volume, low-calorie food, so are non-starchy vegetables. Their high water and fiber content can slow the absorption of sugar. They’re also low in carbohydrates, making them an ideal choice for controlling blood sugar levels.

Salmon, Lean Meats, and Eggs 

Meat and fish are an excellent source of protein. By including protein at meals, you may begin to notice an improved level of satisfaction after eating, which directly relates to the protein content. Carbohydrates spike your blood sugar and then an hour later, your blood sugar drops which makes you feel hungry again. Better yet, prevent sudden spikes in the morning because you’ll end up eating less the rest of the day.

Meat is also a source of chromium, a mineral that enables insulin to function properly and helps the body metabolize carbohydrates. 

Cinnamon

Cinnamon not only makes so many things taste better, it supports glucose uptake by the cells and helps support blood sugar levels within normal ranges. I like to add cinnamon to fresh fruit, oatmeal, smoothies, tea, coffee, French toast, Greek yogurt, and waffle and pancake mix.

Nuts 

Did you know your favorite nuts are naturally low in carbohydrates and are an excellent source of protein and healthy fat? Yep, and they have little to no effect on your blood sugar levels because of their low carb content. They make an excellent snack between meals because they “tame your hunger” and keep your energy stable. If you choose a trail mix, stick to an all-nut mix and inspect the ingredients to ensure there isn't any added sugar. My go-to is almonds. 

It’s possible to minimize elevated blood sugar and insulin spikes when your diet is built around healthy proteins, fats, and high-fiber foods.

Foods I recommend focusing on include lots and lots of brightly colored vegetables, some fruit, healthy fats such as avocados, olives, nuts, seeds, grass-fed butter, eggs, olive and coconut oils, and organic dairy and meat from pasture-raised animals.

In Health and Happiness,

Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods