Blood Sugar Is Your Teacher
Being in reality about your blood sugar is essential to your healing process and understanding how your body uniquely responds to foods. What I’m about to teach you is the number one thing that you can do for your health – both in terms of managing chronic inflammatory disease and prevention.
Let’s get started…
First thing you need to do is find your motivation. Healing is a participation sport. You’re not going to get anywhere by sitting on the sidelines. This is going to require your time, attention and discipline. So stop making excuses and get down to business – you and your family are worth it!
After you have found your inspiration and commitment, buy a blood sugar monitor. Precision Xtra is an affordable device that can measure both glucose and ketones.
Side note: you may not be interested in ketones right now, but you may be in the future, so I say go ahead and invest in a dual glucose/ketone monitor. It will save you money in the long run.
Some of you may have heard of a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). While having a CGM installed in your body is all the rage and avoids having to prick your finger, I am not a fan. The CGM utilizes wireless technology and can relay as many as 288 readings in a 24-hour period. That means that you are being unnecessarily exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMFs). The EMFs emanated by these wireless devices, such as a CGM, mobile phones, cordless phones, smart meters, iPads, WiFi, wireless speakers, mouse, key boards and printers, are stressful to our bodies and can most definitely affect blood sugar.
You will also need a notebook to track your food intake and blood sugar levels.
Now, let the fun begin – EAT! Then measure your blood sugar and assess your situation using the parameters below:
General guidelines:
Fasting
Healthy 70-110 mg/dL
Pre-diabetic 110-126 mg/dL
Diabetic >126 mg/dL
One hour after meals
Healthy <140 mg/dL
Pre-diabetic 140-200 mg/dL
Diabetic >200 mg/dL
Optimal guidelines:
Fasting between 80-90
1 hour after eating < 140
2 hours after eating <120
3 hours after eating between 80-90
Please remember that this technique isn’t perfect: blood sugar can be normal while insulin is elevated. It’s a good idea to measure blood insulin levels when you get your annual blood work to know where you stand. According to Dr Ron Rosedale, an expert on the subject matter, low insulin levels is the single marker for a long life.
Functional medicine guidelines recommend insulin levels be less than 3; others recommend, 5. In excess, both insulin and blood sugar contribute to chronic inflammatory disease and damage the lining of the blood vessels in the body.
And you can’t out run your fork! While you may be able to eat a bunch of carbs and run off the sugar, you can’t run off the insulin. Remember, in excess BOTH hurt the human body. In fact, two people I have supported over the years found that too much exercise dramatically increased their blood sugar!
In addition to blood levels of insulin, I also want to mention the value of HbA1c which refers to glycated hemoglobin. This makes your blood sticky and provides a three-month window into how damaged your cardiovascular system is. HbA1c should be below 5.5.
Also, on your blood sugar log, you may want to track your sleep, alcohol intake, exercise, and stress levels all of which, if imbalanced, will affect your blood sugar. I have heard of at least one case study where a client could not control his blood sugar if he got less than 9 hours of sleep per night. That’s a good thing to know about yourself!
You need to pay attention to your use of stimulants as well. Coffee, tea, nicotine, energy drinks, and chocolate can also affect blood sugar.
7-14 days of tracking this is usually enough time to get a feeling for what is happening with your blood sugar. Then, you can just take it when you want to or are trying something new. It’s a great way to fine tune your diet and lifestyle choices, as your body’s ability to effectively handle carbohydrates declines with age.
I want to emphasize that now is NOT the time to give anything up or to be overwhelmed. Don’t let those crazy voices in your head stop you! You can do this. This is an invitation to become a detective, to be the observer of your body. You are on an information gathering adventure to discover how all of these things affect your blood sugar, including EMFs. Then, you will be able to make informed decisions about what you eat and drink, where you keep your cell phone at night, when you go to bed, what kind of exercise you do and how you handle stress. This is a game changer.
I want to congratulate you on becoming THE authority on your body.
Track your blood sugar in peace, my friends.
Love,
Charlotte