Do you get cranky when you skip meals? My client Susan was snapping at people at work and she felt irritable, dizzy and fatigued when she didn’t eat. She thought this was normal; after all, her mother and grandfather had the same condition. Her solution? Eat sugar-containing food every couple of hours and to make sure she had food with her at all times. This wasn’t working..
Can you relate to Susan? Do any of these symptoms resonate with you? You’re not alone. This is called “blood sugar imbalance”.
Blood sugar imbalance is more important to your health than you know. If you think this topic does not apply to you, think again! 120 million Americans have diabetes or pre-diabetes in the US and the numbers keep growing. That translates into almost 50% of the adult population! Blood sugar dysfunction has been linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, anxiety, depression and Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, Alzheimer’s is now called “Type 3 diabetes”.
If you still think this doesn’t apply to you, do you know your numbers? What is your fasting blood sugar or your Hemoglobin A1C levels? If you don’t know, read on!
The top 3 things to Know about Blood Sugar and Blood Sugar Balance:
Normal blood sugar function is when your body digests food, turns it into glucose and secretes enough insulin to carry the glucose to the cells, returning blood sugar levels to fasting levels 2 hrs. after eating.
Normal fasting blood sugar levels should be around 80, preferably in the low 80’s. Start paying attention to your labs. It’s up to us as patients to take the reins of our own health. This is a good place to begin. A fasting blood sugar in the 90’s or higher is elevated blood sugar, which may indicate insulin resistance or pre-diabetes.
What to do if you notice elevated blood sugar levels? Ask your doctor to check your Hemoglobin A1C levels, which should be less than 5.4%. This is a measurement of glucose bound to your hemoglobin or red blood cells. A HbA1C above 5.7 indicates pre-diabetes and anything above 6.4 indicates diabetes.
What does this mean to me? Most people don’t know their blood sugar is elevated, so knowing this information puts you ahead of the game. When you consider that elevated blood sugar is at the heart of inflammation and inflammation is at the heart of chronic disease, it helps to know that symptoms like irritability when hungry, weakness, fatigue, weight loss resistance, anxiety, brain fog, even insomnia, are symptoms of blood sugar imbalance and inflammation.
The good news is that this is reversible. Susan was able to have a breakthrough in her health journey by using some simple tools. Once she realized the symptoms she was experiencing were not a genetic malfunction she was going to have to live with for the rest of her life, she was able to get into action. She took steps to shift her environment and her health journey and you can do the same.
These are steps you can take today to shift your blood sugar imbalance so you can start to discover some breakthroughs in your health:
In great health,
Monica
Monica Paz, MS, CN, FNLP
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When we can’t sleep our bodies cannot grow and repair and this can lead to illness and even death.
