Transform Your Health With Balanced Blood Sugar

Transform Your Health With Balanced Blood Sugar

Jan 24, 2023

If a typical day in your life begins with syrupy pancakes and a Starbucks coffee and ends with takeout dinner and a can of soda, then chances are you’re eating to satiate cravings rather than to nourish yourself. An increase in cravings for sugary foods may be fine occasionally, but on a regular basis, it points towards blood sugar upheavals that require your immediate attention. And some serious lifestyle changes, as well.

Our country is no stranger to the epidemic of diabetes and blood sugar-related disorders such as heart disease, PCOS, metabolic syndrome, etc. More than 34 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, with over 88 million people dealing with pre-diabetic conditions. What’s more worrying is that blood sugar disorders used to be regarded as something that would afflict middle-aged or older people, when the stark reality is that an increasing number of children and young adults are being diagnosed with diabetes. This sharply increases their risk of developing other serious health conditions as they get older.

The reason, you ask? A nutrient-stripped diet consisting of addictive sugary foods, coupled with a minimal-movement lifestyle, does not offer any opportunities for our bodies to utilize the consumed sugar as energy effectively.

Also, a notable mention to the sugar industry of the 70s and 80s that would run advertisement after advertisement, promoting baseless claims of sugar being ‘healthy’ for children and adults alike, simply to have more people buy their drink, cereal, or soda. When word became familiar about the damage sugar could do to our health, enter – sugarless products containing ingredients that doubled down on the damage and still got the addictive results.

We are being lured with sugary enticements the minute we step out of our homes. It is little wonder that what would usually be a little treat has now turned into a lifestyle. Conventional medicine offers a ‘wait and watch’ approach to treating blood sugar disorders. When things get too dire, drug therapy is introduced to control the damage. Neither of these strategies helps lessen the increasing burden of a diabetic diagnosis.

The need of the hour is to prevent more blood sugar disorder diagnoses with a scientific, researched, and closely-monitored strategy to restore normal functioning in the body before it gets to an irreversible stage. In short, a functional medicine approach can be life-saving if you are genetically predisposed to diabetes, or are dealing with pre-diabetic symptoms.

Restoring normal blood sugar through Functional Medicine involves:

  1. Transforming a sedentary lifestyle to one that is active

You don’t have to turn into a marathon runner to be considered as living an active life – simply move more and sit less. This movement may be walking your dog, lifting weights, swimming, high-intensity interval training, or anything else you enjoy. According to research, walking for even 30 minutes a day reduces your chances of developing Type 2 diabetes by 50%. You can even start by cutting down the amount of time you spend sitting while working or watching TV.

  1. Tackling chronic stress with stress management initiatives:
    The HPA axis, also known as the body’s stress-response system, mediates the effect of stress on blood sugar. With the HPA axis chronically activated, beta cells go into dysfunction and inhibit the effects of insulin. This in turn induces insulin resistance. Activities such as Meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises have been researched to decrease fasting blood glucose as well as post-meal glucose in people with diabetes. 
  2. Ensuring adequate sleep with healthy sleep habits: Loss of sleep promotes type 2 diabetes by interrupting energy metabolism and also driving up insulin sensitivity. Poor sleep also has an impact on your satiety levels, cravings, and bingeing on junk or sugary foods that boost your chances of being diagnosed with diabetes. Seven to eight hours of sleep every night has proven to be helpful in blood sugar control all through the day.
  3. Repairing gut health: Disturbances and inflammation in the gut microbiomes are among the crucial markers of type 2 diabetes. A number of prebiotics and probiotics have been researched for their antidiabetic effects. For example, lactobacilli, and bifidobacteria supplementation have been shown to reduce inflammation and oxidative burden among gut microbiota of type 2 diabetics.
  4. Eliminating environmental toxins: Recently, environmental toxins have received wide attention for their contribution to the development of diabetes. A large amount of evidence points towards toxins such as BPA, phthalates, and organic pollutants that add to the risk of diabetes. To offset your risk, it’s important to cut out plastic products as far as possible. Replace your personal care products with natural, plant-based origins. 
  5. Focusing on superfoods that have been researched to improve blood sugar: Foods such as blueberries, cacao, green tea, fermented foods, nuts & seeds, olive oils, seafood, and spices  Foods such as blueberries, cacao, green tea, fermented foods, nuts & seeds, olive oils, seafood, cinnamon, vinegar, and spices have been studied and proven to be beneficial in improving blood sugar metabolism, glucose control, and in boosting antioxidant mechanisms. Include these foods in your everyday diet balanced with complex carbs, proteins, good fats, and fiber.

With a 360-degree Functional Medicine approach, you can successfully reverse insulin resistance or pre-diabetes and live a disease-free life. Using the proven methods of holistic medicine, our doctors create a systematic plan for you to improve insulin sensitivity and help you make some permanent lifestyle changes.

To know more or to book a discovery call with our specialists, contact us at 346-240-4911.

January 24, 2023

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