Blood sugar, obesity, and your health.
We have an epidemic in this world – it’s called obesity. More than 40% of the world is obese; which means people who weigh more than 30 pounds over their recommended weight. Being overweight or obese is specifically caused by what we eat. Many people eat a diet that consists mainly of highly processed, sugar laden foods – foods high in simple carbohydrates. Our poor eating habits lead to diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease and a host of other health issues. Keep in mind that the majority of our diseases are really and truly linked to how, and what we eat and many of our problems are caused by repeated spikes in blood sugar levels caused by our diet.
This article covers ways you can help to lower your blood sugar and improve your overall health.
- Eliminate breads and refined baked goods, dairy and all refined sugar from your diet. This means pizza, sandwiches, pancakes, cookies, cakes, pies, milk, and anything else made from processed white flour and white sugar.
- Remove all foods that are prepared with trans fats or hydrogenated oils. Fried fish, French fries, chicken wings – everything you eat that’s deep fried will cause your blood sugar to spike.
- Eat 5 to 8 servings of fruits and veggies daily – These should be nutrient dense foods like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, strawberries, grapes, oranges and cabbage to name a few. Avoid veggies that are higher in starch such as potatoes (including sweet potatoes), corn, plantains, and some forms of squash. The higher starch items will cause your blood sugar to increase, or spike.
- Exercise with periods of intensity – High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – This is exercise that goes from slow to fast over a period of 2-3 minutes.For example – walk for 1-2 minutes, jog for 30-40 seconds, run 10-20 seconds, then walk again for 1-2 minutes. Keep doing this for about 15 minutes. Weight lifting is also an important exercise to build muscle, which will use up the sugar in the blood. My preference is weight lifting 2-3 times a week for 20-30 minutes minimum. I have though recently started adding in the HIIT training. Basic thing is do some type of exercise daily, whatever is most enjoyable for you.
- Drink plenty of water – Half our body weight should be consumed in ounces of water. If you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink 75 ounces of water at a minimum. If you exercise you need to drink more, if you drink coffee you need to drink more water.
- Build up your body with high quality supplements such as magnesium, vitamin D, chromium, B complex, antioxidants and ECCG.
- Get 7-8 hours of sleep per night – If you aren’t getting enough sleep per night your hormones will get thrown off and you will crave high sugary foods leading to an increase in your blood sugar levels.
- Stress – Stress will cause your blood sugar level to increase.There are many supplements and herbs that help lower stress – B-complex, ashwaganda, l-theamine, among others will help to lower your stress level.
You might be wondering – why I started out with obesity and then started talking about blood sugar. Here is the scoop – if your blood sugar goes up it puts you in fat building mode. The only way to lose weight is to keep your body in fat burning mode by keeping your blood sugar balanced.
Please contact me if you have any questions regarding supplements or weight loss. I am here to help you in any way I can.