Talk to me Sugar – Why your Blood Sugar Level is so important

On this path to a healthy life, I’m reading and listening to all things health – all of my Tweeter friends (shout out to the mamavation ladies), SparkPlug articles, the Dr Oz show, my fat loss program’s Beverly Monical of totalwellnesstv.com and fitness-guru Melissa Bierman – and while it certainly can be overwhelming at times, my wellness education level has increased dramatically. And now I believe that paying special attention to my blood sugar can really help me lose this weight and contribute to my healthy life.

Let me give you a quick and easy run-down of what I’ve learned….

Glucose is the type of sugar that travels through our blood, and is a primary source of energy for our bodies. It enters your body when you eat carbohydrates, and is regulated by insulin from your pancreas. When your body cannot produce the insulin required to regulate glucose levels, diabetes happens. With or without being diabetic, maintaining the blood sugar level is vital to our health and should be paid attention to. Let me tell you why.

Carbohydrates turn to sugar (remember, sugar equals energy) in your body. It’s logical that if you eat too many carbohydrates (especially the wrong kind), it overloads your body with sugar. When there’s too much sugar (hyperglycemia) your pancreas goes into overtime to make enough insulin to keep up. This insulin rush does two things – the process of metabolism tells the body that enough energy is available so stop burning fat and store the extra instead. And the insulin rush causes too much sugar to be taken from the blood and now your blood sugar level is too low – also known as a sugar crash! So now you have too-low-blood-sugar, and guess what, you’re hungry again.

Clearly, the wrong kinds of carbohydrates can overload your body with sugar and should be avoided as much as possible. Especially in large quantities. And we already know the wrong kinds of carbs – doughnuts, cookies, brownies, cake, yep, all these sugar-dripping goodies. But what about other foods?

Glycemic Index, please introduce yourself! You have probably heard of it, but I personally had always linked the Glycemic Index solely to diabetes and quickly dismissed it because I fortunately do not have diabetes. Although it doesn’t happen very often, I was wrong, so wrong (forgive the heavy sarcasm). The Glycemic Index is a list of foods with numerical rankings from 0 to 100 according to their immediate impact on your body’s blood sugar level. When you eat a low glycemic food, such as an orange, your blood glucose level rises slowly because it is digested slower. Compare this to a high glycemic food, such as jelly beans, which causes a rush of blood sugar, an insulin spike, a crash, and knock-on-the-head you’re hungry all over again.

In contrast to too much sugar, what happens when your blood sugar is balanced? Your body will search for sugar – energy – and your metabolism will work to turn your stored fat into energy, which is what we want! (And if you recall from above, metabolism can also do the opposite – if your body has excess energy, it will stop burning fat and store it instead. Thus, metabolism can work for us or against us.)

I took time to review the *Glycemic Index and made a list of the foods with a low glycemic ranking (0-55) that I already eat or will begin eating in an effort to make them a substantial part of my diet. With great relief, these are some great food items.

Smoothie Ingredients: Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries with 1% Milk
Snacks: Almonds, Apple, Oranges, Peaches, Pears, Plums oh my, and Twix bar (not kidding)
Other: Long grain rice and Oatmeal
Chili Ingredients: Black Beans and Chick Peas
Veggies: Asparagus, Broccoli and Cauliflower, Avocado, Eggplants, Brussels Sprouts, Spinach, Mushrooms, and so many more

To summarize, paying attention to your blood sugar by eating low glycemic foods helps in weight loss by…

• Avoiding crashes so that I’m not hungry right away
• Fueling my body with healthy, good-for-me foods
• Using my metabolism in the right way

*Take a visit over to Fifty50 for a great list of foods and their glycemic ratings.