5 ways to balance your blood sugar and maintain a healthy metabolism

June 10, 2023 0 Comments

You know the saying “You are what you eat?” Well, the same goes for your metabolism. If you want to maintain balanced blood sugar levels and optimize your metabolism, it’s important to be aware of foods and diets for their effects on blood glucose control.

Leveque recommends focusing first on incorporating foods from what she calls the “big four” into your diet: protein, fat, fiber, and dark greens/vegetables. “These foods contain essential amino acids from protein, essential fatty acids from fat, fiber, and non-starchy foods that have little to no effect on blood sugar.”

Next, it’s important to be aware of foods that can cause your blood sugar to spike. These include simple carbs (as opposed to the complex, high-fiber types of carbs you get from whole grains, legumes, vegetables, etc.), sweet treats, and added sugars. (In general, the more processed and refined a food is, the less it resembles the original plant source, and the faster and higher blood glucose levels rise.)

“When you look at sugars and starches that have been stripped of their cellular fibers and are considered acellular carbohydrates (also known as processed carbohydrates), they have an excessive effect on blood sugar,” notes Leveque. “Think things like orange juice, sweet condiments and baked goods.”

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy these types of foods in moderation or modify a recipe to make it more blood sugar-friendly. To be on the safe side, LeVeque advises enjoying whole fruits, using sugar-free seasonings, and enjoying homemade baked goods so you can use higher-fiber flours and less unrefined sugar.

There are also various ways of eating that lower and/or maintain the level of sugar in a person’s blood. These include low-carb, high-protein ketogenic diets, as well as vegetarian, vegan, and Mediterranean diets that are rich in plant-based proteins and natural sources of fiber. (See an example of what a metabolic scientist eats in a day for reference.)

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