Blood sugar levels and stress have a relationship that needs to be understood to optimize health and prevention.
Are you feeling stressed out? Maybe you feel edgy or more anxious
than usual? What about your energy levels? Do you feel low on energy?
Maybe you have irregular energy levels like feeling sluggish in the
morning, or energy dips in the afternoon and then, at night, you feel
wired. Do you find it difficult to relax? Are you having trouble falling
asleep? Perhaps irregular blood sugar levels could be the source of
your discomfort and stress.
Stress is an unfortunately common word nowadays to describe daily
living. Regulating blood sugar levels is an important factor for
managing stress. It’s an essential practice in health awareness and
prevention to identifying factors that cause stress and take measures to
limit their drain on health.
Body function requires energy. Regulating blood sugar levels can be
thought of as regulating energy. A consistent level of energy will
reflect in more consistent body function. Consistency is a defining term
for optimal health. Later, I’ll give you a great tip to regulate blood
sugar levels but first let’s talk about stress.
Under stress, your body’s internal resources are being used up. The
daily drip of chronic stress is unnatural and draining. Over months and
years stress depletes the body. Body function can fail to regain balance
under stress. Weight gain, poor energy levels and all sorts of signs
and symptoms can come about because the body doesn’t have the energy to
do what it needs to do.
Think of your body as a factory with a finite number of workers that
are required to maintain factory operations – digestion of food,
absorption of nutrients, restorative sleep, muscle strength, mental
focus, elimination of waste and toxins and so much more.
Stress is an excess that drains job performance. For example; tired
factory workers, assigned to eliminate toxins or absorb nutrients, don’t
do a good job. Over time, lack of nutrients and toxic build up in the
body begins to weaken the job performance of other workers who are left
to pick up the slack. Depletion of energy and resources has weakened
factory operations. Many aspects of production have become increasingly
more difficult. At this point, you may start to feeling like an old mill
in West Warwick that was built during the industrial revolution, ug!
Every cell in the body needs to eat and needs to eliminate waste.
Under the constant drain of stress the body says, “you know what, I
don’t have energy to digest and absorb this food so pass it right on out
of here.” Or the body says, “I don’t have energy to break down and
eliminate these toxins so they are going to stay right in the body.
Maybe that job will get done on another day when energy levels are more
optimal. All those failing body functions pile up over time and become
debilitating. More stress sets in as natural healing abilities slow down
and often pain is experienced and becomes chronic.
When it comes to stress there’s only 2 things you can do. Quit or
support yourself in the best way possible. Health support usually means
awareness and engagement in diet, exercise, stress management, sleeping
well, and digesting well. Supportive therapies that emphasis prevention
and wellness care can naturally support body function like acupuncture,
chiropractic, reiki, massage, yoga, tai chi, chi kung, herbs, and
supplements.
Artificially propping up the body through stimulants, pain killers
and sleep aids do not encourage natural body function. Encouraging the
body to function naturally is the kick-butt-grand-ultimate-master plan
for longevity and well-being. Nothing compares.
Now, after all that talk about stress, let’s talk about sugar. Sugar is the #1 problem in the modern diet. Sugar can dis-regulate body function and lead to inflammation which can lead to many debilitating health issues.
Foods, high in sugar, are usually low in nutrients. If you want to
feel edgy and anxious then eat a low-nutrient, high-sugar diet. You
think you have sugar cravings but it’s really your body telling you it’s
starving for nutritious foods. When you eat something sweet those sugar
cravings never goes away for long. Try eating more whole, nutritious
foods and you’ll forget all about those sugar cravings.
I want to share with you a great tip to help you regulate your blood
sugar levels to maintain optimal body function throughout your day.
Tip: eat more frequently and avoid skipping meals. Simple!
Even supply of nutrients equals an even output of energy. Regular,
more frequent meals optimizes support for the energy needs of the body.
Eating every 2 or 3 hours throughout the day will supply your body with a
consistent source of fuel.
The meals need to be small and low-carb based. If you eat too many
carbs you’ll gain weight. If you have a physically demanding job you
will need more calories to burn. Conversely, if you aren’t physically
active you will need fewer calories to burn and maintain proper weight.
Inconsistent mealtimes create stress on the body by providing
inconsistent energy and promoting irregular body function. Skipping
meals puts your body into conservation mode and slows down your
metabolic engine. This can lead to low energy, poor nutrition, poor body
function, poor elimination of toxins and weight gain. Eating a large
meal, thinking it will carry you longer through your day, is a bad idea.
Overwhelming your digestion can leave you feeling tired, bloated and
limit your ability to absorb nutrients.
If you have chronic health issues and are under constant stress, you will struggle to have sufficient energy left over for your body to activate any natural healing. Eat small, low-carb meals every 2 or 3 hours for consistent energy to optimize your health. Also practice the 80% rule so that 20% can have your back. If you missed my article on following the 80% rule, you can check it out here.
Best wishes in health!
