Chronic Stress is Worse for You Than Sugar is
Just a friendly reminder for those who are eating the “perfect” diet but still struggling with blood sugar and other health issues.
Stress can undo anything you do nutritionally!!
It’s easier to change your diet than it is to combat chronic stress.
I’ve started with adding a morning meditation every day right after I get up and feed the cats. If I don’t do it immediately, it doesn’t get done.
It’s made me more aware of my breath and my emotions throughout the day. I’m a total novice when it comes to meditation but no one starts out being an expert in anything.
In my signature group coaching course, the Balance Unlocked Project, we don’t only look at food, but also address other areas of potential stress for the body like: not exercising enough, over exercising, toxins, gut issues, artificial light exposure, etc.
Weight Loss Plateau
Our bodies adapt quickly so if we do the same things all the time, we are headed straight for a plateau!!
One way to bust through these plateaus is to change things up.
If you’re doing keto, throw in a carb up day. If you’re doing 16:8 intermittent fasting daily, try a 5-1-1 instead. If you do the same workout all the time, change things up by doing different exercises.
Are you experiencing a plateau with your health or weight loss goals??
Sometimes the answer is also to dig deeper and look under the hood at things like digestion, adrenals, stress, sleep, light exposure, toxins or something else.
You May Have Blood Sugar Issues If....
I didn’t know I had blood sugar issues because I intuitively ate/snacked to avoid feeling blood sugar crashes!
These are some common behaviors and beliefs that people with blood sugar issues often do/have.
Blood sugar issues often go unnoticed until someone receives a diagnosis of prediabetes or type II diabetes. These issues go on for decades before that diagnosis.
One of my main goals is to get this knowledge out to the mainstream so people can catch their blood sugar issues early and reverse them (when it’s easiest to reverse!)
It should be noted though that blood sugar issues (even when it’s advanced to type II Diabetes) can still be reversed. (Unfortunately not Type 1s yet )
“But X diet isn’t working.” Well you should probably change more than just your food!!
“But X diet isn’t working.” Well you should probably change more than just your food!!
We don’t take a car to the mechanic so they can tell us to just change the fuel and the oil.
They lift up the hood to see what’s going wrong.
It can be hard to know how to fix things like your digestion, your inflammation, improve sleep, move the right way for yourself body, nourish your adrenals, replete nutrient deficiencies and optimize hydration on your own.
You only have one body! It’s time to INVEST in YOURSELF and bring your body to the Nutritional Therapist for a tune up.
Like I said, it can be hard to do this on your own. That’s why I created the Balance Unlocked Project! It’s my signature group coaching program that takes a deep dive into blood sugar and all the foundations of health.
We take deep dives into adopting a nourishing diet; getting out inflammatory ingredients; adjusting macros; increasing nutrient density of food, optimizing...
Let Me Introduce Myself
I thought it would be a good day to introduce myself to all the new faces around here & would love to learn more about you too!
I’m a holistic nutritional therapist & I specialize in blood sugar regulation.
I became interested in blood sugar & holistic health when I got sick and tired of being sick and tired!
I had severe allergies, asthma, chronic sinus infections, Candida, acne, and more.
I cleaned up my diet and all those things went away but then I developed hormonal issues:
PCOS, cystic acne, weight loss resistance, adrenal fatigue & absent periods.
I tried so hard to fix the hormonal issues but couldn’t make a dent until I realized that they were being caused by blood sugar issues and insulin resistance!!
Those energy crashes I had, the constant grazing, the shakiness if I didn’t eat, the sugar cravings, the purse granola bars... they were all signs of blood sugar dysregulation & I had no idea!!
Now I’m on a mission to help people uncover...
The Key to Stable Energy, Fat Burning & Metabolic Health is: Glycemic Control
What the heck is “balanced blood sugar” anyway?? It’s another way of saying GLYCEMIC CONTROL.
When we have good glycemic control, our blood glucose stays very stable in a tightly controlled range. There are no steep increases or sudden crashes. As you can see from these graphs, good glycemic control stays within that optimal green range.
On the other hand, poor glycemic control looks like the chart on the right. There are steep inclines and abrupt crashes in the blood glucose.
Why does that matter? Because those spikes and crashes will make you feel like shit!
everyone experiences blood sugar issues differently but here are some things you might feel:
•fatigue or energy crashes
•cravings, intense & urgent hunger
•shakiness, dizziness, lightheadedness
•anxiety, irritability or other mood issues
•brain fog or inability to concentrate
•poor sleep (notice the red crash in the early morning - that person probably woke up with a pounding heart!)
...
Eating Every Few Hours Keeps Your Insulin Levels Elevated Which Tells Your Body to Store Fat
This outdated nutrition advice might be keeping you stuck with an inefficient metabolism & be blocking fat burning! (Literally the opposite of what they tell you it would do).
When you eat (especially snacks), your blood sugar rises and so does your insulin. Insulin’s job is to put the sugar in the cells of the body for use or storage.
When insulin is in the blood, the message the body gets is “store fat.”
If we are eating all day, we are constantly raising our insulin levels and keeping our body in a fat STORAGE mode.
You can’t burn fat and store it at the same time so this is how snacking actually blocks your fat burning.
Hot tip: Stop snacking!
Tip for getting started with this: Have your snacks right at the end of your meal instead of a few hours later.
Note: If you can’t make it to the next meal, try adding more fat and protein to your meals. If you’re getting shaky, hangry, anxious, fatigued, dizzy, or having any other sign of a blood sugar...
Hungry Between Meals? You Probably Didn't Have Enough Fat or Protein at Your Last Meal
Yesterday I talked about the benefits of NOT SNACKING. As a refresher, it allows insulin levels to come down to reduce risk of insulin resistance, and it allows you the opportunity to burn your own body fat for fuel and become metabolically flexible.
It doesn’t happen overnight thought. So since I recommend cutting out snacks, I know many of you are gonna say, “But Dani, I get too hungry.”
The easy fix for this is eating bigger meals. And that especially means more fat and protein at each meal.
Protein is the most satiating macronutrient. And fat is like a big log in the fire . It burns low and slow unlike carbs which are more like kindling that burn hot and fast.
If your meals are carb heavy with just a little fat and protein, you won’t make it more than a few hours and certainly not 5 or 6 hours until your next meal.
If you’re used to eating small meals and can’t eat a lot at one time, make this change gradually. Also start by adding just a few more...
Signs You're a Sugar Burner or Sign You're Metabolically Flexible
Are you a sugar burner, metabolically flexible or somewhere in between??
Becoming metabolically flexible (able to burn both glucose AND fat for fuel) was the biggest game changer in my health journey.
When I had no ability to tap into stored body fat for fuel, every few hours, I had to eat or I would feel shaky, lightheaded, hangry and anxious. I had no metabolic flexibility. i intuitively snacked and grazed to prevent these feelings.
This is called reactive hypoglycemia. It goes hand in hand with #InsulinResistance.
Now I can easily skip meals, sometimes I literally forget to eat (I used to think people who said that were making it up!), and I never feel INTENSE hunger.
My energy is stable throughout the day, I stopped having acne, I lost weight, and wouldn’t you know it, I no longer have Insulin Resistance, PCOS or PMS!
Unhealthy Hunger vs Healthy Hunger
If your huger is accompanied by the symptoms on the left, your hunger is really signaling an ENERGY crisis!!
If you have metabolic flexibility, or a metabolism that can easily and efficiently burn fat for fuel, you will have access to energy all the time (stored body fat).
But, if you have insulin resistance and a damaged (sugar burning) metabolism, you will be subject to those energy crashes when the fuel from your last meal runs out.
This keeps you tethered to your purse granola bars. In other words, you’ll need to eat very often and your hunger will feel urgent and accompanied by signs of blood sugar drops/hypoglycemia.
