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The time to return to healthy blood sugar levels is now! FirstLine Therapy® can help. For more information click here or to find a certified FirstLine Therapy practitioner near you, click here.

Blood Sugar Management and Diabetes

Why healthy blood sugar is important

Have you ever felt tired or sluggish after a meal? Or lightheaded following exercise? These are common reactions to slight variances in your body’s blood sugar, or glucose, level. Glucose is your body’s main energy source and is derived from the food you eat. It’s important to keep your blood glucose levels within a healthy range, as too much or too little can lead to serious health problems over time.

How your body uses glucose

After you eat a meal, your digestive system breaks food down into glucose and other nutrients (amino acids, etc.) These nutrients are transported throughout your body via your blood vessels. The change in blood glucose levels signals your pancreas to release a hormone called insulin. Insulin binds with your cells to allow glucose to enter the cell. Once inside, glucose is converted to energy or stored for future use.

INSULIN: The Magic Hormone That Controls Your Blood Sugar

  1. 1. When you eat, sugars and amino acids are absorbed directly into your bloodstream, and blood sugar levels rise.

  2. 2. The rise in blood sugar signals important cells in your pancreas—called beta cells—to secrete insulin into the bloodstream.

  3. Insulin binds to cellular receptors and enables sugars and amino acids to enter the cell,where they are burned for energy or stored for future use.

  4. As your blood sugar falls to pre-meal levels, your pancreas reduces the production of insulin and the cells of your body use their stored energy until your next meal.

A healthy diet is key to maintaining healthy blood glucose levels. Unfortunately, our typical Western diets are high in refined, processed foods loaded with simple carbohydrates, or sugars. These simple sugars are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, triggering a surge of insulin.

Over time, these surges can lead to a condition called “insulin resistance” in which your cells become unable to respond to insulin, leaving insulin and glucose to build up in your bloodstream. Left unchecked, higher levels of insulin (hyperinsulinemia) and glucose (hyperglycemia) in your blood can lead to hypertension, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Too little blood sugar (hypoglycemia), on the other hand, is also dangerous. Depending on the severity, hypoglycemia can cause a wide range of problems including lightheadedness, nausea, blurred vision, loss of consciousness, seizures, coma, or even death.

Insulin resistance and diabetes—a pervasive problem

People with unhealthy blood sugar levels are predisposed to diabetes, one of our nation’s biggest health problems. The human and economic costs associated with diabetes are staggering. Consider the following:

  • Nearly 21 million (1 in 14) Americans have diabetes. Of these, 6.2 million don’t know they have it.1
  • Ninety to 95 percent of cases are type 2 diabetes, which is preventable.1
  • Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. Overall, the risk for death among people with diabetes is about twice that of people without diabetes of similar age.1
  • In 2002, the cost of diabetes, both direct and indirect, was $132 billion.1
  • Fifty-four million people (1 in 5) have pre-diabetes, meaning that their blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not yet in the diabetic range.1
  • Most people with pre-diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes.2
  • People with diabetes are more susceptible to many other illnesses, including
    • Hypertension3
    • cardiovascular disease4,5
    • bindness6,7
    • kidney disease8
    • and other serious conditions9
  • and often have worse prognoses.10

What you can do

Even though unhealthy glucose levels can cause complex health problems, preventing such problems is relatively simple. By taking the following steps, you can restore your blood sugar to optimal levels and improve your overall health. These include:

  • Eating a healthier diet. Diet plays a key role in controlling blood sugar. A diet rich in w hole grains, legumes, and vegetables (especially the dark-green leafy variety) and fish has been shown to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And it can help you lose weight (obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes).
  • Starting a daily exercise regimen. E xcess body fat appears to play a strong role in insulin activity, especially when concentrated around the abdomen (“apple shape”). Regular exercise, even of moderate intensity, helps maintain blood sugar and healthy insulin sensitivity by helping you build muscle (which consumes energy) and lose fat (which stores energy) . Note: before beginning an exercise program, it is wise to have a physical and get your healthcare provider’s approval. Individuals with certain conditions such as excessive obesity, chest pain, recent heart attack, severe valvular heart disease, irregular heartbeat, uncontrolled diabetes, blood pressure greater than 180/100, even with medication, acute illness, or resting heart rate over 110 should not begin an exercise program without their healthcare practitioner’s approval.
  • Taking quality supplements. Research suggests that concentrated levels of certain nutrients—at doses that are difficult to obtain from diet alone—can improve the body's sensitivity to insulin. That is, they can improve the cell’s response to insulin so that the body needs to secrete less of the hormone to achieve the same effect.
  • Managing stress. Stress, both physical and emotional, can affect blood glucose levels. As part of the body’s “fight or flight” response to stress, the hormones cortisol and epinephrine are released into the bloodstream, signaling the liver to produce more glucose. Additionally, when you’re “stressed out” it’s easy to fall back on bad habits such as eating “comfort foods”, drinking alcohol, smoking, or skipping exercise. Stress management techniques such as yoga, guided imagery, and meditation are an effective tool in improving your overall health.

FirstLine Therapy®—Better health now and for a lifetime

FirstLine Therapy (FLT) is a therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) program developed to help you address the underlying causes of disease and lead a healthier, more vibrant life. The basic principles of FLT—healthy eating, regular exercise, nutritional supplementation, and stress management—are the foundation upon which you and your healthcare practitioner can build a program tailored to your specific needs.

The time to return to healthy blood sugar levels is now! For more information about FirstLine Therapy or to find a certified FirstLine Therapy practitioner near you, click here.

Related Links Cardiovascular Health Obesity GI Health Men's Health Women's Health Mood & Cognition Bone & Joint Health Stress Management

REFERENCES 

  1. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC). National Diabetes Statistics. Available at http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/. Accessed 4/19/07.
  2. US Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health. Insulin resistance and pre-diabetes. NIH Publication No. 06-4893. August 2006.
  3. Geiss LS, Rolka DB, Engelgau MM. Elevated blood pressure among U.S. adults with diabetes, 1988–1994. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2002; 22:43–49.
  4. Geiss LS, Herman WH, Smith PJ. Mortality in non-insulin-dependent diabetes. In: National Diabetes Data Group, editors. Diabetes in America. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; NIH Publication No. 95–1468; 1995:233–57.
  5. Kuller LH. Stroke and diabetes In: National Diabetes Data Group, editors. Diabetes in America. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; NIH Publication No. 95–1468; 1995: 449–56.
  6. Will JC, Geiss LS, Wetterhall SF. Diabetic retinopathy [letter]. New England Journal of Medicine. 1990;323:613.
  7. Klein R, Klein BEK. Vision disorders in diabetes. In: National Diabetes Data Group, editors.
  8. U.S. Renal Data System, Standard Analysis Files, 2004 [data query online]. Available at www.usrds.org/odr/xrender_home.asp. Accessed July 2005.) Diabetes in America. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH Publication No. 95–1468; 1995: 293–336.
  9. Fishbein H, Palumbo PJ. Acute metabolic complications in diabetes. In: National Diabetes Data Group, editors. Diabetes in America. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. NIH Publication No. 95–1468; 1995: 283–91.
  10. Valdez R, Narayan KM, Geiss LS, Engelgau MM. Impact of diabetes mellitus on mortality associated with pneumonia and influenza among non-Hispanic black and white US adults. American Journal of Public Health. 1999;89:1715–21.