Imagine that you have heaps of glucose flooding your blood. And insulin, the security guard that usually escorts the glucose to where it needs to go, is trying to make the glucose move, but the cells are all closed for business because they can’t hear insulin knocking.
So the birthplace of insulin, the pancreas, starts making more of it.
As long as there is enough insulin to overcome your cells weak response to insulin, your blood glucose levels will be fine.
If not…you’re now entering the territory of pre-diabetes.
And if you don’t do something about it now, that pre-diabetes will lead you straight into Diabetes province - a place filled with medication, strict dietary rules and syringes littering the ground.
In 2019 I teetered on the precipice of pre-diabetes. So today I’m going to share 4 tricks I used to REVERSE pre-diabetes, increase my insulin sensitivity, send glucose to where it needs to be, and keep my energy levels high enough to do all the everyday stuff that needs to be done
Trick #1: Eat my veggies first
Which came first? The salad or the entree?
The salad course came first
According to Jessie Inchapause, a biochemist renowned for her research on the effect of food on blood sugar levels, eating a veggie starter can massively impact your blood sugar levels.
The best part? A veggie starter can be a few cherry tomatoes. It can be a stick of celery (with peanut butter of course, who can eat a stick of celery on it’s own? Not me.)
It can be crudites, which is just a fancy way to say veggie sticks - carrot and cucumber are my favourites.
By eating vegetables before your main meal, you create a mesh net - like a mosquito net! - that sits on your gut lining.
Now all the glucose that your meal provides has to squeeze through this mesh net.
The tiny sugar molecules can slip through the cracks pretty easily.
But the big fat starchy glucose sits there staring at the mesh, like…”Uh, I’m gonna have to go in piece by piece. There’s no way I’m going to be able to push through all at once, those are some tiny holes” and stares down at its big jelly belly before heaving a big sigh and squishing through the net slowly.
And voila! A nice steady stream of glucose into your blood, giving you much more stable energy after your meal.
COOL RIGHT?
This little trick will END the 3pm slump. You’ll be able to go for a walk after work, or play with your kids, or finish that pesky project that’s been plaguing you for months and still have a little energy left over.
Action: Come up with one way to add vegetables that you enjoy to the start of your meal. Is it a salad, plain veggies, or a side that is eaten first? |
Trick #2: Go for a walk after my meal
At first I did this because I had just gotten a Fitbit and wanted to get my step count up. So I did a loop everyday after eating my lunch - 2500 steps, hell yeah!
And then there was a Fitbit competition where 5 of us ganged up on the one guy who was doing 20,000 steps a day, and vowed to get even, or beat him. So the loop walk continued.
Then I just felt weird not walking on my lunch break. The habit was formed. And for some odd reason I felt way more energetic after my walk in the afternoon, so that was a great fringe benefit.
When I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I learned from my endocronologist that walking after a meal can reduce your blood glucose by up to 3mmol/L.
And it's not just walking. 10 minutes of exercise after a meal makes a huge difference to blood sugar levels and keeps those pesky glucose peaks under control. Squat, steps, lunges, push-ups, dancing, whatever your choice - get moving or get tired, that’s what I always say! (Kidding, I don’t think I’ve ever said that…)
If you have insulin resistance or pre-diabetes and you’re subscribing to the age old adage - wait 30 minutes after a meal to exercise…hit that unsubscribe button and do some light aerobic exercise 15 minutes after your meal.
If you’re already diabetic then keep the subscription and start your exercise 30 minutes after your meal.
Action: Exercise after each meal. Count how many days you can keep the streak up! My personal best has been 112 - can you beat me? |
Trick #3: Ginger
Up until 2019 I didn’t know how to make Chai. I think my Indian badge got revoked because of this.
But I got it back!
Since we were making so many dietary changes, and my partner was struggling slightly without any soft drinks or other liquid sustenance, I decided to learn how to make chai because he loved it.
And since I love ginger, I added a big chuck of it in each time.
Little did I know that eating ginger significantly helps with blood sugar level control.
Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties that help indirectly balance blood sugar levels, since inflammation has been linked to insulin resistance and poor blood sugar control.
Ginger is also commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine to help lower blood sugar levels, lower HbA1C (An important marker in type 2 diabetes) and improve insulin sensitivity.
And - this is the most important bit - it’s delicious! It can be added to food in so many different ways. Raw, cooked, in dressings, in smoothies, in curries, in stir-fries, the possibilities are endless. Even if you’re not a ginger fan, it’s subtle enough that you can add a bit, and you might not even be able to taste it but still get the benefits.
Up to 4g per day is safe - although this drops down to 1g in pregnant ladies.
Action: Add 1-2 tsp of ginger (=1000mg-2000mg) into one meal throughout the day |
Trick #4: Healthy fat is your friend.
We had torturous 8am lectures when I was in university. When you live 1.5 hours away, that is difficult, to put it lightly. I’d drag myself out of bed, blearily stare at the bus driver, trudge onto the bus and nap until my stop came, whereby I stumbled down the steps of the bus and make my way, yawning into the lecture room. How much information I retained from those lectures is quite questionable
But the one lecture I remember clearly is the one to do with dietary fat. (There were a lot of complicated diagrams which I’m not going to bore you with)
Fat keeps you full. More importantly, it has no effect on blood sugar, even though there was a large period of time where dietary fat was villified and everyone jumped through hoops to avoid it.
Fat is to your body what electricity is to your car - fuel that burns cleanly. Car lovers, I apologise if I got that wrong, feel free to correct me in the comments
You need dietary fat to absorb 4 essential vitamins (Vitamin A, D, E and K).
And fat also activates the dopamine receptors in your brain, giving you a nice big dopamine hit without the subsequent energy fall that is inevitable with sugary treats.
So eating healthy fat is really the superpower that slows down your digestion and the rush of glucose into your blood stream.
Some great sources of healthy fats are:
Olives
Olive oil
Oily fish such as salmon
Nuts
Seeds
Eggs
Avocado
This is why the Keto diet is hailed as a great diet to keep blood sugar levels under control - because you substitute many of the carbohydrates for fat.
But beware! Eating too much saturated fat can make you gain weight, which will have a negative impact on your blood sugar levels.
Fat should be a small portion of your meal, but I’ve found that if I add a healthy fat into each meal, it significantly reduces my hunger levels and subsequently the amount of snacking
Action: Add a source of healthy fat into one meal of the day. Remember, eating something for 10 days will change your taste buds to prefer that food! |
Conclusion
So there you have it. 4 easy tricks to play to keep your blood sugar levels nice and steady, giving you stable energy and less blood sugar spikes. Which have you tried? And what challenge are you going to accept this week? Let me know in the comments below!
Comments