Insulin and Sugar Balance

The other day something came to me.  It wasn’t a new scientific discovery or anything life altering.  It was one of those the dots that were there connected in a new way and it turned on the light bulb above my head.  Ever have those moments?  No? 

So I was thinking about all the different diet and lifestyle programs out there and what they all have in common.  And it’s sugar and insulin balance, whether they mean to or not.  

Here’s a few examples:

• -        Keto- very low carb which means less sugar spikes. Forces body to use fat and protein for fuel because there’s not enough sugar for fuel.
•       Mediterranean- naturally a low carb plan from the food choices.  Once again- the body will naturally use more fat and protein for fuel.
• -          Weight watchers- foods with carbs/sugar except for fruit get more points than any other foods- so once again, typically lower carb.
• -          Intermittent fasting- This is eating only at certain times- for the purpose of less spikes in the blood sugar and insulin.
• -          Insulin resistance diet- frequent small high protein snacks with the purpose of less spikes again.
• -          The fab-4 lifestyle by Kelly Leveque- she talks a lot about hormones and how her plan balances them.

What I’m taking from this, is that one of the major things we need to do for our healthy eating plan (diets should be what we choose for food, not what foods we deprive ourselves of) is work on balancing our insulin and sugars to help maintain a healthy weight. 

This can be done by either following one of the many prescribed diets, or making up your own routine that works for you!  

Have to miss meal often because of work schedule? Look into intermittent fasting and see if some of those concepts will fit with your work schedule!

Can’t keep with a super strict program?  No worries- find a program like weight watchers or Fab4 lifestyle that just limits unhealthy stuff, but you can still have it.

Need a super strict regimen to keep you on track?  Maybe Keto or intermittent fasting is right for you.

I’m working on my meal planning right now and will be sharing more with you as we go along and I am going to play mix it up a bit!  I’m going to do Fab4 lifestyle on the days I do not work and intermittent fasting on the days I do (because I have a busy 10+ hour day with only a short break and NEVER home for dinner).  This will also let me splurge a little on the evening we have church group because it’s not as strict!  This is a plan for Living. 

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Blessings in health and happiness!

Sugar- the love and hate relationship

Sugar.  We love it.  We hate it.  It’s a complicated relationship.  At least for me. 

Sugar in it’s many forms has magical abilities to make us feel good, give us energy, and satisfies our hunger.  On the flip side, however, it can cause fat, insulin resistance, diabetes, and mood swings. 

How can one thing do both things?  It’s complicated also- but a big reason is bacteria. 

Our bacteria in our digestive system all like to munch on different things, and as far as the bacteria is concerned our job is to keep them fed.  They have so much to do with what we choose to eat it’s almost like we don’t have a choice at all.  

But one problem with this system is MOST of the bacteria that prefer sugar are NOT the bacteria that are good for us!  We call these pathogenic bacteria and they cause inflammation, first in our digestive system and then on the rest of our bodies.  When we feed these bacteria the sugar they crave, and they give us a momentary pleasurable result for it, they can cause breaks in our digestive lining people often refer to as leaky gut! 

This leaky gut leads to our immune system being less effective at fighting off illness AND can cause inflammation that leads to many problems including many autoimmune problems.  There are also many studies showing this can lead to mood problems like anxiety and depression- which I have talked about before. 

So, not only are you craving sugar to make yourself feel good and keep the bacteria happy, but you are feeding the bacteria that will make you not feel well!  It’s a horrible loop that feeds itself and we need to work to stop it! 

One way to try to stop it, is to try to not feed it.  Much easier said than done, I know.  And you will NEVER completely rid yourself of the bacteria, so if you go back to eating sugar often, you will crave it again. 

Another way to help is by putting good bacteria in- once again by probiotics.  Trying to rebalance the system of better than bad will help restore your health.

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Blessings in Health and Happiness!

Carbs- good, bad and ugly

Carbs get a bad rap in our current diet culture.  With low carb diets and especially the popularity and success with keto diets, many are jumping on the low carb bandwagon.  But what is meant by low carb?

There are many ways people do low carb.  Some plans are just naturally low carb by the composition of foods that are included in the plan.  The Mediterranean diet, whole 30, and weight watchers would be an example of these types of plans.   Then there are stricter carb diets like Keto where people set a number of carbs they eat each day- some more strict and others less strict. 

Many people with the Western diet seem to do well with these plans- why?  Because by and large we over eat these foods and they cause a great amount of inflammation in our bodies.  Bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, sweets- processed and refined sugars especially- are very simple carbs and I would take a guess that Americans generally eat 2-3 times a serving at each MEAL.   For example- each slice of bread is generally a serving size.  We have 2 with a sandwich, right?  So 2 servings.  Then add some French fries on the side- a serving would typically be 10-11 fries.  Most people I know will eat at least double that.  So we have 4 servings of simple carbohydrates for one meal and no other nutritional value except whatever is on the sandwich.  But we call that a meal. 

So what happens when we cut the bread and the fries?  We’re still hungry, and if we replace them with things like veggies then we can get all sorts of nutrients that we need and lose weight in the process. 

We can talk all day about these things- but my main reason for sharing with you today is that NOT ALL CARBS ARE BAD.  I said it!  This is why while I tend to follow a low carb lifestyle I will never cut out all carbs.  

Carbohydrates break down to simple sugars that our brains NEED for fuel.  The rest of our bodies can use any other source of fuel but the brain HAS to have carbs.  But we can make smarter choices.

The smarter choices we can make are things like complex carbs instead of simple carbs. 

Potatoes are a great examples.  White potatoes don’t have much fiber in them and break down straight to sugar in our blood stream and spike our insulin levels (which can lead to insulin resistance, extra belly fat, and diabetes).  They also don’t have many nutrients in them.  Sweet potatoes have a ton of fiber which make them take longer to break down which makes your insulin curve longer (which is the goal with sugar balance) and has extra nutrients also compared to white potatoes.  This makes sweet potatoes a better choice (unless you’re like my husband and eat them with marshmallows on them). 

A fruit example would be Apples vs. Peaches.  Apples are fiber filled along with sugar filled- so especially if you combine it with a protein that will keep the insulin curve long!

My suggestion is to follow a health plan that is just naturally lower carb, or do low carb smart by paying attention to the choices you make.   Don’t count yourself as a total failure if you have any carbs, just keep it reasonable and make the best carb choices.  And at times give yourself a break.  If your holidays aren’t every day then you can have a few fun times. 

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Blessings in health and happiness!