Maintaining your blood sugar is a hugely important factor of one’s health that people often overlook. If your blood sugar gets too high it can lead to diabetes and other health complications that can be avoided by taking the extra steps to monitor and maintain blood sugar levels within a healthy range.
There are many different easy ways to incorporate small lifestyle changes into your everyday habits that will assist you in keeping your blood sugar at a healthy place that you may not know about. Continue on to see how you can practice self care and prioritize your health with all your decisions!
1. Stray Hydrated
Your blood sugar is primarily regulated through the kidneys. Extra glucose is regulated and excreted as urine, and water helps aid the body in completing that process. Therefore, by staying hydrated, your body can more easily flush out excess sugar.
This ensures that your blood sugar levels don’t get too high. It also helps your body absorb glucose by confirming that insulin has enough hydration to work properly and absorb glucose.
2. Get Those Steps In!
Exercising has so many health benefits that help your body in other ways than just blood sugar regulation. Glucose is used by your body for energy when you exercise, so glucose can be moved as you squeeze in your daily workout.
As you use glucose to carry out your workout, your body pulls more glycogen to replace the glucose that has been used up. This decreases your blood sugar levels even more.
3. Consume Those Good-For-You Fats
Digestion is slowed by the consumption of fats. This means that when you eat carbohydrates., they are more slowly absorbed into your bloodstream and don’t cause a sudden spike in blood sugar all at once.
There are lots of different ways to get healthy fats into your diet. Fish, nuts, seeds, oils, and avocado are just a few ways to make sure you’re getting enough of those fats to help your blood sugar stay normal and not spike.
4. Prioritize Your Sleep
Sleep allows your body to carry out the many processes that it needs to help you thrive. One of these processes includes insulin regulation. If you don’t get enough sleep, the insulin in your body won’t function as well and the glucose in your bloodstream will not be absorbed as effectively as it could be.
So in order to ensure that the insulin in your cells is doing its job, turn off your phone and get to bed!
5. Try Not to Stress
Being stressed out has harmful effects on your body. When you are stressed, your body releases hormones like insulin and cortisol. These hormones negatively affect your body’s ability to manage your blood sugar levels through decreasing insulin effectiveness and glucose production.
Take a deep breath and utilize healthy self care practices and stress management techniques. Not only will you feel better after calming down, but your blood sugar will stay at the proper levels.
6. Fabulous Fiber
Foods that are high in fiber are key foods to incorporate into your meals if you want to go that extra step to confirm your blood sugar levels are maintained. Fiber positively affects your gut, upholding gut health and allowing for the production of good bacteria that regulates insulin.
In addition to this, similarly to healthy fats, consuming fiber slows down the digestion of carbohydrates. When this process is elongated, it takes your body longer to digest and prevents a sudden spike in blood sugar.
7. Engage in Portion Control
Eating a lot of food all at once causes a massive blood sugar spike. Eating slowly and not a large quantity at one given moment will allow your body to slowly digest the food and avoid a sudden spike in blood sugar.
When meals are smaller and more spread out, your body has more time and resources to absorb the carbohydrates and keep your blood sugar at a good level.
8. Incorporate Chromium
Chromium is a powerful micronutrient for your bodily functions. The benefits of chromium include helping blood sugar regulation and aiding in the success of metabolism.
Some foods that are high in chromium include beef, whole grains, chicken, turkey, almonds, fruits, and vegetables.
9. Stay Attentive
Some people are more prone to have higher blood sugar and the health concerns that come along with it such as diabetes. If you are more prone to less blood sugar regulation, check with your doctor to make sure you shouldn’t be taking extra steps to monitor or maintain your blood sugar levels.
In some cases, medication may be necessary to stay healthy. Make sure you confirm with your doctor you don’t need anything of the sort!
10. Quit Smoking
Nicotine negatively affects your body’s ability to increase the productivity of insulin. Similar to the hormones that your body releases when you are stressed, your body also releases these same hormones when you smoke.
Nicotine also increases inflammation, making it harder for your body to control blood sugar spikes.
Make Your Health a Priority
Ensuring your blood sugar stays at a healthy level is more important than you may think. It ensures that you have enough energy to go about your day to life, improves cognitive function, and prevents chronic disease.
Incorporate these 10 easy strategies into your life and keep them at the back of your mind and your body will thank you for it!
