In last week’s article, we began our discussion on what to do if you seem to have everything in line to lose weight/fat, but you just do not seem to be having success. This week we will continue our discussion with the second of four key components to losing fat: your ability to manage blood sugar.Fat Loss Barrier #2: The blood sugar management system
The ability to control one’s blood sugar is often talked about but not always fully explained or understood. It is the key component to many successful diets; and without it, fat loss is very difficult. If your body is not very good at regulating its blood sugar, then there are inevitable health concerns just around the corner, including being overweight.
When talking about blood sugar balance, there are two main issues. The first is when you have chronically elevated blood sugar, resulting from something called insulin resistance. The second is when your blood sugar fluctuates and can sometimes crash. This is known as hypoglycemia. Both of these imbalances result in elevated insulin.
Insulin resistance vs Hypoglycemia
Insulin is a hormone that is necessary for life. When your body is functioning properly, insulin is responsible (among other things) for signaling your cells to open their doors to glucose (blood sugar). But as with most hormones, insulin should be balanced. In excess, elevated insulin levels have a host of negative consequences on the body. Here are some reasons you want to take excess insulin seriously: an increase in inflammation, estrogen, oxidative stress, cholesterol, and blood pressure; a decrease in your body’s ability to handle toxins; an imbalance of neurotransmitters (the messengers in your brain that control how you think and feel, and are key players in many diseases).
When someone is insulin resistant, it means their cells are resistant to the signals of insulin and no longer open up when they should. Because blood sugar cannot enter into one’s cells as much as it should, it stays in their blood stream rather than being stored. As a result, the body produces higher levels of insulin to try and help remove glucose from the blood stream. This cycle, however, causes even greater metabolic dysfunction (low energy, weight gain, difficulty sleeping, sugar cravings that do not go away).
Individuals who tend to be hypoglycemic, on the other hand, will have periods of low blood sugar, followed by a release of adrenaline which acts to elevate blood sugar. This is a survival mechanism which can become problematic when happening too often. The adrenaline leads to a sharp increase in blood sugar, followed by a spike in insulin. This can lead to other metabolic issues (feeling jittery before meals/starving between meals, irritability, sugar cravings before meals, difficulty staying asleep, difficult losing weight) plus issues with one’s adrenal glands (excessive production of adrenaline).
Lean, mean, dysfunctional machine
While both insulin resistance and hypoglycemia can lead to weight gain, it is also possible to look healthy and be exercising regularly but still have trouble regulating blood sugar. There are a number of potential issues that can all interplay to make one’s blood sugar management system not work properly, among them the abundance of sugar in our diets, increased stress associated with long and demanding work days, little down time away from and type of stimuli, inflammatory foods, chemicals, and products, and many more.
All of these factors play a role in a vicious cycle of blood sugar management: Elevated blood sugar increases insulin. Insulin causes an increase cortisol. Cortisol increases blood sugar. And round and round it goes.
People can enter into this cycle in one of two ways. The first is through improper eating. Excess sugar or carbohydrates, and excessively large meals can elevate blood sugar levels to a point where this cycle can begin and persist if that eating is not controlled. The second way the cycle can be started is via cortisol. Anything that elevates cortisol (e.g. stress, parasitic infection, food allergies, inflammation, or inadequate sleep) will also elevate blood sugar and therefore insulin levels. In other words, you could have a perfect diet and exercise program, but if you have elevated cortisol levels, you may also be increasing your blood sugar from the inside.
What to do now?
If you think you might have an issue with blood sugar, you may want to get some blood work done. A good blood chemistry screen will contain enough markers to adequately identify patterns of blood sugar mismanagement. Here is a very general guideline of patterns to look for in blood work.
Hypoglycemic: Usually will see fasting blood sugar below 85 mg/dL & LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) below 140 U/L.
Insulin Resistant: Usually will see fasting blood sugar above 100 md/dL, triglycerides above 100 mg/dL, HDL below 55 md/dL, LDL above 120 md/dL. Note: the higher your triglycerides, the more concerned you should be.
Remember that these are just the norms, but use your own experience every day as feedback as well. If you often have cravings for sugar, have low energy, feel jittery between meals, or have been putting on weight recently, take some time to reflect on your diet and your lifestyle. If you tend to eat a lot of carbs and/or sugar, that would be a great place to start. If you are stressed out, are not sleeping well, and have not taken the time to center yourself and relax, then see how you can work to de-stress. Each of these plays a major role in your health, weight, energy, and longevity, so if you want to look and feel your best, this is a crucial area to work on.
Again, a big issue today, so stay tuned for our 3rd segment next week where we will talk more about the adrenal system!
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