How to Balance Blood Sugar

If you are in perimenopause or menopause and have experienced unexpected weight gain, you are likely wondering what you can do to get it off. The things you used to do don’t work anymore and you are just not sure why or what to do! One cause of weight gain is blood sugar that is not balanced. We are going to let you in on the details of why this happens and what you can do to balance blood sugar.

Anytime you eat carbohydrates, your body breaks them down and they end up as sugar (also called glucose) in your bloodstream. This sugar can then make its way into your cells to be used as energy. In order for sugar to get into the cells, your body released a hormone called insulin. Insulin acts as the signal for cells to let sugar in. 

When you eat a lot of carbohydrates at once—say you drink a can of soda, your blood sugar increases quickly. If you add things like protein, fat, and fiber to the meal, this slows digestion down and you get both a lesser and slower rise in blood sugar. 

When chronic consumption of excess carbohydrates, the body pumps out lots of insulin in order to keep blood sugar levels in check. The problem is, that over time, the body starts losing sensitivity to the signal of insulin. And when the body stops listening as well, more and more insulin needs to be pumped out to manage blood sugar levels. 

The issue with too much insulin floating around is that insulin tells the body it is in a fed state. This means plenty of calories are coming in, and there is no need to burn fat. So ultimately, insulin shuts off fat burning. 

In order to accelerate fat loss, we need to do a few things to avoid this pitfall.

3 Steps to Accelerate Fat Loss

1. Choose complex carbohydrates over simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are whole grains, vegetables, fruits, lentils, and beans. Simple carbohydrates to limit are white flour, pasta, bread, and sugars. 

2. Balance your meals with protein, fiber, healthy fat, and complex carbohydrates. As I mentioned before, protein, fat, and fiber all slow digestion down and prevent spikes in blood sugar.

3. Exercise! Exercise is a great way to improve insulin signaling. 

In addition to fat loss, there are other benefits to blood sugar balance such as stable energy, less craving, and fewer mood swings (goodbye hanger)! 

See more tips and tricks on our blog!