in today's video we are going to be talking about four ways to get off the blood sugar
roller coaster now before you click away thinking what on earth is she talking about
let me explain what the blood sugar roller coaster is the blood sugar roller coaster is
when someone's blood sugar is constantly going up and down throughout the day when you look at the
blood glucose of someone who this is happening to over 24 hours it resembles a roller coaster
and being on this roller coaster is not ideal because it has both short-term
and long-term consequences short-term it can cause energy crashes mood swings cravings and hanger
long-term it can lead to more serious health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease
the more stable we can keep our blood sugar throughout the day the better so in today's
video i'm going to be giving you four steps you can take to get off the roller coaster
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a
certified health and nutrition coach i post videos twice a week here on youtube talking
about all things insulin resistance blood sugar management weight loss sleep and more
so if you want to take control of your metabolic health make sure to click that subscribe button
and you can also find me on tick tock and instagram where i share new posts every single
day now before we get into the steps you can take to get off the roller coaster i quickly want to
talk about what blood sugar is why it matters and also a little bit about glycemic variability
blood sugar also known as blood glucose is the concentration of sugar in your blood at any point
in time your body requires roughly four grams or one teaspoon of sugar to be circulating your
blood however when we eat certain foods they're broken down into glucose or sugar and they enter
our bloodstream causing our blood sugar to rise now your body always wants to maintain homeostasis
and keep your blood sugar at that four grams we mentioned earlier when blood sugar is too high
this can lead to problems and the same goes for when it is too low so again right in the middle
around four grams is the sweet spot and your body will always work to keep it at this level
glycemic variability refers to the changes in blood sugar that happen over a period of
time someone with high glycemic variability will see a wide variance in their blood sugar levels
throughout the day there will be large swings in their blood sugar after eating for example
and someone with low glycemic variability will have little variance in their blood
sugar throughout the day their line will be more or less flat and here's the thing our bodies are
very resilient they can handle large influxes in blood sugar when they happen however if you are
having big spikes and crashes in your blood sugar numerous times throughout the day day after day
this is when it can lead to issues doing this will cause your cells to become less sensitive
to insulin which is a hormone responsible for transporting glucose from your bloodstream
to your cells so when your cells start resisting insulin they stop taking in glucose as they
should your muscle cells are the first to become resistant to insulin meaning that excess glucose
is now more likely to be stored as fat not a side effect that a lot of people are thrilled about
and on top of that insulin resistance will eventually lead to high fasting blood sugar
and a type 2 diabetes diagnosis and it can also manifest as other diseases as well such as pcos
and heart disease having high glycemic variability is the same thing as being on the blood sugar
roller coaster but anyways now that we've gotten that out of the way let's get into the steps you
can take to get off it number one eat the right breakfast what we eat first thing in the morning
has an impact on our blood sugar for the entire day if we start our day with a meal high in
carbs such as a bowl of cereal this spikes our blood sugar significantly we immediately hop on
the roller coaster and once we get on it's hard to get off because when our blood sugar spikes
it's inevitably going to crash which comes with cravings and hunger so what ends up happening
is we reach for a quick snack that spikes our blood sugar again and then it crashes again and
we're stuck in this cycle all day long now if we start our day with a meal high in protein and fat
our blood sugar isn't going to spike it's going to be stable and we aren't going to be desperately
hungry a few hours after eating and this will make it easier to make better food choices throughout
the day number two get proper sleep when we don't get enough sleep or enough quality sleep even for
just one night our body has trouble managing blood sugar the entire next day how your body
responds to food after a good night's sleep versus a poor night's sleep can be drastically different
sleep is so important and so many of us take it for granted one of my top tips for ensuring
you get a good quality sleep is to manage your light exposure you want to try to get
as much natural light in during the day as you can especially in the morning and you want to
limit your exposure at night because light and its absence is a key indicator for a circadian
rhythm especially stopping blue light after sunset because this tricks our body into thinking it's
daytime and hormones such as melatonin which promotes sleep are suppressed the easiest way to
block blue light in the evening is with a pair of blue light blocking glasses these are my favorite
pair they're from a company called blue blocks i put these on after sunset and they block 100
of blue light and this helps to ensure i get a good night's sleep i will put the link to check
them out in the description box down below number three take a walk when you eat a meal specifically
a meal that contains a lot of carbohydrates your blood sugar is going to rise now when we go for a
walk after eating this allows our bodies to use this energy straight away and the spike is less
significant and this doesn't have to be a long walk even just a 10 minute one around the block
is going to make a big difference another way to apply this strategy is to do any type of workout
before or after you eat use your food to fuel the workout and the blood sugar spike is going to be a
lot less significant number four don't eat carbs alone carbohydrates are the macronutrient that
spikes blood sugar the most and the spike is even more significant when we eat carbs in isolation
so eating a banana on its own for example that is mainly carbohydrates and contains very little
protein and fat results in a pretty big spike in blood sugar but pairing foods like this
with foods that are rich in protein and fat lowers the spike and this can be as easy as having some
greek yogurt with the banana or even some nut butter and those are four ways to get off the
blood sugar roller coaster let me know down below if you already use any of these tips do you take
into consideration your blood sugar when you're eating or is it something you've never thought
about let me know down below i love chatting with you guys in the comment section if you
did enjoy this video remember to please give it a thumbs up and if you want to check out those blue
light blocking glasses that i mentioned earlier those will be linked down below with a promo code
if you did enjoy this video you might also enjoy my video on factors that affect your metabolism
that you might not realize you can check that out here if you want to catch up on
my most recent upload you can find it here and if you want to check out my brand new
insulin resistance coaching program you can find that here thanks guys i'll see you next time bye