Post Time: 2025-07-18
Maintaining a healthy blood sugar range is essential for optimal health. When your body's cells are unable to absorb glucose properly, it can lead to fluctuations in your blood sugar levels. This condition can cause damage to various organs and increase the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes.
Stabilizing Blood Sugar with Diet: A Key Component
A well-balanced diet is crucial for maintaining a healthy blood sugar range. Including foods that are rich in fiber, protein, and healthy fats in your meals helps regulate blood glucose levels. Foods high on the glycemic index can cause spikes in blood sugar levels; hence it's essential to choose low-glycemic food options such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats like avocado.
Unlocking Exercise for Optimal Blood Sugar Regulation
Regular physical activity not only helps maintain a healthy weight but also improves insulin sensitivity. This makes your cells more responsive to insulin levels in the blood allowing them to absorb glucose efficiently and maintaining stable blood sugar ranges. Incorporating activities that enhance flexibility, balance, strength training can go hand-in-hand with aerobic exercise for achieving overall fitness.
The Role of Sleep: Rebalancing Blood Sugar Levels
Sleep plays a vital role in regulating our bodily functions including insulin sensitivity. Poor sleep quality has been linked to lower glucose uptake by the cells causing an increase in blood sugar levels. Aiming for 7-8 hours of restful, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep allows your body sufficient time to recharge and perform cellular processes required for maintaining healthy blood sugar ranges.
Unraveling Supplements: Nature's Tools for Balancing Blood Sugar
Certain supplements support healthy insulin sensitivity by facilitating efficient glucose absorption in the cells. Chromium is one such essential mineral that complements diabetes management efforts when taken under a healthcare provider's supervision. However, it is crucial to discuss with your healthcare provider before considering any supplement as individual responses may vary based on other factors influencing blood sugar ranges.
Reversing Stress: Unleashing Inner Balance
Stress significantly impacts our overall health by impairing insulin sensitivity causing an imbalance in the body. Regular mindfulness practices like deep breathing, yoga exercises have been found to decrease cortisol levels and improve resilience helping manage fluctuations in stress-induced changes affecting your blood sugar range for optimal living.
Learn how your body responds to food. Take our FREE quiz 👉 Inflammation is a complicated topic. Short-term inflammation plays an essential role in fighting infections and healing injuries. But too much inflammation can be a catalyst for chronic ailments, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, and obesity. What we eat can influence our inflammatory responses and contribute to chronic, low-grade inflammation. In today’s episode, Prof. Philip Calder helps us understand the science behind inflammation, how it 169 fasting blood sugar impacts our health and what food has to do with it. Philip is head of the School of Human Development and Health, as well as a Professor of Nutritional Immunology, in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton. He’s also an internationally recognised researcher on the metabolism and functionality of fatty acids. His work focuses on the roles of omega-3 fatty acids and the influence of diet and nutrients on immune and inflammatory responses. Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 01:10 Quickfire questions 03:00 The role of inflammation in immunity 05:40 Chronic inflammation and disease 08:49 How to measure 115 fasting blood sugar inflammation 10:14 Should you worry about low-grade inflammation? 12:54 What causes blood vessel inflammation? 16:03 What creates the narrowing of blood vessels? 18:21 How inflammation can cause blood clots, heart attacks and strokes 20:13 Inflammation and aging 22:41 Inflammation and lifestyle factors 26:11 Obesity and inflammation 29:48 Muscle loss and inflammation (sarcopenia) 31:56 The impact of meals, sugar and fats on inflammation 36:04 Impact of diet inflammation 37:11 Why we all respond to food differently 42:25 What are omega-3s? 43:45 Anti-inflammatory foods 46:08 Health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids 48:24 Challenges with farmed salmon Studies relevant to today's episode: Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and inflammatory processes: nutrition or pharmacology?, published in British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Link: Omega-6 fatty acids and inflammation, published in PLEFA Link: Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Inflammatory Processes, published in Nutrients. Link: Health relevance of the modification of low-grade inflammation in ageing and the role of nutrition, published in Ageing Research Reviews Link: Books: Every Body Should side effects of low blood sugar Know This by Dr Federica Amati: Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector: Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here: Episode transcripts are available: