12 Ways to lower blood sugar - Levels

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• high amounts of fiber are associated with lower post-meal glucose levels, insulin levels, and lower glycemic variability (glycemic variability refers to up-and-down swings in glucose).

• One study showed that a single session of exercise at even a mild intensity (50% or 65% VO2 max) has the ability to significantly increase insulin sensitivity the very next day

• one of the strongest tools we have is aiming to maintain stable blood sugar. That means keeping average and fasting glucose levels in an optimal range, minimizing post-meal glucose spikes, optimizing insulin sensitivity, and exhibiting flexibility in utilizing different energy sources—including stored fat and glucose—for fuel.

• Naturally occurring sugars in their whole food form, like sugars in fresh fruit, are generally going to have less of an effect on glucose levels, as they will be surrounded by unprocessed fibers and other nutrients, making them slower to be digested

• good choices for foods that are unlikely to cause a big spike in most people are those that are <40 on the standard glycemic index scale

• These include whole food forms of beans, tofu, chickpeas, green leafy vegetables (spinach, lettuce, collards, kale, chard), eggs, blueberries, blackberries, garlic, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, peppers, avocados, fish, lean red meat, chicken, oils, olives, chia seeds, and apple cider vinegar.

• Long story short: short bursts of activity multiple times per day lowers glucose more than one big chunk of exercise once a day

• Sleep is absolutely critical to glucose regulation and metabolic fitness

• You need good sleep (7-9 hours per night for most adults) to have proper glucose regulation. No matter how good a diet is, sleep still plays a key role in metabolic function.

• Stress raises glucose levels

• it’s easy to not get enough fiber in the diet. To get ~50 grams of fiber per day requires making an effort to include fiber sources (including beans, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, or whole grains) at every meal.

• “Preloading” meals with fat or protein can minimize the quick absorption of glucose into the bloodstream.

• Ingestion of large amounts of saturated fat has been shown to acutely decrease whole-body insulin sensitivity by about 25%.

• To optimize insulin sensitivity, emphasizing unsaturated fats like nuts, seeds, olives, olive oil, avocado, fish, soybeans, and tofu appears to be a better bet.

• These participants did 24-hour fasts, 3-4 times per week.

• Twenty-four-hour fasts can improve insulin sensitivity. For practical purposes, this means eating breakfast one morning and then not eating calories again until the next morning.‍

• our bodies are naturally more insulin resistant at night, so the same food eaten in the morning tends to have much less of a glucose spike than that food eaten at night.

• Compounds in cinnamon have been found to improve insulin signaling and glycemic control through several potential mechanisms

• drinking a large amount of water with a meal will increase the glucose and insulin peak after a meal, likely because the fluid load speeds entry of food into the small intestines for rapid glucose absorption