Mid afternoon energy crash got you down?
If you find yourself reaching for coffee,
sweets, or snack foods in the afternoon to perk up your energy levels, then you
may have an imbalance in your blood sugar rhythm!
Other signs this may be occurring:
- You get irritable, shaky or
‘hangry’ (hunger + anger) if you have to wait too long to eat
- You often wake in the middle of
the night (usually between 1-3am)
- You get sleepy after meals
- You’ve tried many ways to lose
weight, but can’t
- Uncontrollable cravings
- Brain fog/lack of mental clarity
often
- Must snack between meals
If
any
of the above applies to you, then you likely have a dysregulation in your blood
sugar rhythm. The great news is, there
are steps you can begin to take today to begin bringing it back into
balance. But first, it is important to
understand how our blood sugar regulation system works! When we maintain a healthy lifestyle &
nutrition our blood sugar will rise and fall within the green zone in the
graphic below. This would represent a
normal rhythm.
Depicted below is a dysregulated blood sugar rhythm:
This can occur for a variety of reasons, but in short, our blood sugar spikes when we have an influx of glucose (sugar) in our blood stream. At any one time, the average person should only have about a teaspoon of glucose in their bloodstream. The rest is brought to the muscles or liver by insulin to be stored. When there is excess to what those can hold, it is converted to fat for storage. Because the spike is considered an emergency state for the body, it must work hard & fast to try to regulate it. It is very capable of this when occurring occasionally. However, when it occurs many times a day, the system may become dysregulated. Often in the rush to bring levels down, it overshoots, which leads to a significant drop in blood sugar level, which will trigger cravings in order to bring the levels back up again. You may begin to see how this can be a vicious cycle!
Something very important to note! Insulin is released to manage blood sugar - and when insulin is present, the body is unable
to burn fat for fuel. Which means spiking blood sugar levels consistently throughout the day, will make it almost impossible to burn any fat.
What to do about it?
If this is already occurring, you need to break the cycle! The more we feed our body sugary foods and simple carbohydrates that lead to the spike, the further we drive our bodies into dysregulation. While everyone is going to have slightly different needs, a good general guideline is to have 3 satisfying meals + 1 snack. If you’re a grazer, or find yourself having many small snacks a day, just start by choosing ONE meal to really sit down to and have it be a full meal with a balance of fats, proteins & complex carbohydrates.
Another great change is to replace carbohydrate snacks with ones that are more protein or fat based. So, when you start to feel like you
need to eat, rather than reaching for crackers, chips or sweets, try something like:
- celery & hummus or guac
- apple with nut butter
- eggs
- beef jerky
- handful of nut-based trail mix
Providing the body with complex carbs, proteins & fats rather than simple carbohydrates will prevent a spike in the first place, without leaving you feeling awful & starving!
There are many additional complexities & nuances to this system, so if you are wanting to discuss how this may be occurring in your body, please don’t hesitate to reach out for further guidance!
