Frequent Ba,ancing Balancing blood sugar levels blood pressure monitoring Glucose tolerance test Blokd index: A helpful tool for diabetes? The more strenuous your workout, the longer the effect lasts. Devineé Lingo, M. A low-carb diet helps prevent sugar spikes — and can have long-term benefits.

Balancing blood sugar levels -

If you're not quite ready for a monitor, you can still check in with yourself and take notes throughout the day of how certain foods and activities make you feel. Meal Delivery. Dieting Program Guides. Vitamin and Supplement Guides. Why You Can Trust CNET.

Wellness Nutrition. How to Keep Your Blood Sugar Balanced Throughout the Day Keeping your blood sugar levels balanced can make you feel less hangry and more satisfied.

Mercey Livingston CNET Contributor. Mercey Livingston is a health and wellness writer and certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.

com among others. When not writing, she enjoys reading and trying out workout classes all over New York City. See full bio. Mercey Livingston. Best Continuous Glucose Monitors for See at Cnet. Low blood sugar: Warning signs, ways to treat and when to call the doctor See at Cnet. The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice.

Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives. It is a simple sugar that cells in the body can easily convert to energy. Sugars, such as glucose, and complex carbohydrates make up the principal dietary carbohydrates.

Other sugars can include fructose, lactose, and maltose, along with sucrose table sugar. Complex carbohydrates can include starches and types of dietary fiber. The sugar goes straight from the digestive system into the bloodstream after an individual consumes and digests food.

However, glucose can only enter cells if enough insulin is also circulating in the bloodstream. Insulin is a protein that makes cells ready to receive glucose.

The cells would starve without enough insulin or if they become too resistant to its effects. After people eat, blood sugar concentrations increase. The pancreas releases insulin automatically to move glucose from the blood to the cells.

The liver and muscles store excess glucose as glycogen. Glycogen plays an important role in achieving homeostasis, a balanced state in the body. It helps the body function during states of starvation. If a person does not eat for a short period, blood glucose concentrations will fall.

The pancreas releases another hormone called glucagon. Glucagon triggers the breakdown of glycogen into glucose, which pushes levels in the blood back up to normal. People with diabetes need to maintain steady blood glucose levels. However, those without diabetes should also avoid increasing their risk of developing the condition.

The glycemic index GI can help people choose foods that will not disrupt their blood sugar levels. The index gives a value to each food. Foods that will cause blood glucose levels to spike dramatically, such as candy and sweet desserts, are high in the glycemic index.

Measured against glucose, which is in the index, foods such as soft drinks, white bread, potatoes, and white rice have a high glycemic score.

Foods such as whole grain oats and some fruits and plants have a lower glycemic score. The glycemic load GL is based on the GI. It provides a picture of the total impact a serving of food will have on energy levels.

It is an essential part of effective diabetes control. Many people with diabetes must check several times each day to plan for activities and meals, as well as scheduling doses of medication or insulin.

A person can test their blood glucose levels with a glucometer. They usually come with lancets, or tiny needles, as well as test strips and a logbook to record results. People with type 2 diabetes normally need to test blood sugar concentrations at least once each day.

Those who need to take insulin, which includes all people with type 1 diabetes and some people with type 2, have to test their blood several times a day. Continuous glucose monitoring CGM can be an alternative method for glucose monitoring for people with diabetes.

Eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, maintaining a moderate weight, and getting at least minutes of moderate-to-intense exercise each week can help.

Any person who experiences symptoms of low or high blood sugar should see a doctor, whether or not they have a diagnosis of diabetes. Irregular or extreme blood sugar levels can lead to diabetes and other harmful complications.

Both hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia can lead to the more severe complications of diabetes. So, eating mainly low-GI foods and exercising regularly can help keep blood glucose balanced.

Is low-sugar chocolate really better for my blood glucose? ow-sugar chocolate may be two different things. One is chocolate sweetened with a sugar alternative, such as sugar alcohols. Examples include mannitol, xylitol, or isomalt.

While they are usually lower in sugar, they still have carbohydrates and can affect blood glucose. They also have a slight laxative effect. Carbohydrates then get turned into simple sugar molecules: glucose, which enters the blood through the walls of your gut.

When blood sugar levels rise, your pancreas releases insulin, which gets glucose into your cells for immediate fuel and into your muscle, liver, or fat cells for storage, where it becomes glycogen, a storage form of sugar.

As cells absorb blood sugar, its levels in the blood begin to fall. When blood glucose levels fall too low, the pancreas starts making glucagon, a hormone that signals the liver to start releasing stored sugar. The interplay of insulin and glucagon ensures that cells throughout your body, and especially in the brain, have a steady supply of blood sugar.

So, it's normal for your blood glucose levels to rise and then fall again in the hours after having a meal. This increase in circulating blood sugar usually starts after about 30 minutes and returns to baseline around two hours later.

However, the management of blood sugar can get off balance and lead to excessive spikes or dips of glucose in the blood. These blood sugar spikes can happen in people with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that occur together, like obesity, high blood pressure and high blood sugar.

Most people who have metabolic syndrome have insulin resistance which means that cells in the body don't respond to insulin. Their blood sugar stays high, which can lead to the development of Type 2 diabetes. One in 3 people over 20 years old has metabolic syndrome.

People with diabetes also often experience these blood sugar spikes after meals, which can lead to complications. One in 5 people doesn't know they have the disease.

Many people who were never diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes can have spikes in their blood glucose that reach the diabetic range. A high peak in glucose in response to eating carbs can cause inflammation.

When these spikes are excessive and repeated, it contributes to unfavorable, low-grade chronic inflammation, atherosclerosis, and beta-cell degeneration, and may lead to weight gain. These factors are associated with an increased risk of developing obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other metabolic diseases.

High blood sugar after a meal raises the risk of cardiovascular disease even in people with normal fasting glucose. Too much blood glucose can also lead to a decreased ability for brain cells to take in glucose, causing brain fog , a term used to describe mental fatigue and difficulty focusing.

People who have a dip in their blood sugar can end up feeling hungrier potentially leading to overeating and weight gain. On the other hand, managing glucose levels after meals can help reduce cravings. The drop in glucose levels can cause mood to worsen and even make people angrier.

For healthy people, their concern may not be health risks but not feeling quite well after a meal.

Our wellness Balancing blood sugar levels is Balanckng. If you buy through Balancing blood sugar levels links, we may sygar a commission. Reviews ethics statement. Keeping your blood sugar levels balanced suagr make you feel less hangry and more satisfied. Having balanced blood sugar levels is important in the context of diseases like diabetes. But it also matters on a day-to-day basis: If you feel "hangry" often or tend to crash after meals, those could be signs that your blood sugar is all over the place. A few surprising foods Balanxing easy lifestyle switches can help you blkod better control of your blood Balancing blood sugar levels levels and type 2 diabetes. If you leve,s type 2 Baalancing and your blood sugar Sport-specific training are racing up and down like a roller coaster, it's time to get off the ride. Big swings in your blood sugar can make you feel lousy. But even if you aren't aware of them, they can still increase your risk for a number of serious health problems. By making simple but specific adjustments to your lifestyle and diet, you can gain better blood-sugar control.

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