Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels has gained significant attention. Last summer it wasn’t uncommon to be out at a fancy restaurant and spot multiple people wearing a continuous glucose monitor on the back of their upper arm.
Due to the immense amount of research pointing to the harms of blood sugar spikes and its correlation with aging and health concerns, people are making it more of a point to keep their blood sugar in a healthy range.
What is Glucose?
Glucose is the body’s main and most readily available source of energy. When you eat carbohydratecarbohydrates containing foods like fruit, starchy vegetables (such as potatoes), grains, bread, sweets, and sugary drinks, the carbohydrates are broken down in the digestive tract into simple sugars such as glucose, fructose, and galactose.
These sugars are absorbed in the small intestine and transported to the liver, where fructose and galactose are largely converted to glucose. Some glucose is stored as glycogen, while some is released into the bloodstream.
Rising blood glucose after a meal stimulates the pancreas to release insulin, which helps body tissues take up glucose and signals the liver to limit its own glucose output. Cells can then use glucose immediately for energy, and any extra can be stored as glycogen in the liver and skeletal muscle for later use.
When glycogen stores are full and energy intake exceeds the body’s needs, the liver can convert surplus carbohydrate into fatty acids and triglycerides, which are then transported and stored in adipose (fat) tissue.
Why is high, or elevated blood glucose detrimental?
Although glucose is a necessary source of energy, when blood glucose is constantly spiking, it can be very detrimental to our overall health and well-being.
Insulin’s aim is to get glucose out of the blood stream so our blood glucose can return to a normal level. When blood glucose is consistently elevated, glucose can “glycate” and damage tissues. In other words, glucose reacts with proteins in the blood stream, which leads to a chain reaction of creating “sticky proteins” that can damage other tissue proteins throughout the body.1 This can lead to plaque development along the arterial wall, nerve damage, elasticity loss in collagen (leading to skin wrinkling and increased risk of injury) with broader impacts over time.1
Insulin, released in response to elevated glucose, is an anabolic hormone, which means its job is to build the body. When insulin is constantly released this keeps the body in a building or “fat-storage” mode. If insulin is constantly being released due to regular blood sugar spikes, weight loss becomes much more difficult.2
Once insulin shuttles glucose out of the blood, this can lead to a resultant blood sugar crash. This is where you start to feel “hangry.” You crave sugar, you feel anxious and moody, and you may have insatiable hunger. If you are feeling constant mood swings throughout the day and never feeling satiated, you could be on this undesirable blood sugar roller coaster.
How do I support blood sugar balance?
So, how do you prevent these unwanted spikes and crashes? Let’s highlight some basic dietary, lifestyle, and supplemental support to keep your blood sugar stable all day long.
- Don’t eat carbs naked. Combine your carbohydrates with a source of protein, fat, and or fiber to function as a blood sugar blanket and prevent that unwanted spike.
- Prioritize protein. At all your meals make protein the staple of your diet.
- Eat quality fats. Fats slow down digestion. When they are combined with a carbohydrate rich meal or snack it slows down the release of glucose into the blood stream, keeping glucose levels more stable.4
- Meal sequencing. Recent research has found that when you have a source of protein and fat prior to eating your carbohydrates your blood sugar will remain stable.5 For example if you are having a meal of steak frites, fill up on the steak first before indulging in those French fries. Your blood sugar will thank you.
- Exercise. Exercise is an effective way to lower your blood sugar.6 When you are moving, glucose will get shuttled into your muscle fibers to be utilized as energy. After a carb-heavy meal go for a 15–30-minute walk and your glucose will quickly come back down to baseline.
- Manage stress. When we are stressed, we release cortisol. Cortisol elevates our blood sugar to help us deal with the stressor. Finding ways to lower cortisol throughout the day is essential for blood sugar balance. I.e., getting enough sleep, meditating, walking, eating consistent meals – these are all helpful for stress support.
- Lose Weight. Losing weight helps support blood sugar balance by reducing insulin resistance so your body can use glucose more efficiently.
- Supplemental Support. GlucaTrim™ and GlucaStim™ (same as GlucaTrim but with caffeine) can help to support blood sugar balance. Both were formulated to support weight loss with ingredients to help support blood sugar balance, calorie burning, hunger control, and improvements to body composition.
For sustained blood sugar balance, we recommend a combination of all the above. If you are regularly integrating dietary and exercise support, as well as some recommended supplementation, your blood glucose markers will hopefully stabilize over time.
References:
- Choi, J. Y., Ha, N. G., Lee, W. J., & Boo, Y. C. (2025). Synthetic and Natural Agents Targeting Advanced Glycation End-Products for Skin Anti-Aging: A Comprehensive Review of Experimental and Clinical Studies. Antioxidants, 14(4), 498.
- Russell‐Jones, D., & Khan, R. (2007). Insulin‐associated weight gain in diabetes–causes, effects and coping strategies. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 9(6), 799-812.
- Gentilcore, D., Chaikomin, R., Jones, K. L., Russo, A., Feinle-Bisset, C., Wishart, J. M., Rayner, C. K., & Horowitz, M. (2006). Effects of fat on gastric emptying of and the glycemic, insulin, and incretin responses to a carbohydrate meal in type 2 diabetes. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 91(6), 2062–2067.
- Kubota, S., Liu, Y., Iizuka, K., Kuwata, H., Seino, Y., & Yabe, D. (2020). A Review of Recent Findings on Meal Sequence: An Attractive Dietary Approach to Prevention and Management of Type 2 Diabetes. Nutrients, 12(9), 2502.
- Ambelu, T., & Teferi, G. (2023). The impact of exercise modalities on blood glucose, blood pressure and body composition in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, 15(1), 153.
