Key Tips for Maintaining Stable Blood Sugars for Health
Maintaining stable blood sugar is important for short-term and long-term health, whether we realize it or not. If you’re having trouble figuring out how to keep your blood sugars stable, you’re not alone! Let’s talk about why stable blood sugars are important and how to keep them stable throughout the day.
Why is it important to keep blood sugar stable?
Your body works at its best when everything is in balance, including your blood sugar. Even if you don’t know what your blood sugar levels are like from hour to hour, your body can give you signs that things are out of order.
Having blood sugar that is either too low or too high can be risky. When your blood sugars are wildly fluctuating, it can cause noticeable symptoms that can make it difficult to get through your day. During a sugar crash, you feel more tired, have difficulty concentrating, experience headaches, or be in a bad mood. High blood sugars can cause these symptoms as well as increased thirst and blurred vision.
Over time high blood sugars cause stress to your blood vessels and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, kidney disease, and other conditions.
Stable Blood Sugar During the Day
Keeping your blood sugar stable throughout the day can be easy with a little bit of planning!
Spread Out Your Carb Intake
Spikes in blood sugar are most commonly tied to your carb intake in a positive linear relationship – i.e., more of one increases the other. If you have smaller amounts of carbohydrates throughout the day, this causes the rise in blood sugar to be significantly smaller.
Balance Your Meals
Pay attention to the structure of your meals. If half or more of your plate is made up of high-carb foods, your blood sugar can spike after the meal and then crash an hour or two later. This will leave you feeling tired and hungry, and again, no one wants that.
An optimal macro-balanced meal for stable blood sugar is high in protein and fiber, has healthy fats, and is low in carbs. Try pairing together foods like chicken, avocados, and grilled vegetables, or make an entree salad with your favorite meat, mixed greens and veggies, and chopped nuts.
Sequence Your Foods
How you eat may be just as important as what you eat. Research finds that the order in which you eat your foods, also known as food sequencing, may impact how stable your blood sugar is after a meal. Focus on eating foods high in protein, healthy fats, and fiber first before you reach for the carbs in order to reduce post-meal fluctuations in blood sugar.
Carry Healthy Snacks
Something that can easily sabotage your blood sugar control is what you choose to snack on. When you’re on the go and don’t have any healthy options around to choose from, it is tempting to eat whatever is available. More times than not, those snack foods are high in refined sugars and can spike your blood sugars. Carrying around a healthy snack like our Phat Crackers can help satisfy your hunger on the go with clean and low-carb ingredients.
How to Keep Blood Sugar Stable Overnight
Keeping blood sugars stable during the day can be easy, but many people find that they struggle at night. Here are our top tips for stable overnight blood sugars:
Include Potassium-Rich Foods
Your daily intake of potassium can impact your blood sugars. Low potassium has been linked with a decreased insulin response to glucose in the blood, which can lead to higher blood sugars. Foods like almonds, avocado, salmon, mushrooms, and leafy greens are all sources of potassium and are low in carbs.
Time Your Meals
Thanks to our internal biological clock (aka our circadian rhythms), the body’s daily processes fluctuate on a 24-hour cycle. One of these processes that change throughout the day is our ability to respond to insulin and control blood sugar, also known as insulin sensitivity.
Insulin sensitivity is at its lowest in the evening, so carbohydrates you eat late at night can cause your blood sugar to stay elevated for longer. Timing your meal 2-3 hours before you go to bed may make it easier for your body to metabolize carbohydrates and stabilize your blood sugar.
If you are looking for a snack that can help keep blood sugar stable all day and night, try our Phat Crackers made with almond flour. The 4 grams of fiber, 5 grams protein, and healthy fat will help keep your blood sugar and energy stable.