What Do We Actually Mean By Balanced Blood Sugar?

Blood sugar balance refers to the maintenance of optimal glucose levels in the bloodstream, ensuring they are neither too high nor too low. This equilibrium is crucial for sustaining energy, mood stability, and overall health and for ensuring a healthy metabolism and a healthy weight and BMI.

What Affects the Glucose Levels in the Blood?

Mostly, it is the food we eat that affects the glucose levels in the blood (referred to herein as blood sugar) and fundamentally it is sugars and carbohydrates in our diet that have the most impact.

When you eat foods that contain simple sugars (think candy, sodas, sweetened coffee drinks, etc) these will cause a quick and rapid spike in your blood sugar. These foods are very quickly digested and absorbed by the body and therefore are released rapidly into the bloodstream, causing a sharp rise in your blood sugar. Foods that contain refined carbohydrates (think white bread, white pasta, cookies and pastries) have a very similar effect to simple sugars as they are also very rapidly digested and absorbed.

How Blood Sugar Spikes Affect Your Health

The occasional spike is not a problem, but if your blood sugar is constantly elevated it can lead to health issues. The sugars and refined carbohydrates we eat are stored as glycogen in the body, but we only have so much ‘space’ to store this in our liver and muscle cells. When we receive too much glucose from our food it is stored as fat in the body, which can contribute to weight gain and other metabolic health issues such as insulin resistance.

Insulin is the hormone released by the pancreas that helps to shuttle the glycogen into our cells where it can be used for energy. However, if we are constantly bombarding our bodies with too much sugar it can lead to a condition called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance occurs when the cells in your body become less responsive to insulin and in response your pancreas produces even more insulin, trying to elicit a proper cellular response. Over time, this cycle can lead to chronically elevated blood sugar and insulin levels, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and other metabolic conditions.

Additionally, blood sugar spikes can significantly contribute to inflammation and oxidative stress within the body. When blood glucose levels rise rapidly and frequently, it triggers a series of biochemical responses that lead to the production of free radicals—unstable molecules that can damage cells and tissues. This process increases oxidative stress, which, in turn, prompts the body’s immune system to respond as if it were fighting an infection, leading to inflammation. Over time, repeated blood sugar spikes exacerbate this cycle, resulting in chronic inflammation and increased oxidative stress. This harmful combination can damage blood vessels, organs, and nerves, and is linked to a host of health issues, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and various chronic conditions.

On a day to day basis fluctuating blood sugar levels can affect your energy levels, mood and mental cognition, make you feel more stressed and anxious, disrupt your sleep and even cause premature aging of the skin!

How Does Menopause Affect My Blood Sugar?

The menopause transition can significantly affect blood sugar regulation due to hormonal changes that occur during these stages. As we transition through perimenopause to menopause, levels of estrogen and progesterone fluctuate and eventually decrease. These hormonal shifts can impact insulin sensitivity, making it harder for the body to regulate blood sugar levels effectively. Estrogen, for example, is known to play a role in protecting against insulin resistance; thus, as estrogen levels decline, the risk of developing insulin resistance and related issues, such as type 2 diabetes, increases. Additionally, the changes in body composition often seen during menopause, such as increased abdominal fat, can further exacerbate insulin resistance and blood sugar dysregulation.

Okay, So What Do I Do?

Regulating your blood sugar is a key part of menopausal health, and there are a number of easy ways to keep yours stable, including:

1. Reducing your intake of added sugars and refined carbohydrates:

limit consumption of soda and sugary coffee drinks, candy and foods made with white flour such as cakes, pastries, cookies and pasta.

2. Add protein to every meal:

aim for 30g of protein per meal, protein does not spike your blood sugar in the way that sugars and refined carbs do, it can actually slow down the release of glucose into the bloodstream and help you feel more full and satiated, thus reducing cravings for high sugar and high carb foods.

3. Eat more fiber:

fiber slows down the digestion process which is why vegetables and complex carbohydrates such as whole grains do not cause blood sugar spikes. Include 2 servings of vegetables at every meal and add fiber rich foods such as beans, lentils, legumes and whole grains to your daily diet.

4. Lift weights:

the more lean muscle mass we have the more insulin sensitive we are. Lean muscle mass uses glycogen for energy so the higher our muscle mass the greater capacity we have to use glucose efficiently. Levels of muscle mass reduce as we age and go through the menopause transition so maintaining muscle mass is key.

5. Manage your stress levels:

chronic stress can affect blood sugar levels by increasing the production of cortisol, a hormone that can make the body more insulin resistant. Techniques such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and deep breathing can help manage stress.

6. Ensure adequate sleep:

poor sleep can disrupt hormones that regulate appetite and insulin sensitivity. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night to help maintain blood sugar levels.

Tracking Your Blood Sugar

There are a number of different ways to measure and track your blood sugar, and assessing your body’s response to different foods and lifestyle factors is one of the most useful. Track how you feel after eating certain foods or certain time periods in between meals (energized, sluggish, still hungry, light headed, cranky), or how you feel after an intense workout or long walk.

Your doctor can provide testing for blood sugar markers as part of your routine physical and these can include looking at your fasting glucose levels, your glucose levels over 2-3 months and your insulin levels.

At home devices tracking methods can be used such as a glucometer, a device that measures blood sugar levels from a small drop of blood, usually taken from your fingertip. For a more continuous monitoring, Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) are available; these devices use a small sensor placed under the skin to measure blood glucose levels in real-time, providing data on trends and fluctuations throughout the day.

My FREE guide will teach you how to spot sneaky added sugar when you are shopping at the grocery store and give you the exact #JennyApproved sugar-free swaps for your favorite brands and foods. Get my Sugar-Free Swaps Guide here.

 

 

References:

Bermingham, K.M., Linenberg, I., Hall, W.L., Kadé, K., Franks, P.W., Davies, R., Wolf, J., Hadjigeorgiou, G., Asnicar, F., Segata, N. and Manson, J.E., 2022. Menopause is associated with postprandial metabolism, metabolic health and lifestyle: The ZOE PREDICT study. EBioMedicine, 85.

Christakis, M., Hasan, H., Souza, L., & Shirreff, L. (2020). The effect of menopause on metabolic syndrome: cross-sectional results from the canadian longitudinal study on aging. Menopause the Journal of the North American Menopause Society, 27(9), 999-1009. https://doi.org/10.1097/gme.0000000000001575

Hyvärinen, M., Juppi, H., Taskinen, S., Karppinen, J., Karvinen, S., Tammelin, T., … & Laakkonen, E. (2021). Metabolic health, menopause, and physical activity—a 4-year follow-up study. International Journal of Obesity, 46(3), 544-554. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-01022-x

Suniyadewi, N. and Pinatih, G. (2019). Correlation between intakes of carbohydrates, protein, and fat with random blood sugar levels in menopausal women. Frontiers of Nursing, 6(1), 77-80. https://doi.org/10.1515/fon-2018-0041