EP.304/ Three non-food related ways to improve blood sugar
Before we dive in, let’s do a very quick recap of how blood sugar works and its impact on our community.
Blood sugar is the measurement of glucose in the blood stream at any one time. Glucose comes from complex carbs, like vegetables, beans and whole grains, and simple carbs, like flour, pasta and honey. Complex carbs break down slower in the gut, resulting in a slow but steady drip of glucose to our blood stream, whereas simple sugars break down very quickly and are also typically very high in carbohydrates and so create what we call a blood sugar spike, which simply means your glucose levels in your blood are too high.
This is where a hormone called insulin comes in. Insulin is like an Amazon delivery driver, it picks up the glucose in the blood stream and delivers it to the cells, where they use glucose for fuel. When we’re eating foods to stabilise blood sugar and we’re getting most of our glucose from complex carbs, not simple carbs, our cells are getting frequent and steady deliveries of glucose all day, creating sustained energy levels.
When we have a blood sugar spike however, the body wants to protect us from the damage that occurs from excessively high blood sugar levels, so the pancreas releases lots of insulin and the Amazon delivery drivers shove as many deliveries as they can into the cells, and when the cells are full, they go and cram it into our liver and our fat cells. This then leaves the blood without any glucose, and so our blood sugar levels plummet. Having low blood sugar levels is just as damaging as high blood sugar levels, and the body sends stress and hunger signals to get you to eat a pick me up quick, like carbs, sweets or caffeine.
Now, the result of chronically elevated or even just frequently elevated blood sugar and insulin levels is high inflammation levels, higher levels of certain inflammatory chemicals that can contribute to endo development like cytokines, prostaglandins and AGEs, higher levels of pain due to the higher inflammation levels, higher testosterone levels, oestrogen dominance and low progesterone. Now, I am certainly not saying you have endo because of your high blood sugar levels (there is a multitude of factors that create the perfect storm for endo), but we do know that these inflammatory chemicals contribute to endo development and pain, and that high blood sugar levels also increases these chemicals in the body, so naturally, keeping them down is a sensible approach to help with managing endo.
Of course, every body is different, and so your individual responses to blood sugar spikes will be just that - individual. But in general, this is the impact and how much spikes affect you will vary based on your genetics, lifestyle, other ways you support your hormones, etc. In my experience and I know in the experience of my colleagues, I see blood sugar management as one of the key strategies for lowering endo symptoms and hormonal problems.
So, I’m sure many of you are thinking that the obvious way to manage blood sugar is to focus on nutrition, and you are right. However, I know for some people, that feels triggering, and for others, they may have their nutrition down, but they’re still struggling with blood sugar swings.
So, this episode is about three other areas that could be affecting your blood sugar, and some extra tips on how to get started with these.
If you want to learn how to manage your blood sugar from a nutrition perspective, I have a heap of articles and podcast episodes on the subject, which I’ll link in the show notes, as well as masterclass dedicated to blood sugar.
So, here are three other areas that you can consider working on -
Movement
Movement is one of the best ways we can manage blood sugar in the short term and the long term. When we use our muscles, they use the glucose in our blood stream and cells for fuel and this occurs both in the moment and after exercise. In fact, various studies show that even just a single session of moderate exercise or high intensity exercise can improve insulin sensitivity and blood sugar levels for an entire day and even longer in some cases.
Research also shows that moderate-intensity exercise or movement after a meal has better affects for post-meal blood sugar than before a meal, with much research pointing to simply brisk-walking for at least 10 minutes after meals.
Additionally, the more lean muscle we have, the better our blood sugar is in general as it improves insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity is how responsive cells are to insulin, it’s like them opening the door to the Amazon delivery driver to receive the package. When we have good insulin sensitivity, our blood sugar levels don’t get as high because our body is accepting glucose easily and the pancreas doesn’t need to crank up the insulin to get our cells to take it in - and one of the most damaging problems from blood sugar dysregulation is elevated insulin. Now, the opposite of this is insulin resistance, and this is basically pre diabetes. It is when one’s blood sugar levels and insulin levels spike so frequently, that the cells have become resistant to insulin as almost a protective mechanism, and so blood sugar keeps rising because the cells aren’t accepting glucose, and insulin keeps rising too.
The great news is, insulin resistance is very reversible with lifestyle and dietary changes like regular exercise or even just walking, if that’s all you can manage right now.
And if you’re currently experiencing too much pain for exercise, there are other key factors I list here, and there are also lots of hacks and tips you can use for managing blood sugar that I share in other articles, episodes, masterclasses and courses.
Sleep
Lack of sleep is a key contributor to unstable blood sugar and increased risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
Multiple studies have shown that less than six hours sleep causes temporary insulin resistance the following day, which means your body is needing more and more insulin to try and stabilise your blood sugar levels, and your blood sugar as a result gets higher than it would normally.
One study found that healthy participants developed insulin resistance and blood sugar patterns that would be classified as pre diabetes after having four hours sleep per night for just one week. Another, showed that women who had less than 6.2 hours of sleep per night for six weeks, had a significant increase in insulin resistance and the restriction was just a 90 minute reduction in the amount of sleep these women typically had.
Now, if you have terrible sleep, please don’t panic and don’t feel like you’re to blame. As a community, we face a lot of challenges with our sleep, and I have had first hand experience of this, having had several years living off four hours sleep a night due to extreme chronic bladder pain due to interstitial cystitis (which by the way, I am pleased to report is much more under control now). So, you’re not alone.
I have multiple articles and podcasts on ways to improve your sleep and also factors that can cause sleep problems.
However, here are a few tips -
If pain is what keeps you awake, look at my short-term pain relief strategies as a temporary solution, things like ginger supplements, BeYou patches and magnesium balm can actually make a significant difference, but you’re going to need to test out what works for you and also layer them for best effects, most of the time, one strategy won’t cut it.
Then look at longer term supplements that are as effective as NSAIDS for pain relief or have shown pain improvements such as NAC, pycnogenol, and curcumin. Now of course, the foundations of health matter here and two of the biggest influencers of inflammation (and therefore pain) are nutrition and blood sugar, so I would recommend starting there and then exploring areas like pelvic floor problems and nervous system regulation. All of this can take time to work through, so don’t rush the process, I expect it may take a six months to a year to make the changes, though I hope you’ll see some improvements in the first three months.
If you’re waking up in the early hours, this probably has a lot to do with your blood sugar and so my first step would be to look at your evening meal, and I’ve linked directly to a podcast to help with this exact issue in the show notes.
If your problem is you can’t get to sleep, this is probably to do with something called your HPA axis, and that your melatonin is too low at night and your cortisol is too high. So, again, I’ve linked to a direct episode that provides you with strategies to start working on this.
Changing your sleep can take time, so give yourself grace during this process.
Stress
Cortisol and adrenaline, our stress hormones, are two more influencers of our blood sugar levels. To understand this, we need to understand what happens during the stress response.
When we are stressed by something, our body sends signals to our adrenals to release adrenaline first, and then cortisol. Adrenaline gives us that initial surge to fight or run, and cortisol sort of picks up the pieces and gives us the sustained resources to deal with the stressful situation in the longer-term (however long that threat lasts for). Adrenaline releases stored glucose from our muscles, liver, etc. and floods our system with glucose so that we have the energy to fight or run, and cortisol continues to maintain elevated blood glucose levels by promoting the release of glucose from the liver. Cortisol also inhibits insulin production in an effort to prevent glucose from being stored, ensuring that it remains available for immediate use by the muscles and brain.
This is all well and good in the moment we need it, but if you’re someone like me, who often lives in flight or fight, or faces every day stressors due to a work environment, financial stressors, physical stressors like health concerns, etc. it can create blood sugar issues even when you’re eating for blood sugar balance.
So, what can we do about it?
For those of us who have faced trauma in their life or prolonged periods of stress, we tend to have a nervous system that is stuck in flight or fight - even typical every day stressors are seen by the body and brain as a significant threat, and it doesn’t take much to tip our bodies into panic mode. For those of us, we often need bigger work, like comprehensive nervous system regulation to teach us how to feel safe again.
If this feels like you, I do offer some techniques in my podcast and articles, which I’ll link to, and of course I deeper dive into this in my courses, but I will also point you towards a fantastic Jessica Maguire, who is an expert in this field. So, I’ll link to her website and resources in the show notes and just so you know, this is not a sponsored link, she doesn’t even know who I am! But I have done a couple of her courses.
Now, for those of us who just need some ways to manage stress (and even for those of us who need more extensive work) one of my favourite tools is tapping, or what is know as the emotional freedom technique. Tapping has been shown to interrupt the stress response and lower cortisol levels by a huge 43%! I have to say, not much works for me to calm me down, but tapping is one of the most effective methods I have tried. I have linked to an app. in the show notes which I like for both learning about and practicing tapping, they have free videos on their site, which you can just use ongoing, but if you want to, you can pay for the app. I believe they now have an endometriosis tapping video as well.
There are other strategies that I list in those podcast episodes and articles I mentioned, so do check out the show notes for those, but for those of you who have the budget and feel like you need real help with this, there are now evidence-based devices on the market that have been proven to regulate the nervous system via the vagus nerve. One of these is Sensate, and I actually interviewed the founder a few years back and so I’ll link to that episode. I’m afraid to say at the time of the episode I had a discount code, but I no longer have that and it is fairly pricey at around £200. Now there is another device on the market called Neurosym, and it has a lot of incredible research behind it, not just for stress and the nervous system but for chronic conditions like POTS and long COVID as well as fatigue and inflammation, and I do know that clinically endometriosis patients are responding well to it, though I don’t think we have any studies on that yet. Unfortunately, it is far from cheap, at £600, but if you have the budget, it may be worth exploring. At that price, I haven’t been able to afford it and I’m not sure it’s on the cards in the future either, but I think it’s a fascinating device with some incredible research behind it, and it may prove invaluable to our community in time, I just hope they somehow make it more accessible. I’m going to try and get the scientists behind the device on the show regardless.
But, if you want a cheaper way to start interrupting your stress response, I couldn’t recommend tapping more!
Okay, so that’s it for today. I hope this gives you either some areas to continue working on if you’re eating for blood sugar but still struggling to balance it, or if you’re new to blood sugar management but you don’t want to start with nutrition.
If these areas feel too big, remember to start small and steady. You could just add a 10 minute or even 5 minute walk after one meal a day, or even just one meal per week if you’re physically struggling to move. Or maybe you start tapping a few times a week, or perhaps, you simply start turning off the main lights an hour earlier in the evening to start increasing your levels of melatonin.
You don’t have to make huge changes for big results, the most impact comes from realistic and gradual changes made consistently over time.
Okay, I’ll see you all next week!
Show Notes
Nutrition and blood sugar
https://endometriosis.net/living/how-to-balance-your-blood-sugar-levels-to-reduce-endo-symptoms
https://endometriosis.net/living/diet-sugar
Movement
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3747878/
https://shapeamerica.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/026404102321011715
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23467903/
Sleep
Walker, M. (2017). Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams. Scribner.
https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/shortening-sleep-time-increases-diabetes-risk-women
https://endometriosis.net/living/pain-relief-natural
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/hpa-axis-dysfunction-healing-tips-endometriosis?rq=sleep
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/night-waking-endo?rq=sleep
Masterclasses in endo nutrition, surgery prep and recovery and pain relief
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/supplements-shown-to-target-endometriosis?rq=supplements
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/supplements-for-period-pain-menstrual-symptoms?rq=supplements
https://endometriosis.net/living/diet-inflammation
Stress
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20660036/
https://www.thetappingsolution.com/science-research/
https://endometriosis.net/living/reduce-pain
https://nurosym.com/pages/clinical-evidence
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/sensate-vagus-nerve-toning?rq=sensate
https://www.getsensate.com
https://www.jessicamaguire.com
Free resources:
This podcast!
Ways to work with me:
This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast digital cookbook
Masterclasses in endo nutrition, surgery prep and recovery and pain relief
Live and Thrive with Endo: The Foundations DIY course
One to one coaching info and application
This episode is sponsored by BeYou Cramp Relief Patches. Soothe period cramps the natural way with these 100% natural and discreet menthol and eucalyptus oil stick on patches. Click here to find out more and to shop: https://beyouonline.co.uk/pages/how-it-works
Produced by Chris Robson