How’s your blood sugar looking?
Ok, at this point in the course you should have 5 days worth of blood sugar readings. They don’t have to be sequential days. Just make sure you have 5 days worth of data. This data should be recorded on five different pages of your companion guide.
Do you have blood sugar irregularities?
To beat fatigue, you’re going to want to ensure that your blood sugar readings fall within the functional reference ranges. I’ve listed these ranges below and on pg. 20 of your companion guide.
- Elevated blood sugar
- Fasting: Any reading greater than 4.7mmol/L or 85mg/dl indicates that your blood sugar is elevated.
- Postprandial: Any reading greater than 5 – 6.4 mmol/L or 90 – 115 mg/dl 2 hours after eating indicates that your blood sugar is elevated.
- Low blood sugar
- Any reading below 4.2mmol/L or 75mg/dl whether your reading is when fasted or after eating (at any time) or indicates that your blood sugar is low.
If your readings fall outside of this range, you’ve just received your first clue as to how blood sugar irregularities contribute to your fatigue.
What was your blood sugar reading during the time of day when your fatigue was most intense?
If you noticed it to be out of range during this time, you have another clue suggesting that your blood sugar is causing fatigue!
What does it mean if you get a high reading?
This is the first warning sign that your body is struggling to regulate its blood sugar. High readings are indicative of excess sugar being left in your blood.
In this case, your body is struggling to move sugars from the blood (where they’re dangerous) into the cells (where they’re safe). Often, this is caused by a phenomenon called insulin resistance.
Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas, an organ located behind the stomach. The pancreas contains clusters of cells called islets. Beta cells within the islets make insulin and release it into the blood.
After eating, your blood sugar levels will rise. To ensure the sugar does not remain in your blood, your pancreas releases insulin. Sugar cannot enter your cells without insulin – think of insulin as the key that opens the door to your cells.
With the assistance of insulin, sugar can now be absorbed by your muscle, fat, and liver cells. This movement of sugar from your blood into your cells lowers blood sugar.
In insulin resistance, your body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin and cannot easily absorb sugar from the bloodstream. It’s like the key (insulin) no longer open the door (your cells) like it once did. As a result, your body needs higher levels of insulin to help sugar enter cells.
The beta cells in the pancreas try to keep up with this increased demand for insulin by producing more. As long as the beta cells are able to produce enough insulin to overcome the insulin resistance, blood glucose levels stay in a healthy range. This is often when you’ll start to experience fatigue. Fatigue will likely be your only symptom at this time.
However, over time insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes and prediabetes because the beta cells fail to keep up with the body’s increased need for insulin. Without enough insulin, excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, leading to diabetes, prediabetes, and fatigue!
What does it mean if you get a low reading?
Low blood sugar is not better nor preferred than high blood sugar. Low blood sugar is another sign that your body is struggling to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. Often, the main symptom of low blood sugar is fatigue.
As you now know, glucose is the main energy source for your body, but it can’t enter the cells of most of your tissues without the help of insulin — a hormone secreted by your pancreas. When glucose levels rise, the beta cells in your pancreas release insulin. This allows glucose to enter the cells and provide the fuel your cells need to function properly. Any extra glucose is stored in your liver, muscles, or adipose (fat) tissue in the form of glycogen.
If you haven’t eaten for several hours, it’s likely that your blood sugar level will be low. In this instance, another hormone from your pancreas called glucagon signals your liver to break down the stored glycogen and release glucose back into your bloodstream. This keeps your blood sugar level within a normal range until you eat again.
Low blood sugar or hypoglycemia usually occurs when you’re in a fasting state, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes hypoglycemia occurs after meals because the body produces more insulin than is needed.
This type of hypoglycemia, called reactive or postprandial hypoglycemia, can occur when you eat a carbohydrate that your body does not tolerate well. In this course, you’re going to find out exactly what those foods are!
Hypoglycemia can also occur when you have low levels of cortisol. Adrenal fatigue is a controversial medical condition that is characterized by low levels of cortisol. Adequate levels of cortisol are needed to pull glucose out of your cells and back into your blood.
If you are suffering from a condition like adrenal fatigue where you have low cortisol levels, it’s likely you’ll experience low blood sugar. Remember, this is a two-way street! Low blood sugar levels can also cause adrenal fatigue.
Food and blood sugar
In the next section, you’re going to find out just how food affects your blood sugar. Even if your readings were perfect in this section, when you throw food into the equation, everything changes.
In section 3, you’ll use this information to create your own personalized fatigue-beating nutrition plan.
I’ll see you in the next lesson!