Having high blood sugar levels can be very dangerous in the long term.
That's why it's vitally important to lower your sugar level quickly.
In this article, you will learn 12 healthy tips to get your glucose levels under control within 6 weeks.
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How to get high sugar levels under control within 6 weeks
If your blood sugar suddenly skyrockets, it can be dangerous. You can become hyperglycemic, with all the negative consequences that may lead to.
Thankfully, there are ways to lower high blood sugar levels and keep them in place without having to take medication.
Type 2 diabetes has several complications that are quite serious, and one of the leading causes of these is excessive blood sugar levels.
Just to remind you, I am not a doctor, neither do I aspire to be one, and to reiterate that you should always consult with your doctor before deciding how to deal with your illness.
Nevertheless, scientific research shows that there are many ways to keep your blood sugar systematically low and, therefore, reduce the likelihood of future complications.
Some measures prevent you from getting sugar spikes and dips. Others make your body more sensitive to insulin, so the spikes and dips have less impact.
Purpose of this article
In this article, I will give you these tricks to lower your high blood sugar levels. You'll be getting 12 tips that can reverse your diabetes within several weeks.
This way, you can ease through life without experiencing symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and a dry mouth.
So, this is what you have to do if you suffer from high blood sugar:
#1 Eat a protein-rich breakfast to prevent high blood sugar levels
"A hearty breakfast is a good start to the day."
Especially if you have diabetes.
Breakfast, for many people, is a bowl of cereal, or some sort of dough-based product like toast and marmalade or chocolate croissants. Neither could be deemed exactly hearty. They are full of easy to process sugars that spike your blood sugar in a very unhealthy way.
And the problem is not only the blood-sugar spike but also the sudden drop that follows it.
When you find yourself having to deal with your blood sugar in free fall several hours after your breakfast, it's not nice. You get tired and you get even more hungry. Your body wants to ingest more sugar, thus repeating the unhealthy spikes and drops and eventually sending you into a downward spiral.
The fewer ups and downs you experience, the better it is. Fats and proteins prevent fluctuating blood sugar levels.
This is the best way to feel full at the beginning of the day
Checklist of breakfast products that saturate
Take a large portion of one of these products and you will see for yourself that they fill you up nicely. Leave a tiny space for the second part of your breakfast: the carbs. This can prevent high blood sugar.
Take, for example, two wholemeal sandwiches with thick slices of any meat product. Or eat a bowl of Greek yogurt with an apple.
Additional information
You might think: "Fried eggs for breakfast? That can't be healthy, can it?"
In fact, the very opposite is true, and it's been proved.
Eggs raise your good cholesterol and lower your bad cholesterol. For which your cholesterol level will thank you kindly. And please don't let any vegan radicals convince you otherwise.
What's more, egg yolks are packed with nutrients. You won't find many foods as healthy or as full of vitamins and minerals as eggs. So, don't miss out on them!
#2 Keep sugars at the ideal level
Unfortunately, I can't give you a magic spell that'll solve all your problems at once. Lowering your blood sugar is something only you can do by paying constant attention to developing good habits.
The main reason your blood sugar is high is that your body is unable to process all the sugars and carbs you eat.
I am a big believer in eating less unhealthy sugars. There are plenty of products to replace those sugars with. Also, sugars are not nearly as necessary as you might think, especially with blood sugar levels that are too high.
Watch out
What contains lots of sugars?
The average person eats a lot of sugar and carbs every day. Why? Because 80% of the diet of the average person consists of the products listed above.
Here's an example of an unhealthy yet fairly typical menu many people have:
All these meals contain lots of carbs and sugar.
As a diabetes patient, you have to avoid this at all costs.
#3 Eat wholewheat products
When it is time to choose your carbohydrate source, there is one principle to keep in mind. And that is that wholewheat products are always healthier than the non-wholewheat variety.
Wholewheat products contain fiber that lowers the glycemic index (GI).
The glycemic index indicates how fast and high your blood sugar level rises after eating a specific product. Ideally, this value is as low as possible. This will prevent fluctuations in your blood sugar.
Wholewheat sources contain more fiber than the regular variant. This means that the sugars are absorbed a lot more slowly.
Two wholewheat sandwiches are similar to two white sandwiches mixed with a lot of arugula and bell peppers. The arugula and peppers are full of fiber, which slows down the absorption of sugars.
Tip!
"Does this mean that if you eat wholewheat bread, you can avoid eating vegetables?"
No, absolutely not. Fiber is a must for diabetic patients! Ideally, you should eat relatively small amounts of carbs, and the carbs that you do eat should to be high in fiber. For example vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes.
#4 Eat colorful vegetables to lower your high blood sugar
Suppose you eat a meal with something wholewheat in it. That's a great start. But the meal will be much better if you stuff it with all kinds of colorful vegetables.
"That's because the fiber in vegetables will cause your body to digest it more slowly, so your blood sugar level will not roller-coaster in all directions."
Nutrition scientists disagree about almost all major themes. That is because we do not know enough about food to come to a definite conclusion. There is too little high-quality research. That's why you hear so many contradictory messages in the media.
But there is one thing that all nutrition scientists agree upon. And that is that vegetables are healthy.
There is (as far as we know) not one dietitian or scientist on earth that is willing to claim that you should eat fewer vegetables to prevent high blood sugar levels.
That is because most people eat too few to start with.
Which is a shame because the properties of vegetables are fantastic. Here are several advantages:
Help! But what if I don't like vegetables?
Do you still struggle to eat your endives or your Brussels sprouts?
That doesn't matter at all. Most people prefer meat or pasta to vegetables. But most people can name a couple of vegetables that they find tastier than others.
Tip!
I want you to make a list of three vegetables that you do not find disgusting. You don't have to salivate all over them, but looking at them without gagging would be a good start.
You start with those three vegetables. The next three weeks you just have to alternate these vegetables. One day kale, the next day cauliflower, and the next day the other vegetable that you "find just about ok."
When you prepare this, I want you to pay a lot of attention to the tastiest version. That may be with a homemade sauce so you do not have to think of the taste anymore (for example crème fraîche, sour cream, and cheese).
You may even mash the vegetables and process them in the sauce, or invent any other way to ensure you hardly taste them anymore. It's about getting them in, and how you do it isn't particularly important.
We're talking about you curing your diabetes. See vegetables as medicine. Medication is not always tasty, but it is necessary. And it only works if you take it consistently.
#5 Throw away your deep fryer (and do not order fast food)
I advised you to eat protein-rich foods. And I know that some readers think: "Yes, ok, I'll make some fish 'n' chips and throw a party."
Anyway. Fish 'n' chips are so delicious that many people will not let themselves be stopped by this. In my dorm, in the olden days, everything was thrown into the fryer, from hamburgers to Snickers. And of course, we ate fries every day.
And fries are the ones I want to talk about.
Potatoes are ok... until you put them in the fryer
I'll pretend that it has not been scientifically proven that fried food is carcinogenic. And let's just look critically at what fries really are: "fried potatoes."
Potatoes are, to a degree, healthy when you eat them in moderation.
But when you fry them, they become a real sugar bomb.
This is because, when you heat them in this way, the carbs with the corresponding fiber in the potatoes change in structure.
The carbs with the accompanying fiber are broken down into sugars. The result is that:
I have to admit that despite this warning, my mouth is watering as I type. But if you have diabetes, you better leave them alone. Like all other fried snacks.
#6 Drink coffee and tea
You guessed it. Drinking sugars is of course just as bad as eating sugars. And a salad with a can of Coke, will not make your high blood sugar levels any better.
Sugar from a liquid, such as soft drinks and fruit juices, is absorbed into your bloodstream at lightning speed. Much faster than solid foods. That is why you have to avoid these drinks.
Fortunately, there are good alternatives. Coffee and tea (or herbal tea) contains no sugar and provide a pleasant boost during the day. Would you prefer something sweet? Then you can buy herbal teas with a sweet taste.
For example:
These herbs are themselves sweet by nature. The teas do not contain added sugars, and therefore have no adverse effect on your blood sugar.
And the caffeine in coffee and tea suppresses your hunger. When you replace your daily glass of fresh juice with a cup of coffee, you will have less appetite and you will feel a bit sharper. It is therefore a suitable replacement.
Oh, and drinking water is also good when you suffer from high blood sugar levels. But that one was obvious I think.
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#7 Go to the gym
After you exercise, your blood sugar will be slightly lower during the next 24 hours. This is because your body becomes more sensitive to insulin. Which is useful if you have diabetes.
But when you do resistance training, your body gets better at stabilizing your blood sugar. As a result, you are less affected by fluctuations.
Here are a few examples of different kinds of resistance training.
Lifting weights as an exercise has been highly researched and has been shown to help control your blood sugar. It is, therefore, plausible that you can achieve the same effect when training with your body weight – provided you make the exercises heavy enough. This also applies to yoga.
Help, I don't like to exercise!
Beware
Things to keep in mind when you start exercising:
For people who don't like exercising at all, I have this to say:
Many people can think of nothing worse than going to the gym twice a week to lift heavy weights,
But there are plenty of ways to make exercise fun:
# 8 Eat as Mother Nature intended
You may have noticed that there are several patterns in my articles. One of them is that the most healthy food is food that can be found in nature itself.
Or to put it another way: "Food that has been assembled by people and put together in a factory is unhealthy."
Just look at this list:
Processed products:
Natural products:
The only reason we bring large quantities of natural food to a factory and make a processed product out of it is that it tastes better and lasts longer. The owners of the factory earn huge sums of money because of this.
But this is not nearly as bad as what a bag of biscuits or fruit juice does to your blood sugar. They are somewhere between "factory food" and "natural food".
The only food group that gets healthier after processing is dairy products.
So buttermilk is healthier than regular milk. This is because the lactose (sugar) in milk is converted into certain acids by the lactic acid bacteria. As a result, sour dairy varieties contain less sugar and healthier bacteria. The same applies to yogurt, cottage cheese, and regular cheese.
#9 Eat my favorite dessert
Unfortunately, products that people put together in factories are much sweeter than those we find in Mother Nature's pantry.
But, sweet is tasty, right? And missing out on something tasty just because you want to eat naturally... well, that would be a waste, wouldn't it?
Fortunately, there are many ways to eat "sweet" and stay "healthy":
Below are some delicious recipes that you can occasionally use to indulge yourself:
Ingredients for a healthy dessert:
Recipe:
The result is a creamy choco snack that is reminiscent of ice cream, but a lot creamier and less sweet. It has a strong flavor and makes a delicious after-dinner dessert.
It is important that you use a chocolate bar of 75% cocoa (or sugar-free chocolate). Do you live in a food desert where the maximum is 70%? Okay, you can use that, as long as you don't do it too often. Chocolate bars with a lower percentage of cocoa contain a lot more sugar. So stay away from them.
#10 Eat on time to avoid high blood sugar levels
A good start is half the journey. My tip is to have a hearty breakfast to prevent you from eating sweet things later in the day.
But you can apply this principle more broadly:
For a week, write down what you eat when you get hungry. After a week, you will have discovered a fixed pattern, and you can use it to make the necessary adjustments.
For example, do you get hungry around 3 o'clock after your usual luncheon at noon? Then plan to have your lunch a little later, or eat a healthy snack around 2 o'clock.
This prevents you from being tempted by unhealthy products.
Or have you discovered your blood sugar has increased at the end of the day? If so, be sure to refine the meals leading up to that time so you don't experience it anymore.
These patterns usually become clear if you keep track of your bouts of hunger over a week.
#11 Forgive yourself if you make a mistake
I have given you 10 tips to make sure you get your high blood sugar levels under control without using any medication. To apply all of them requires:
But it's also very important to be forgiving.
Changing your diet is not easy. There are many things to take into account. And we humans are simply not good at multitasking.
Especially if you have a normal life, with a job and a family, it's only a matter of time before you start making mistakes. The temptation to punish yourself can be high. But, of course, this won't make the situation better.
It's better to take a deep breath and forgive yourself for the mistake.
You'll notice that by doing so you make it much easier for yourself in the future.
Because, at that moment, it may seem like you're being strict on yourself, but the feeling of guilt you build up ultimately causes stress.
And that can make you feel hungry at unexpected moments, or want to "reward" yourself to counter the bad feelings you have.
Therefore, be careful about being hard on yourself. Hard work is good, but you don't have to punish yourself all your life. The more balls you have to keep in the air, the less serious it is when one occasionally slips out of your hands.
So, give yourself a kiss, and pick up where you left off. And try again, until the trick is successful and your blood sugar is under control. That's the attitude you need to have to lower high blood sugar levels.
#12 The Diabetes-Free Secret
I saved the most important one till last.
It has recently been discovered that it is possible to reverse type 2 diabetes. And you can find everything you need to do this in your local grocery store.
You can reverse type 2 with one powerful principle. It's something I call "The Diabetes-Free Secret". I have written several pages about this secret that will change your life forever. You will learn:
Enter your e-mail address below and I will send you the E-book for free.
Greetings,
Marloes
PS: What can you do to lower (fasted) blood sugar levels that are too high? Leave a comment below