Trying to optimize your lifestyle by getting normal blood glucose levels?
Are you wondering what tools are at your disposal?
Well, you’re in luck. This information is not only freely available, but there are dozens of tools at your disposal.
And the best part is, you can eat carbs.
Low carb diets for attaining normal blood glucose levels
Low carb diets absolutely work to lower your blood glucose levels. But many of us like carbs, and a low carb diet is completely unnecessary to keep your glucose levels in check? Furthermore, cheating on low carb diets causes your blood glucose levels to skyrocket. How do I know?
Well, I’ve done low carb diets many times in my life. Consequently, I also know what my hemoglobin A1c is when I do them. It generally fluctuates between 4.7% and 5.0%.
But now, I eat a high carb diet. I’d estimate my carbohydrate intake to be in excess of 300g per day(I don’t count). So, what’s my A1c eating this way? Last month it was 4.7%, and it hasn’t gone over 4.9% in the last 2-3 years. (Note: I measure quarterly)
For those not in the know A1c is a 3-month average of your blood glucose. A 4.7% is a 3-month average of 90mg/dL, 4.9% is 97mg/dL. That’s average glucose, not average fasting glucose. On 300g of carbs/day.
How do I do it? I simply dug into the research, identified all the factors that have an impact on my blood glucose levels, and developed a plan. But you don’t have to any of the legwork I have.
There’s an excellent resource available to you that you can use to formulate your own plan.
42 factors for getting normal blood glucose levels
The folks at Diatribe were awesome enough to put together a wonderful infographic to help people with diabetes better manage their glucose. They scoured the research and found 42 ways for a diabetic to manage their glucose. But don’t worry, 31 of them apply to healthy people.
You can access this excellent infographic as well as explanations for each of the factors at https://diatribe.org/42factorsexplained.
The best part is you can build a protocol that works best for you, whether you have diabetes or not. That’s what I did, I just didn’t have the legwork done for me.
The factors I use to keep my glucose levels in check
I use a few of these tips to keep my blood glucose in check. I mostly consume higher quality, unprocessed carbohydrates from fruit and vegetables. Furthermore, I tend to consume them earlier in the day when insulin sensitivity is highest.
I prioritize my sleep, and developed a sleep hygiene protocol that helps me fall and stay asleep. I suppose I manage my stress, but I’ve always sort of done that.
I get high levels of physical activity throughout the day, and I also strength train 4-5x/wk. This helps my muscles act like glucose disposal units.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I was pre-diabetic in my late 20s. Therefore, understanding the important role in maintaining a healthy bodyweight and how that plays into developing type 2 diabetes is also important.
If you haven’t yet, check out our video blog on Type 2 diabetes and how to reverse it below:
Conclusion
These 42 factors on managing normal blood glucose levels are excellent. If you think blood glucose levels are important for your health, use them appropriately to develop a program for yourself.
If you currently eat carbs and like doing so, you can keep doing so and lower you glucose levels.
If you’re already knee-deep in a low carb or ketogenic diet, you now have the tools necessary to claw your way back to carb life. I remember when I did some oral glucose tolerance tests while doing low carb Paleo back in 2012.
To say I failed miserably is an understatement. And my first impression was that this was because I was carb intolerant, which I was. But that’s because I wasn’t eating carbs, and I wasn’t doing the other things that I could.
And this is a big problem because I liked to go off from time to time. So I leveraged the data available and transitioned back to the carb-consuming world with the help of a Fitbit and the CVS at-home testing kit.
This allowed me to make tweaks on the fly and not only rely on my yearly comprehensive metabolic panel for my A1c. So take this information and put it to good use!
You can have your carbs and optimal blood glucose too! Don’t delay, develop your plan and put it into action!