The Truth Behind High Blood Sugar
We are all taught that sugar is what gives energy to the human body, which is true, but is only a single chapter in the story behind our body’s ability to complete its billions of tasks day in and day out. Sugar is a life-giving, vital substance, but has also been described as one of the biggest killers in our society. In this blog, I want to explain how our body builds energy from sugar, uses this energy, and what can go wrong in the process. I will also simplify what it means when your doctor tells you that you have high or low blood sugar or a high A1C. This will help you understand what diabetes, pre-diabetes, or metabolic syndrome really means to your health and your future. I will also discuss why the cards are stacked against us in a fight to maintain healthy blood sugar levels along with what to do if you have found your levels to be elevated.
Why is sugar important?
Just like an automobile runs on gas, our body runs on its own form of energy. The creation of this energy comes from a small organelle contained in every one of our thirty trillion human cells called mitochondria. This organelle is our powerhouse (like the automobile engine) that produces fuel known as ATP. The little mitochondria use sugar that passes through the cell wall. They then break it down with the help of chemical enzymes which generate energy in the form of ATP. Basically, our mitochondria burn sugar to produce energy for our body cells to function. So obviously, the more efficient we are at utilizing sugar, the more energetic every cell and our overall body will be.
The energy produced from proper utilization of sugar and ATP production is used for ALL body functions. It enables our muscles to contract, our digestive tract to digest and absorb food, for building and replacing new cells, for the immune system to respond to infective agents, and most importantly, for our brains to work along with many other tasks. So, proper functioning of the sugar metabolism through the mitochondria and building of ATP is one of the most vital functions in our body.
What role does the liver play?
Your liver is a key organ in regulating the sugar level in your blood. When we eat more sugar and carbohydrates than our liver can handle, it converts the excess sugar into a fat called triglycerides that circulates in your blood. It can also lead to a fatty build up in the liver itself (fatty liver). Much of this fatty triglyceride is sent out into your bloodstream and will often end up stored in our body tissues. This type of fat can be broken down for energy during food shortages or famines, but because this seldom happens in our plentiful society, the fat just continues to slowly accumulate causing your waistline to grow. Also, when we overeat high sugar foods and carbohydrates, our cells are overworked in trying to absorb them, causing a burn out. Eventually the cells simply resist absorbing sugar and insulin. Now, we have the perfect storm of weight gain, low energy, high blood sugar, and numerous other health issues. With the liver so important in stabilizing blood sugar, we can see how any excessive alcohol consumption, which highly stresses the liver, can be a big contributor to blood sugar problems.
Blood sugar, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and the pancreas.
So what does it mean when your doctor tells you are a diabetic or a pre-diabetic? Now is the point to discuss the Pancreas, the second major organ in this ever growing health epidemic. Your pancreas is an organ lying just to the left of your stomach. It has several very important functions, one of which is to produce the hormone insulin. Insulin is used to help your body move sugar from the blood into the cells. It latches onto sugar molecules and escorts them through the cell membrane where the mitochondria can use it to produce ATP for energy. A beautiful symphony of multiple levels of functionality and one of the most important roles of our body.
DIABETES is a disease which can be hereditary (Type 1) or caused from chronic overconsumption of sugar based foods (Type 2). With Type 2 diabetes, the cells are chronically bombarded with too much sugar so they shut down the function of the cell membrane’s ability to absorb the insulin-sugar molecules. What we see now, is that an excess of sugar builds up in your blood stream. Sensing this high blood sugar, the pancreas becomes over-stimulated producing more insulin in an attempt to lower the sugar build-up (now you have the diagnosis of high blood sugar and insulin). This is known as pre-diabetes. If not corrected, the stress of this condition begins to develop into other health problems and your pancreas can eventually stop producing insulin. When enough problems are developed, you will be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. This simply means that you have a group of conditions that together increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and stroke.
When your blood sugar remains elevated for three months or more, your doctor will tell you that your A1C is high. A1C is defined as a measurement of long term high blood sugar. This is generally a sign that your pancreas is producing less and less insulin. This elevation of blood sugar begins a cascade of dysfunction that needs to be addressed immediately. The condition is often associated with symptoms of excessive thirst to try and flush the sugar out which leads to frequent urination. You may also have fatigue, weight gain (especially around the waist), blurred vision, and tingling and numbness in your feet. If not corrected, this leads into what will be diagnosed as outright DIABETES (very high blood sugar and pancreas shut down). With this diagnosis, you can expect grave health problems such as heart disease, total loss of vision, kidney disease, and patterns of numbness in your extremities that can result in ulcers and tissue death. With the risk of such serious health issues, why is it so hard for people to simply limit the amount of sugar they eat?
How we are being misled.
Statistically, in the American diet, it is estimated that 42% of our calories are coming from food that converts directly to sugar. These are empty calories that give the body nothing that it needs!!! The key is to get enough of the right kind of sugar to keep a stable level in our bloodstream. With this, the cells can all get along, produce enough energy, and keep us healthy. BUT, our population has been led astray and tricked into believing that all sugars are the same and all work the same in our body...NOT SO!!
Certain foods create a rapid rise in blood sugar leading to an even larger crash causing foggy thinking, energy drain, irritability, and inattentive behavior (all common symptoms in children diagnosed with ADD or ADHD). The types of foods that result in this type of body response are what you see advertised on TV, especially in commercials during children’s programs. These include but are not limited to soda, sugar-sweetened beverages, added sugar of any kind, candy, products with REFINED grains such as breads, pasta, crackers, tortillas, chips, cookies, pastries, cakes, cereals, alcohol, and even fruit juices.
All of these food products contain what is known as simple sugars which when eaten frequently, can eventually result in cellular changes that affect how efficiently your cells absorb sugar. If your cells no longer allow sugar to pass through their cell membrane, it gets stuck hanging around in your blood. So if this sugar cannot get into your cells to make ATP, where do you get your energy? GREAT QUESTION!!! Your body knows you must have energy to survive and you must have sugar to create energy, so it will use its natural intelligence to make you crave more sugary foods. So, instead of this sugar getting into the cells where it is vitally needed, it simply continues to build up in the bloodstream. Now you get locked into a very unhealthy pattern of eating high sugar foods in an attempt to survive!
This high sugar dietary persuasion is not by accident. The food industry is very shrewd and knows how to create food addictions and lifetime customers by making things sweet. AddictionCenter.com demonstrates that a chronic high sugar diet alters your brain chemistry no differently than when one becomes addicted to drugs like cocaine. This is serious business! We need to see refined sugar for what it is…an addictive, dangerous drug that has been included in up to 74% of packaged foods in America. Sugar shows up on labels hidden in 56 different names, so we must educate ourselves!
What can I do?
If your doctor says you have pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome, or diabetes, that means your diet and exercise habits must change. Your blood sugar is too high because you have overtaxed the cells and they are rejecting sugar and insulin. You must eliminate all refined sugar products and begin to eat a low glycemic diet (foods with low sugar or a type of sugar your body easily metabolizes). Examples of low glycemic foods are oats for breakfast, apples, grapefruit, vegetables, lentils, nuts, and beans. If you eat grains, make them whole, minimally processed grains (never processed white bread). All meat is low glycemic and helps to stabilize your blood sugar. In addition to these dietary changes, you must encourage proper function of the cell membrane reversing the rejection of insulin and sugar absorption. The most efficient way to do this is low intensity, regular exercise which burns up the excess sugar in your blood and encourages your body to search for fat cells to break down. This is how you shrink that tummy fat and lose unhealthy weight.
Whether you have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic, diabetic or having metabolic syndrome, they all indicate a chronically poor diet and often lack of exercise. Our typical processed American diet is overflowing with toxic chemicals, way too much sugar, and is slowly killing us. It is time to begin to shop in the organic section, choose less packaged, highly processed foods, eat higher fat, organic, pasture raised meats, fiber rich foods, a more colorful diet (different color fruits and vegetables), and get off the couch and exercise more! I guarantee, the more stable your blood sugar, the better you will feel, and you will see many of your aches, pains, and health issues melt away!
If you are currently suffering from blood sugar issues and would like help, give us a call! We will guide you through this process while supporting the body as it makes the applicable changes. We will also look into any deeper issues (emotional/energetic) that may be holding you back from lowering these numbers. Every person’s needs are different, but a common supplement we use to help regulate blood sugar levels is Jambola from Physica. You can purchase this item by clicking the link and we will have it ready for you to pick up in the office. For those interested in scheduling an appointment or would simply like more information, you can click the link below to be redirected to our contact page. We would love to work with you!
