How can I keep my blood sugar levels stable?

Eating frequent, smaller meals (every few hours) can help to keep your blood sugar more stable.  Concentrate on the protein part of your diet as that is broken down more slowly, also helping your blood sugar to remain more stable.  Please contact your doctor and possibly a dietician to discuss a meal plan and options to keep your blood sugar normal and to control your symptoms.

You can make changes, a few at a time, to slowly lower your blood glucose levels if you have diabetes. Here are some things you may want to change:

•   how much food you eat

•   the kinds of food you eat

•   your activity level

•   how much insulin or medication you take

Eating the right foods is essential to stabilizing blood sugar levels. The first step is to stop eating sugar. You also need to cut back on caffeine, which worsens the symptoms of low blood sugar such as shakiness and irritability when you get hungry. Sugar and caffeine “fan the flames” of sugar addiction, hypoglycemia, and adrenal exhaustion.

It’s important to also avoid processed foods that contain white flour. White flour is quickly converted into sugar in your body. Whole grains are a good alternative, but aim to decrease the amount of bread and pasta you eat overall. To keep your blood sugar on an even keel, don’t let yourself get too hungry. Eating small, frequent, high-protein, low-sugar meals (what’s known as “grazing”), as opposed to the usual three large ones, can make a huge difference in the way you feel.

With three squares a day, meals tend to be too far apart, which allows blood sugar levels to drop down low. When this happens, the urge to reach for unhealthful snacks in order to satisfy cravings can get you into trouble.

Grabbing a quick high-carbohydrate snack may bring your blood sugar level up quickly, but most likely too quickly, after which it could simply crash once again, leaving you searching for your next food fix.

Eating many small meals throughout the day -- as long as the meals are balanced -- can help stabilize your blood sugar, so you don't get energy highs and lows.

The key to the mini-meal approach is to pack your meals with enough nutritional punch and fiber to sustain yourself without adding a lot of unnecessary saturated fat and calories.

To keep your blood glucose levels steady throughout the day, focus on foods that will increase blood sugar levels slowly and stably. Try to include a fiber-rich item, a protein-rich item, or a bit of healthy unsaturated fat in every mini-meal to sustain your energy over a longer period of time. These kinds of food items digest more slowly and raise blood sugar levels more steadily.

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