Natural Solutions for Blood Sugar Management

Blood sugar regulation is important for our overall health. Blood sugar spikes and crashes can impact physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Keeping our blood sugar levels more even throughout the day can provide stability for our body that can improve conditions like anxiety, depression, fatigue, and chronic pain. Blood sugar dysregulation can eventually lead to diabetes but even for people with healthy blood sugar levels, spikes and crashes in blood sugar can cause physical, mental, and emotional symptoms.

Blood sugar dysregulation can cause:

  • fatigue

  • insomnia and restless sleep

  • anxiety, irritability, and depressed mood

  • brain fog and trouble focusing

Diet and Lifestyle Changes

If you are at increased risk of developing diabetes, making lifestyle and diet changes may help lower your risk. The foods we eat directly impact our blood sugar levels. When we eat foods full of sugars or refined carbohydrates, our blood sugar increases quickly and can drop quickly after a couple of hours. Foods with protein, fat, and fiber tend to raise our blood sugar more slowly and evenly. 

Plant-based diets with plenty of fiber, protein, and healthy fat are helpful for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.

Plant-based diets with plenty of fiber, protein, and healthy fat are helpful for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.

That doesn’t mean we should never eat sugar or carbohydrates but making healthy foods choice most of the time can help us maintain healthy blood sugar levels. When managing blood sugar, balancing meals and snacks with protein, fat, and fiber will help keep things even and stable. Diet changes are a big part of reducing risk, but there are other things you can do to help lower your risk.

  • Get enough sleep: too little (<6 hours) or too much sleep (>8 hours) increases the risk of diabetes.

  • Manage your mental health: people with anxiety, depression, and stress are at higher risk.

  • Move your body: exercising 150-175 minutes per week has been shown to reduce risk of diabetes by 40-70%!

There are other natural options that may help with blood sugar management. As always, make sure you consult a doctor before starting any new herbs or supplements.

Gymnema

Gymnema silvestre is a powerful herb for managing blood sugar. This herb is well-known for its antidiabetic actions and has been shown to lower blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c (a measure of our blood sugar over three months). 

The coolest thing about gymnema is that gymnemic acid, one of the main compounds found in the herb, actually suppresses our tongue’s ability to sense sweetness. That means taking a little gymnema before drinking a sugary soda or eating sweets can make those foods taste less appealing. For those of us who struggle with sugar cravings (including myself), this can be hugely helpful.

Carnitine

Carnitine is an amino acid that helps our bodies transport long chain fatty acids into our mitochondria (the powerhouses of our cells) so these fatty acids can be used for fuel. This amino acid has been studied as a treatment for various heart and metabolic conditions. 

In people with blood sugar management issues or diabetes, carnitine has been shown to improve blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and cholesterol. In people with diabetes, low levels of carnitine are associated with diabetic complications. 

Certain supplements like chromium and zinc may be helpful for people with blood sugar management issues.

Certain supplements like chromium and zinc may be helpful for people with blood sugar management issues.

Chromium

Chromium helps insulin do its job. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. In the presence of glucose, insulin causes cells to take in glucose and use it as fuel. With insulin resistance, our cells stop listening to insulin so our blood sugar stays high and never gets used by the cells. 

Chromium is a trace mineral our bodies use to help insulin work better. This mineral increases enzyme activity that signals cells to respond to insulin so it can help decrease insulin resistance. Chromium supplementation has also been shown to reduce blood sugar levels and certain risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Zinc

Zinc is necessary for proper insulin function, carbohydrate metabolism, and protection from oxidative stress. When blood sugar is too high, our kidneys try to flush it out of the body. Unfortunately, certain minerals like zinc and magnesium get flushed out with the sugar. People with diabetes are likely to have lower levels of zinc than people without diabetes. 

As a therapeutic agent, zinc has a lot of promise for helping people with blood sugar management issues. Studies show that zinc may be helpful in lowering blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, and cholesterol in people with diabetes.

Conclusion

Managing blood sugar is important for everyone, not just people with diabetes. Diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management are all essential for maintaining healthy blood sugar. Natural options like mineral supplements, herbs, and amino acids can also help improve blood sugar levels, hemoglobin A1c, and cholesterol. Remember, consult a doctor before starting any new supplements or herbs and check out my website https://www.drjoshcorn.com/diabetes to learn more about how I help clients manage diabetes.


References

  1. A scientific review: the role of chromium in insulin resistance. Diabetes Educ. 2004;Suppl:2-14.

  2. Bene J, Hadzsiev K, Melegh B. Role of carnitine and its derivatives in the development and management of type 2 diabetes. Nutr Diabetes. 2018 Mar 7;8(1):8.

  3. Jayawardena R, Ranasinghe P, Galappatthy P, Malkanthi R, Constantine G, Katulanda P. Effects of zinc supplementation on diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2012 Apr 19;4(1):13.

  4. Khan F, Sarker MMR, Ming LC, Mohamed IN, Zhao C, Sheikh BY, Tsong HF, Rashid MA. Comprehensive Review on Phytochemicals, Pharmacological and Clinical Potentials of Gymnema sylvestre. Front Pharmacol. 2019 Oct 29;10:1223.

Joshua Corn