If you’re into healthy living, you’ve heard a lot about today’s most popular diet plans. These plans include; going keto, eating paleo, or reducing carbohydrates (carbs) and sugars. Yet, even though these diets share the common theme that managing blood sugar with carb intake is good, most people aren’t aware of how this works.
In this article, you’ll learn how carb intake affects blood sugar, how reducing carbs works to bring your body back to its natural metabolic state, and the 3 critical health benefits you’ll enjoy by managing blood sugar.
What is blood sugar?
Blood sugar is a measure of how much glucose you have in your blood. Glucose is a sugar that is converted by the body from carbohydrates and carried to the cells for energy. Blood sugar levels are regulated primarily by the hormone insulin, plus the number of carbs you eat and how fast they are digested.
Keeping blood sugar levels stable is so important that we have a special process acting as a backup system that can make glucose from other substances when carb intake is too low.
Making blood sugar without carbs
Your body has an elaborate set of systems that kick in when blood sugar levels go under a certain level. These systems are set up to maintain brain function and other vital organs when food intake was low like when our ancestors couldn’t find enough food to eat.
- Primary – when you eat carbs, your body converts them to glucose in a straightforward process so they can be taken up into your bloodstream.
- Backup – when your blood sugar levels drop ––usually as a benefit of slightly restricting carbs, your body works to balance this out by making glucose without carbs. This process called gluconeogenesis is slow and steady as it takes a few chemical reactions to makes glucose this way. This brings us to…
Critical benefit #1 – Use stored body fat for energy
As noted above, when carbs are reduced, the system tells the body to release stored body fat, or fats in the diet to make glucose (blood sugar). The release of stored body fat is one reason why people following reduced-carb diets lose body fat more easily than on other diet methods.
Blood sugar and hormones
What happens when blood sugar goes too high, too fast? Well, as blood sugar rises, your body produces insulin to drive the glucose into your cells for energy. The rise in blood sugar is directly linked to how much insulin your body produces. This all works fine unless blood sugar levels are persistently high. When this happens, your body becomes resistant to insulin, and your cells become starved for energy even though you’re eating more than enough carbs.
Critical benefit #2 – Get off the energy roller coaster
The real danger in consistently eating too many carbs is that it puts you on an energy roller-coaster where you feel ok, then weak, then lethargic, then sleepy, and constantly craving even though you are eating lots of carbs. If this sounds like you – even occasionally it’s time to reset the systems that regulate blood sugar. We can do this with insights from the most popular diet plans, and supplements that work with your body’s natural systems to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
The MaxLiving Blood Sugar Reset
Eat low carb – the simplest way to get blood sugar under control is by managing your intake of carbs because they easily become glucose. Eating fewer carbs equals lower blood sugar which kicks in your body’s backup system to maintain proper blood sugar levels. Remember tapping your backup glucose system causes your body to burn fat for energy. More importantly, this normalizes insulin output and sensitizes your body to use less insulin to put energy into your cells. This helps normalize appetite and reduces the risk of diabetes[1][2].
Follow Paleo – the paleo diet is an eating plan based on foods like what would have been eaten before farming, and packaged food became common. The plan includes lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and limits grains, sugar, and processed foods. In general, you aren’t eating foods packed with large amounts of carbs. The bonus is fruits and veggies are fibrous carbs which in addition to providing loads of beneficial antioxidants, also improves intestinal function and slows down the absorption of glucose in the blood which keeps blood sugar stable.
Go Keto – the ketogenic diet calls for lowering your protein and carb intake below that of paleo, with an increase in healthy fats for energy. By going keto your backup glucose system kicks in but is quickly replaced with ketogenesis which makes ketones – the only other fuel source the brain can use. This not only resets your blood sugar/insulin system but provides an alternate energy source that brings your body into its most natural metabolic state.
Critical benefit #3 – Access an alternate energy source naturally
Going keto tells your body to make ketones, which research has shown to be a remarkable alternate energy source over carbs. In fact, when the body switches to ketones as your primary brain fuel you help protect brain neurons against oxidative stress and fuel parts of the brain that may be resistant to insulin which can damage the cognitive system and lead to declines in brain performance[3].
The Balanced Blood Sugar Bundle
To further support healthy and steady blood sugar levels, insulin sensitivity, and carb metabolism you should check out the MaxLiving Blood Sugar Bundle. This trio of products combines research-proven herbal ingredients, critical vitamins, and minerals plus twelve types of fibers derived from vegetables, roots, seeds, and tree extracts to support your body’s natural metabolic processes.
Click here to read more articles on how sugar affects your health.
References
[1] Weigle, D. S., Breen, P. A., Matthys, C. C., Callahan, H. S., Meeuws, K. E., Burden, V. R., & Purnell, J. Q. (2005). A high-protein diet induces sustained reductions in appetite, ad libitum caloric intake, and body weight despite compensatory changes in diurnal plasma leptin and ghrelin concentrations. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
[2] Noakes, T. D., & Windt, J. (2017). Evidence that supports the prescription of low-carbohydrate high-fat diets: a narrative review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 51(2). https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2016-096491
[3] Cetinkalp S, Simsir IY, Ertek S. Insulin resistance in brain and possible therapeutic approaches. Curr Vasc Pharmacol. 2014;12(4):553‐564. doi:10.2174/1570161112999140206130426
