Simple Strategies for Balancing Blood Sugar

CARBS... that C-word that has been under fire and misunderstood for the better part of the last two decades! We’re hopeful that our members are joining the “carbs are your friend” revolution as it’s now freaking 2020 people, and it’s TIME!⁣ 🥖⁣ We’re just going to come right out and say it: most weight loss from Keto, intermittent fasting, Whole 30, and other popular restriction protocols that remove entire food groups is caused by being in a caloric deficit, perhaps unknowingly at times. If one of those working for you, more power to you! We’re also interested in your overall health, athletic performance, mental and physical energy, and how likely you are to stick with a nutrition protocol as a long-term, lifestyle change.⁣ 🤸🏻‍♂️⁣ Here’s why we love carbs:⁣ ✅First of all, let’s clear the air once and for all that carbs are not limited to pizza, pasta, bread, and white potatoes smothered in butter, which are usually a COMBO of carbs and fat, if not more fat than anything. Carbs also include fruits and veggies, people! I repeat, VEGGIES!🥦🥬🥒🥗⁣ ✅When consumed in a balanced way, you can utilize carbs to FUEL all aspects of your day. Read on; we’ll tell you how.⁣ ✅Carbs are the body’s preferred source of fuel in the form of glucose for muscle contraction, brain function, and organ function. In other words, when you don’t consume carbohydrates, your body will find a way to make glucose internally. It’s THAT important.⁣ ✅Carbs make you happy. Seriously. Carbs contribute to serotonin production and mood stabilization when consumed in a balanced fashion. Have you gone low carb, lost your energy for workouts, lost your temper, felt down or depressed, and even lost your period? If so, we can’t say that we’re surprised, especially for females.⁣ ✅When you remove the labeling of “good” and “bad” from your plethora of food items and instead shift your perspective to what you CAN have and what feels awesome in your body, we start to see that there is room for carbs in life. And watch the stress melt off as you release that heavy pressure to eat perfectly all the time.⁣ 🍕⁣

Here’s why carbs have a bad rap – when we eat them in extremes:⁣ ✖️When we eat an excessive amount of simple carbs in particular at one time that spikes blood sugar into oblivion without pairing them with protein and/or fat.⁣ ✖️When we eat predominately simple carbs (sugars) instead of complex carbs (whole grains, starchy veggies) and fibrous carbs (non-starchy veggies).⁣ ✖️When we eat more carbs (and calories!) than we need for our activity levels that the extra glucose in the body tends to store as additional body fat. The more sedentary we are, the fewer carbs we need; some people can tolerate carbs at different levels than others – it’s all bio-individual and you have to find what works for you!⁣ ✖️When we’ve consistently overdone it on carbs causing have excessive blood sugar imbalances that our insulin sensitivity (aka the body’s ability to process carbs) is crap, making it even harder to put those carbs to use.⁣

⚖️⁣Simple Strategies for Balancing Blood Sugar:⁣ “Water your lawn with a sprinkler, not a hose”⁣ 👯‍♂️Always pair carbohydrates with a protein and/or fat to provide you with a drip-feed of energy for several hours instead of one massive insulin spike and drop.⁣ 🏋🏽‍♀️The only time we recommend carbohydrates on their own is right before a strength training or HIIT workout that requires glycogen for muscle contraction (i.e. not cardio, which is oxidative). If you’re craving a cookie, donut, piece of the pie, candy, etc... rather than restrict it fully from your diet, try placing it every now and then before a strength workout and let us know if you end up fist-pumping your way to the squat rack.⁣ 🍷If you’re drinking alcohol with a meal, stick with fibrous veggies, lean protein, and moderate fat to help minimize a massive spike in blood sugar and thus, keep your body from going into immediate storage mode. This could look like a glass of red wine, steak, grilled asparagus instead of a glass of red wine, steak, grilled asparagus, and mashed potatoes. You may find yourself opting for the potatoes over the wine at times, and that’s all good!⁣ 🙌⁣ If you like these tips and want to learn more, join our private Facebook Group! As a thank you for being a part of our community, we’ll email you a link to our free Nutrition Master Class!