10 Glucose-Lowering Strategies to Aid Metabolic Fitness

Besides food, various other factors play a vital role in controlling your glucose levels. Controlled glucose levels are essential for managing your weight, and they are also crucial for your metabolic health. You can adopt various lifestyle and habitual changes to maintain a stable glucose level after every meal. Since your metabolic system regulates many essential functions of your body, your metabolic system must function correctly. The primary function of glucose is to give your body the energy to function.

Your glucose levels or blood sugar levels are the most significant factors that affect your metabolism. Hence, it is essential to regulate your blood glucose levels and prevent them from unhealthy spikes. To minimise post-meal glucose spikes, keeping average and fasting glucose levels optimal is necessary. Stable glucose levels ensure healthy metabolic activity and also helps in optimising insulin sensitivity and promoting metabolic flexibility. Metabolic flexibility allows your body to correctly utilise different energy sources, including stored fat and glucose, which act as fuel for your body. 

How Do Your Glucose Levels Affect Your Metabolic Functions?

It is a common perception that only diabetes can affect their insulin and metabolic health. But it is not the case. After every meal, consistent spikes or high glucose levels slowly impact your metabolic functions. Not only diabetes but a continuous spike in your glucose levels also impair the body’s metabolic health. It affects how your metabolism processes the food you eat and stores and converts it into energy.

In most cases, insulin plays a vital role in affecting your metabolism. For example, less insulin production can disrupt the amount of glucose in your blood. Conversely, if your body does not have adequate insulin, your glucose or blood sugar levels will become too high, causing various metabolic dysfunctions with time. Furthermore, a lack of insulin in the body, which causes a rise in your glucose levels, can worsen if you eat something that further raises your glucose levels. 

A study suggests that high glucose levels can cause inflammation in your body, slowing your metabolic functions. Moreover, your metabolism can not properly convert food into energy,  causing various health issues like heart diseases, hyperglycemia, diabetes etc. Some foods that significantly raise your glucose levels can also lead to inflammation and disrupt your metabolic health. Hence, it is vital to continuously monitor your glucose levels to combat any metabolic health issues. The key to preventing your glucose levels from affecting your metabolic health is to assess, act and reassess.

Effectively Monitoring Your Blood Glucose Levels

A CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) device called BIOS by HealthifyPro can help you effectively assess your glucose levels. Once you continuously assess your glucose levels at each step of the day, it is easy to lower and manage your glucose levels. BIOS will help you know the effects of your foods on your glucose levels.

After you eat something, BIOS will detect the glucose spike levels and give you real-time alerts. Furthermore, your coach will assist you in helping bring your glucose levels down. Food choices and lifestyle affect your glucose levels, and it has a direct connection with your metabolic health. BIOS can help you keep both in check and on track.

Improving Metabolic Health by Glucose Monitoring: Is it Possible?

The positive side of improving metabolic health is that you can control it. Adopting some lifestyle changes and dietary modifications can help improve your metabolic health. A well-informed and conscious choice towards your food choices and incorporating lifestyle changes in your daily routine impacts your metabolic functions.

In addition, being consistent with your exercise routine, food choices, and sleeping pattern will make sure you are on the right side of the spectrum of your metabolic health.

Though your food choices and lifestyle impact your metabolic health, it is also vital to remember that everyone is different. What affects others’ metabolic functions might not affect yours. Hence, keeping your health in mind is necessary while working on strengthening your metabolic health. However, there are some specific lifestyle changes everyone can make to minimise the effect of your glucose levels on your metabolism. Hence, your best bet is to eat a well-balanced meal, get your daily required vitamins and minerals, get good sleep, drink plenty of water, etc.

Some Glucose-Lowering Strategies to Improve Your Metabolic Health

Lifestyle changes are essential in combating any disease or dysfunction, and glucose levels are no different. Here are some common lifestyle changes that you can make in your daily routine to ensure your glucose levels are stable and your metabolism is working correctly. 

1. Exercise Regularly

Being active throughout the day helps you in proper food digestion and helps in lowering any glucose spike. Exercise of any form like mild cardio, aerobic, Zumba, resistance training, or even high-intensity workout is beneficial for your metabolism. Exercising controls your blood sugar levels, increases insulin resistance, and improves glycemic index and fasting glucose levels. Moreover, some studies prove that regular exercise significantly benefits insulin sensitivity. In addition, keeping yourself active throughout the day can be more beneficial for your glucose levels.

2. Avoid Sugary Drinks and Refined Foods

It is no secret that avoiding artificial sweeteners and refined food is essential to optimising your glucose levels. Most processed, refined, packed, and sugary foods have high carbohydrates. High amounts of carbohydrates trigger your glucose levels and are harmful to your metabolism. Consuming more carbohydrates can affect the insulin hormone and will hamper your metabolism. 

Carbohydrates break down into simple sugar when digested. Furthermore, when you eat refined foods, you consume empty calories that do not help your body and cause weight gain and high glucose levels.

Although it can be confusing and overwhelming to manage your glucose triggers after eating refined foods or artificial sweeteners, the HealthifyPro metabolic panel is a slick dashboard with 84 data points about your health that helps you manage post-meal spikes. As a result, the metabolic panel enables you to redefine fitness. 

The metabolic panel records the results of a metabolic test to give you real-time information about your metabolic health. Then, based on that and your Continous Glucose Monitoring results, the Pro coaches guide you on ways to support your metabolic health and regulate your blood glucose levels. So, whether it is eating some apricots when your vitamins are low or going for a walk after your meals, you get all this and much more real-time quick solutions at your fingertips with the HealthifyPro metabolic panel.

3. Manage Your Stress Levels

Since stress can contribute to increasing your glucose levels, it is vital to manage your stress to keep your glucose levels under control. Many personal and professional factors can lead to your stress. In addition, there is a considerable correlation between work-related stress and high blood sugar levels. 

You can follow various stress management techniques, like walking in fresh air for at least 15 minutes after finishing your work. In addition, you can join yoga and meditation classes to control your stress and improve your glucose levels. Moreover, indulging in activities that make you feel relaxed and following some breathing techniques will help you effectively manage healthy blood glucose levels.

4. Sleep Well for Metabolic Health

On an average daily, 7-8 hours of sleep is essential for your brain and body to work correctly. A sound sleep recharges your body for the next day and lowers your glucose levels. Therefore, you can control your glucose or blood sugar levels by giving your body proper time to rest. In addition, people with sleep deprivation can have low glucose tolerance compared to people who get minimum hours of sleep daily. 

A sound sleep will not only keep you active throughout the day and help in better food digestion, which helps your metabolism work correctly. Moreover, good sleep is the critical factor that prevents you from feeling sluggish throughout the day. 

5. Limit Saturated Fats Intake

High Saturated Fats intake is the key factor contributing to insulin sensitivity. Saturated fats are a critical factor in triggering your glucose levels. High saturated fat foods such as dairy products, chicken, bacon, etc.,  do not digest quickly, contributing to glucose level fluctuation. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the intake of saturated fats.

6. Proper Weight Management

For your metabolism to convert food into energy, it is essential to maintain proper body weight. Obesity or sudden weight is the main reason for metabolic dysfunctions. Moreover, excess weight contributes to type 2 diabetes and can badly impact your glucose levels. In addition, losing around 5-7% of your body weight can improve insulin sensitivity, better regulation of blood sugar levels, and improve metabolic health. 

7. Eat Healthy Fats and Protein

Not all that contains fat is harmful. Unsaturated monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are healthy fats or good fats. These fats pose a lower risk of causing any metabolic disease or dysfunction. Your metabolism can convert these fats into energy more quickly than saturated fats. In addition, increasing the amount of protein in your meals can minimise the quick absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. So, you should increase the intake of corn, olive, canola, soy, sunflower seeds, etc., in your diet to manage your glucose levels.

8. Try Fasting Routine

Popular fasting routines like intermittent fasting can also help decrease the frequency of glucose triggers. Intermittent fasting involves not consuming food for more extended periods, usually 12-24 hours. You can practice intermittent fasting 3-4 times a month, depending upon your daily schedule. Intermittent fasting helps in reducing food intake and can help manage insulin sensitivity and increase metabolic fitness. However, before following any fasting routine, it is essential to consult your dietician, as fasting can have counterproductive effects on individuals with underlying health conditions.

9. Increase Fibre Intake

If you are suffering from insulin-resistant, increasing fibre intake in your diet can help you lower your glucose levels and post-meal spikes. You are likely to experience fewer fluctuations or swings in your blood sugar or glucose levels with adequate fibre consumption. 

Eating legumes, green vegetables, whole grains, chia seed, nuts, etc., gives your body the required nutrients and helps keep your metabolic health in check. In addition, high fibre diets improve glycemic index in individuals with diabetes.  

10. Avoid Alcohol Intake

It is easy to control blood sugar levels when you don’t indulge in too much drinking. Whether you want to consume beer or wine, checking your glucose levels before and after consuming alcohol with a CGM device will give a clear idea of how much is alcohol affecting your blood glucose levels. In addition, drinks like wine coolers and beer have carbohydrates, increasing the spike in your glucose levels and making your metabolism slow. 

Conclusion

Following some common lifestyle changes can help you strengthen your metabolic health. Various factors can affect an individual’s glucose levels, but adapting some easy lifestyle changes and proper food intake can help you combat multiple metabolic dysfunctions. To effectively manage your glucose levels, continuous glucose monitoring is essential.

A CGM device will empower you to change your daily routine with evidence-based solutions. In addition, HealthifyPro contributes to improving your metabolic health by providing diet flexibility and fitness freedom catered to an individual’s needs.