Achieving Permanent Weight Loss WITHOUT Exercise!

Stop Spiking Your Blood Sugar Level

A common problem among inexperienced dieters is the lack of knowledge they have about a normal blood sugar level and how it not only affects their ability to lose weight, but also plays an important part in the maintenance of a healthy weight once it has been achieved.

People also often fail to recognize mild signs of low blood sugar, moderate signs of low blood sugar, severe signs of low blood sugar and high blood sugar symptoms.

I fumbled around in the dark for many years, working out in a gym (which I never do anymore) and seeing little results for all the effort I was putting in due to a lack of knowledge about my blood sugar level. So let us examine what insulin is, what a low blood sugar level (also called Hypoglycemia) or high blood sugar level (also called Hyperglycemia) does to your ability to lose weight permanently, and what foods you can immediately cut from your diet to make a dramatic difference in your weight loss results to effort ratio.

Anyone can become diabetic because of poor blood sugar level management. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, insulin is “a protein pancreatic hormone secreted by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans that is essential especially for the metabolism of carbohydrates and the regulation of glucose levels in the blood and that when insufficiently produced results in diabetes mellitus.”

In plainer English, insulin regulates your blood sugar level by controlling the amount of glucose (sugar) in your blood. In Type 1 Diabetics, the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas are destroyed, causing dependence on insulin injections for blood sugar level regulation.

Excessive consumption of processed carbohydrates (which contain HFCS – High Fructose Corn Syrup) and refined sugar over a long period of time can lead to a condition known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can then lead to diabetes. Armed with the knowledge of what insulin is and how it regulates our blood sugar, we are better able to understand how it affects our weight loss goals.

Repeatedly consuming large amounts of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup creates an unusually high demand for insulin in our bodies and makes the pancreas work overtime to re-balance our blood sugar level. This situation can be equated to repeatedly calling Mike Tyson nasty names and getting punched in the face as a reward.

Imagine that no matter how many times Mike punches you in the face, you just keep coming up with more and better insults and having to take the abuse he dishes out to you. Eventually, there won’t be much left of your face. Chances are you don’t see so good or speak so well anymore. Can you see now that your Mike Tyson is refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup? Are you aware that you are the islets of Langerhans in your pancreas?

If you keep getting punched in the face, you will eventually lose the ability to produce enough insulin to beat down your blood sugar level, develop Type 1 Diabetes and perhaps even develop insulin resistance or Type 2 Diabetes. So what foods can you then immediately eliminate from your diet in order to avoid the train wreck that is insulin resistance? How do you stop spiking your blood sugar level and abusing your pancreas?

The best four foods to eliminate from your diet in order to lose weight quickly, safely and naturally while also avoiding the perils of insulin resistance are bread (especially processed white bread), pasta, rice and potatoes (especially white potatoes). These foods all contain starch, which is converted to produce corn syrup, fructose and glucose (sugars).

Removal of these four foods from your diet, along with regulating the amount of refined sugar you ingest from soft drinks and desserts can have an immense impact on your weight loss results simply by keeping your blood sugar level more stable and making it easier for your muscles to absorb glucose after a meal.

Mild signs of low blood sugar may include:

• Sweating (almost always present). Check for sweating on the back of your neck at your hairline.
• Nervousness, shakiness, and weakness.
• Extreme hunger and slight nausea.
• Dizziness and headache.
• Blurred vision.
• A fast heartbeat and feeling anxious.

Moderate signs of low blood sugar may include:

• Inability to concentrate.
• Confusion and irritability.
• Slurred speech.
• Unsteadiness when standing or walking.
• Muscle twitching.
• Personality changes, such as anger or crying.

Severe signs of low blood sugar may include:

• Seizure.
• Loss of consciousness (coma).
• Stroke.
• Death

High blood sugar symptoms may include:

• Always being hungry.
• Always being thirsty
• Dry mouth.
• Constantly having to urinate.
• Dry itchy skin.
• Fatigue or extreme tiredness.
• Blurred vision.
• Recurrent infections.
• Impotence.
• Slow healing of wounds.
• Unexplained weight loss.

When thinking of your blood sugar level, imagine a sine wave (think back to your high-school physics class). Your goal is to have your blood sugar level sine wave cross a baseline with minimal peaks and valleys. The less refined sugar and starch you ingest, the more likely you will be to have a stable blood sugar level. When large amounts of refined sugar and starch are ingested, your blood sugar level “spikes”, travelling well above the baseline and then crashes, plunging through the baseline to a lowered state.

It is when your blood sugar level crashes that you “crave” carbohydrates, starch and refined sugar. A normal reaction to this lowered blood sugar state is to binge on sugary and starchy foods, thus sending your blood sugar level soaring back above the baseline, only to crash once again and bring you back to your cravings. If you have a spare tire around your waist, you are well on your way to developing insulin resistance.

Effective management of your blood sugar level through the diligent monitoring of just how much starch, refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup you ingest can effectively kill the cravings for sweets and free you from the roller-coaster ride you have been on for years.

By cutting bread, pasta, rice and potatoes out of your diet and limiting your intake of refined sugar, you will create a balanced blood sugar state and form new habits, replacing old foods with new, healthier alternatives. You may even find, as my wife Lyann and I have that you no longer want the foods you used to enjoy so much.

Our favorite meal by far is a serving of fish and a heaping plate of steamed vegetables, along with a generous amount of our ranch dressing recipe.

In an age where many are teetering on the brink of insulin resistance and diabetic medical conditions, we count ourselves lucky that the Lord Jesus Christ has seen fit to free us from our prison of carbohydrate and refined sugar addiction. We hope he has the same in store for you.

All the best,

Trevor

Technorati Tags: blood sugar, health, insulin, low blood sugar, low blood sugar symptoms, weight loss, signs of low blood sugar, insulin resistance

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 11:25 pm and is filed under Health Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Stop Spiking Your Blood Sugar Level”

1. FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog on September 29th, 2008 10:23 am

   Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 69…

   Monday is Blog Carnivals Day. A Blog Carnival is basically a collection of articles or blog posts, all relating to a similar subject, that are gathered together for your viewing pleasure. You can quickly and conveniently see a list of Article Titles a…