It’s important to know about blood sugar levels. How they affect you. How Energy Boosting has to be done right.
Do you know how important it is to keep blood sugar levels happy?
Happy blood sugar levels reduce stress + lessen feelings that make us blue. Happy Blood Sugar is Energy Boosting. Woohoo!
It’s also a fabulous Weight Loss Secret…
What is blood sugar?
As defined in the dictionary, blood sugar is the glucose in blood that rises and falls depending upon what we eat. Glucose is a type of sugar. Check out the packages of food in your pantry…pretty much anything ending in ‘ose’ is a sugar.
Carbohydrates are turned to glucose in the body. They are used by the body as fuel for our brain and muscles. They are energy boosting.
So guess what? When we are feeling low on energy we often crave sugar or caffeine. Caffeine appears to release stored glucose. Instinctively we know that these substances will raise our energy (or sugar) level quickly.
So, what’s wrong with that?
The problem is that this high concentration overloads our body. It causes sugar levels in the blood to swing up above normal giving us a lift, then fall rapidly to way below normal. Then we feel even more tired and crave more sugar or caffeine…so, we have another cup of coffee, glass of coke, energy drink or sugary snack…our energy swings up again and crashes down again…over and over!
Riding on the chemical roller coaster leads to irritability, depression, anxiety, confusion and fatigue.
It actually becomes an addiction cycle! We are not nurturing and taking care of ourselves when we are in this pattern.
Ideally we want a strong, steady level of energy all day long. We want to avoid the swings up and down by eating healthy food in healthy amounts. We need to avoid sugar and caffeine, and instead eat whole foods that are digested slowly.
These are complex carbohydrates: fruits, vegetables, grains. These foods slowly release their energy into the body.
I suggest most people need to eat three meals a day and two to three snacks, so your body is receiving quality energy all day.
- I suggest you start by replacing sugar with fresh fruit. Whenever you crave something sweet try eating an apple. Apples are nature’s fast food-easy to carry with you and easy to eat! You may feel deprived at first, but you will adapt and eventually find those sugary snacks too sweet.
- Start kicking coffee by using good quality decaffeinated coffee. You will have the taste without the caffeine. If you are a heavy coffee user, wean yourself off by cutting the number of cups you drink daily. Caffeine withdrawal produces bad headaches + other side effects that may give you an excuse to give up. Go slowly, this is a process of loving yourself, not punishing. Try herbal teas. There are hundreds on the market, buy sample packs + find your favorites. Try coffee substitutes, you may find you like them.
- Dump the energy drinks. Honestly, just drink something else…anything. We don’t need them! They are full of icky chemicals that stress out and tire the body. They simply are not healthy choices.
- And drink water! At least six glasses daily. Don’t like water? Try fizzy spring water with ice and a slice of lemon in a beautiful glass. Put some pleasant tasting chlorophyll into the water. I personally like one that has a spearmint oil added.
TIP: Take a BIG SPORTS bottle OF WATER to work with you in the morning and promise yourself you’ll finish it by bedtime, then finish it by noon and feel pleased with yourself!
If you would like to learn more about ‘Eating Well to Choose Happy’ and getting into good eating habits into your life, give me a call or drop me a line and we’ll set you up with an appointment and get you started on a personalized wellness program.
Learning how you can be energy boosting will also help you gain or maintain a healthy weight.
Morning Love, Thankyou for Sharing this. I read it and will begin to do the the easy steps.
You are most welcome Dawn. Remember to have fun with them…and enjoy! xox
My difficulty here is not eating often enough and then, eating too much! Smaller meals and snacks is exactly what I need to do. Thx!
A problem shared by many of us self-employed ladies Jeanine. Try using a reminder system of some type to nudge you into breaks for water and food. It really does have a long term impact on your health and wellness.
What a wonderful reminder, especially about the drinks! I sometimes find myself slipping into drinking too much juice, and I can feel the highs and lows, and it is not fun! I love the video–so lovely to see you in action! 🙂 Such a razzle-dazzle glass and straw–I’m inspired to go get one! YAY! Thank you!!!
Woohoo! I’m thrilled to have inspired. I’ve never been a juice fan, always preferring to get my calories with food…there’s lotsa calories in those juices! If you love them, do try watering them down so you aren’t getting so much sugar. Start slowly and build up. xox
Wow, such an important subject and one that needs repeating until people get it! When I switched to a vegan diet, I found a lot of the sugary snacks naturally fell away as most cakes, chocolate bars & biscuits are now off limits! I also wish they’d change the name of so-called energy drinks to “caffeine drinks” or maybe “chemical sh*tstorm” (ha ha!) because its less misleading. A lot of people honestly believe it “gives them energy!” Noooo! Listen to the happiness Coach!
Chemical sh*tstorm is brilliant! I bet people would still buy it! LOL!
Hmmm, hubby has some problems with high glucose levels and is a super
sugar addict, I wonder if I can switch him to a more vegan approach?
Hmmm
I love this Jacqueline, I’ve realised that because of my ME I need to drink more water than most people and it makes such a difference, I feel dreadful if I don’t. My next step is reducing my sugar intake, adding more fruit and vegetables is my first step. Thank you!
PS I love, love the video!
I know what you mean about feeling dreadful if you don’t get your water! I didn’t know that ME sufferers needed to drink more, so that’s good to know. Try different ways to serve your veggies and experiment with recipes and you’ll soon find you are loving them! (And thank you…xox)
Love that video! You are sooo great on camera and that accent is quite lovely. I am guilty of sugar buzz. I am a sugar nut. Working on clearing that with a cleanse this coming Friday. Thanks for the reminder of what that sugar is doing to my body. So glad the Girl Scout Cookies are almost gone. ♥
Thank you Julie. I’m married to a sugar nut, so I totally understand. I’m gradually getting him to make changes…and this year I didn’t buy him the Girl Scout Cookies…and he hasn’t noticed yet! Teehee! Good luck…you can do it!