by Dr. Bridgett Simon, ND LAc
Hello everyone, we are talking prevention and I am talking blood sugar health in particular. We will touch on traditional and energetic medicine a both in the following paragraphs. Traditional medicine is practical. You want your intake of blood sugar to be balanced with your need for sugar and energy. Excess energy is stored in fat cells which grow and become misshapen. Some practical things are ideas like portion size. Keep it on the smaller side to start with, even your plate being smaller is actually an option though it takes a little getting used to and people may look at you quizzically. Watch where the calories are going, even at a big meal, if you know you are going to eat dessert and rich foods, drink less alcohol or vice versa. Adding it all up in one meal is a big load on the GI system, especially when the meal is a long affair. The Carbohydrate Addict’s diet book mentions this a lot. If you eat a large meal over a long period of time your insulin and blood sugar regulation system is worked very hard. On the other hand if you eat within an hour, your insulin does not spike as much. It doesn’t say don’t relax at the table of course, it is nice to sit and talk about the day, just try not to keep eating.
Foods that are closer to whole foods or unprocessed foods are likely to cause less blood sugar imbalance. Fruit for example is less likely to cause high blood sugar than fruit juice which is more processed than the whole fruit. Meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, avocados, are all examples of whole foods that do not cause blood sugar dysregulation. Keeping your carbohydrate intake restricted also reduces blood sugar which is rational and also encourages weight loss. If you reduce your carb intake and keep your meals within an hour, you can lose a lot of weight. Regular exercise uses energy and blood sugar balances naturally.
Labs to look into to monitor your blood sugar include fasting blood sugar and Hemoglobin A1C to look at your on the spot fasting sugar and your sugar metabolism intake over time. We also have some advanced cardiac testing now to monitor prevention and treatment of blood sugar problems. One of my teachers told me that diabetes is basically heart disease and I never forgot it.
Energetically…
Energetic medicine and digestive health including blood sugar brings us to the power chakra or the 3rd chakra in the abdominal region. When your well being is tested by someone or something you often get a nasty pit in your stomach or butterflies or something that tells you to pay attention. It often doesn’t feel great and can lead to loose stool. That is your power chakra being tested. It is never a bad thing to remind ourselves internally to not give our power away to others or outside situations. Giving in to the worry or fear doesn’t improve the circumstance, I believe this is the stress component of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). During anxious times, lean back in your energy or your chair literally. Become the observer in the situation for a minute and be impartial so you are not so compelled to become anxious and give your power away before you consider your options.
Diabetes can also be an autoimmune reaction where the body is attacking itself. Energetically or in counseling working to combine traditional and energetic medicine we would ask the patient to consider any areas in their lives where they are “beating themselves up”, sabotaging their own lives or doing things in conflict with their own well being. We can help to reshape the way we see ourselves in the world, empowering us. This can help the traditional treatment we are providing in conjunction with counseling. Take it easy on yourself, you deserve it and it goes a long way. Taking life a little less seriously seems to be a factor in relaxing too. The truth is life is hard for all of us in ways, finding a reason to laugh lightens things up a lot and takes your power back.