Most people associate the term ‘blood sugar levels’ with diabetes, but this term simply refers to the amount of sugar in your blood at any moment. More accurately, this is blood glucose levels, but as most people refer to it as ‘blood sugar’ I will use this term, too. Blood sugar levels rise and fall naturally, according to what you have eaten or drunk, how stressed you are, and how long it is, since you last ate.

We need sugar in our bloodstream. However, the amount of sugar should rise and fall slowly and not rush up and crash down as if it were a roller-coaster. Unstable blood sugar levels can lead to low energy, poor sleep, weight gain (especially around the tummy) and, if the roller-coaster effect becomes the norm, an increased risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Keeping our blood sugar levels steady plays a massive role in losing weight and staying healthy.

A deeper understanding of carbohydrates

The digestive system awakens at the smell and sight of food. As food and drink travels through our digestive tract, food is broken down into nutritional components. To understand blood sugar management, we need to focus on what happens to the carbohydrates in food.

Carbohydrates are found in ALL food derived from plants—vegetables, fruit, grains, nuts and seeds. Usually forgotten about, animal milk contains carbohydrates in the form of lactose, a natural sugar. Excluding milk, when other carbohydrate-rich foods—vegetables, fruit and wholegrains—are eaten raw or lightly cooked, the dietary fibre they contain slows down sugar absorption into the bloodstream. The absorption rate is even slower when these foods also contain reasonable amounts of protein, such as nuts, beans, peas and lentils, or are high in fat—nuts, seeds, avocados, soya beans, and olives. These foods are good for health. They are often to referred to as complex or slow-energy-release carbohydrates.

When we eat foods high in carbohydrates that are refined, milled, ground and commercially processed, digestion happens quickly, and simple sugars flood into the bloodstream. These foods are known as simple, fast-energy-release foods, or ‘carbs’. These foods include the vast majority of bought bread, virtually all breakfast cereals, crisps, biscuits, ready meals, and vast swathes of food on supermarket shelves. In particular, sugar is added to far more foods than expected. It is only with avid label reading that the truth of this dawns and the realisation of what we thought were healthy food choices are not what they seem.

Every cell in your body needs sugar. The bloodstream delivers this vital energy source to the trillions of cells that make up our body function and provide energy for physical activities. The speed of sugar entering our bloodstream matters for weight loss as it influences whether we lose or gain weight.

Blood Sugar Levels

Our digestive system was designed to work hard to get sugar from food. Our great-grandparents mainly ate fresh food. They did not have supermarkets filled to the brim with ‘ready meals’ and all manner of processed foods with added sugar and stuffed full of preservatives, flavourings, emulsifiers, gums and artificial sweeteners. There was little refrigeration at home, either. Their traditional main meals would have included seasonal vegetables, potatoes, meat or fish, often served with slabs of bread. Groceries, butchers and fishmongers provided the foods we now find in only a small part of any supermarket.

Large Victorian Estates frequently fed more than 50 people, providing them with breakfast, lunch and dinner. The kitchens kept detailed records offer a fascinating insight into what people ate. Their calorie intake was much higher than most people today, yet obesity was rare. They tended to lead more active lives, but their food was also additive-free. 

Eating slow-release-energy carbohydrates, again, especially when protein or fats are present, leads to sugar entering the bloodstream drip-by-drip. By contrast, fast-release-energy foods, like those that are ultra-processed, will flood the blood with too much sugar in one hit. When blood sugar levels become too high, the body corrects this situation by increasing insulin levels in the bloodstream.

Insulin production is connected to weight gain

Insulin constantly moderates blood sugar levels. When blood sugars rise, insulin initiates the process of storing this excess energy in the liver or in muscles. This means it is readily available for reconversion into sugar if our body or physical exertions require it. But there is limited capacity for this, so insulin can also convert and store this energy as body fat.

There is, though, a double whammy to this process. When the blood sugar levels are high, insulin becomes super efficient, removing the excess and causing blood sugar levels to plummet. As a reaction to low blood sugar levels, the body signals it needs more energy, creating cravings for sugary and starchy food. Giving in to such cravings—almost impossible to resist—begins the blood sugar roller-coaster and results in storing more body fat and potentially leading to weight gain.

From early evening onwards, the body favours storing excess energy as body fat rather than in the muscles. This is due to the rhythm of the hormones cortisol and melatonin. Cortisol also plays a role in blood sugar regulation, while melatonin increases sleepiness. Read more in this article on hormones and weight loss. Eating carbohydrate-rich foods late in the evening is not helpful for weight loss.

If your diet and lifestyle keep your blood sugar levels on a roller-coaster, it exhausts your pancreas, which produces insulin. When insulin is insuffiently produced, there is an increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.

You may feel concerned at this point—but please don’t be. Blood sugar levels continually rise and fall. Instead, focus on steadying blood sugar levels, avoiding extreme highs and lows, which will help with weight loss.

Three Tips to stabilise your blood sugar levels

• Tip 1. Minimize the amount of processed, ultra-processed and refined foods that you eat. In particular, foods made with or that contain sugar, white flour or white rice.
• Tip 2. To help your body slow down it’s digestion of carbohydrates by including foods high in protein and good fats. Doing this will slow the release of the simple sugars from carbohydrates.
• Tip 3. When you are in the supermarket, take the time to read the ingredients list. Sugar is added to so many foods.—even savoury foods that should not contain it. Food manufacturers ‘hide’ sugar by using different forms of sugar. Look out for ingredient names ending in –ose, such as glucose, sucrose, lactose, fructose, etc. These are all sugars.

Understanding and learning how to steady your blood sugar levels is a key part of the Eat Well—Be Well program. Call me of book a free 30-minute Zoom or telephone call to have a chat about how I can help you both lose weight and STAY at a healthy weight.