Adrian Gonzalez, MD: 5 Ways to Lower Blood Sugar Naturally

Your body usually manages your blood sugar levels by producing insulin.

Insulin is a hormone that allows your cells to use the circulating sugar in your blood. As such, insulin is the most important regulator of your blood sugar levels. However, there are multiple factors that can impair #bloodsugar management, and lead to the development of hyperglycemia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 13% of adults in the United States live with Diabetes. An additional 34.5% of adults have prediabetes. This means that close to 50% of US adults have either diabetes or prediabetes.

Blood #sugarmanagement is especially important for people with diabetes, as chronically high blood sugar levels can lead to limb and life-threatening complications.

Here are 5 easy and evidence-backed ways to naturally lower your blood sugar levels.

1. Exercise Regularly

Exercise increases insulin sensitivity and helps your muscles use blood sugar for movement. This can lead to reduced blood #sugarlevels. If you have problems with blood sugar management, consider routinely checking your levels before and after exercising. This will help you learn how you respond to different activities and keep your blood sugar levels from getting too high or low.

What’s more, researchers recommend doing so-called “exercise snacks” to lower blood sugar and prevent the damage that sitting all day can do.

Exercise snacks simply mean that you break up your sitting time every 30 minutes for just a few minutes throughout the day.

Some of the recommended exercises include light walking or simple resistance exercises like squats or leg raises.

Other useful forms of exercise include weightlifting, brisk walking, running, biking, dancing, hiking, swimming, and more.

2. Manage Your Carb Intake

Your body breaks down the carbs you eat into glucose, which then raises your blood sugar levels.

As such, reducing your carb intake can aid blood sugar regulation.

That’s why the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that people with diabetes manage their carb intake by counting carbs and being aware of how many they need.

Some studies find that this can help you plan your meals appropriately, further improving blood sugar management.

Many studies also show that eating a low-carb diet helps reduce blood sugar levels and prevent blood sugar spikes.

3. Eat More Fiber

Eating plenty of fiber can aid blood sugar management. Soluble dietary fiber appears to be more effective than insoluble fiber for this purpose. There are two types of fiber — insoluble and soluble.

While both are important, soluble fiber has explicitly been shown to improve blood sugar management, while insoluble fiber hasn’t been shown to have this effect.

A high fiber diet can improve your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and minimize blood sugar lows. This could help you better manage type 1 diabetes.

4. Foods that are high in fiber include:

- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Legumes
- Whole grains

The recommended daily intake of fiber is about 25 grams for women and 35 grams for men. That’s about 14 grams for every 1,000 calories.

4. Drink More Water

Staying hydrated is an easy way to stay in control of your blood sugar levels. A previous study found the more water study participants drank, the less likely they were to develop high blood sugar.

More specifically, the study found people who drank less than ½ liter of water per day were at increased risk of developing blood sugar issues.
The idea is that water helps flush glucose out of the body.

“Having a glass of water can be really helpful in essentially diluting your blood sugar and lowering your blood sugar in a healthy way,” Crandall Snyder says.

5. Try to Manage Your Stress Levels.

When you’re stressed out, your blood sugar tends to rise, Crandall Snyder says
According to the Diabetes Teaching Center at the University of California in San Francisco, when you’re stressed, insulin levels fall, certain hormones rise, and more glucose is released from the liver, which ends up in the bloodstream and can cause disruptions for up to eight hours.

How can you burn off tension?

Yoga and meditation can help people lower their blood sugar levels, Weisenberger says.

A December 2014 study published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science involving 27 nursing students found a combination of yoga and meditation practiced for one hour once a week led to reduced levels of stress and lower blood glucose levels after 12 weeks.

Crandall Snyder also suggests taking a few deep breaths, going for a walk, playing with your dog for a few minutes, or listening to a fun song.

Summary:

There are multiple ways to naturally manage your blood sugar levels. Many of them include making lifestyle changes, like managing your weight, stress levels, and sleep quality, exercising, and staying hydrated.

That said, some of the biggest improvements have to do with your dietary choices.