10 Tips to Lower Blood Sugar Naturally

It's the Holy Grail for people with diabetes - checking your blood sugar and seeing the numbers right in
line. Can lifestyle changes help? Yes, says Jill Weisenberger, Lifescript's nutrition expert, and other top
diabetes doctors. Check out their 10 tips to lower your blood glucose... Click here for more.

1. Spread out your meals.

"I always tell my patients to spread their food out over the day, keeping carbohydrates consistent," says
Jill Weisenberger, M.S., R.D., C.D.E., and Lifescript's nutrition expert. "Don't eat small meals so you can
save up for a big dinner."

Avoid fasting or skipping meals, even on weekends or other days when your schedule is hectic. It'll give
your body enough time to regulate blood sugar levels and keep them even.

How many carbs per meal are ideal?

A typical starting point is 45 grams per meal for women and 60 grams for men (15 grams per snack).
From there, make adjustments according to your blood glucose readings.
f you have diabetes, lowering blood sugar isn’t just a short-term goal: Doctors believe that it
consistently helps prevent or delay diabetes complications, including kidney, eye and nerve
diseases.

Most of these diseases require 10 or more years to develop, but “it's still worth aggressively
managing blood sugar levels to slow the onset of complications,” says Edward Geehr, M.D.,
Lifescript Chief Medical Officer.

Here are 10 tips to keep your readings on target:

1. Spread out your meals.

“I always tell my patients to spread their food out over the day, keeping carbohydrates
consistent,” says Jill Weisenberger, M.S., R.D., C.D.E., and Lifescript’s nutrition expert. “Don’t
eat small meals so you can save up for a big dinner.”

Avoid fasting or skipping meals, even on weekends or other days when your schedule is hectic.
It’ll give your body enough time to regulate blood sugar levels and keep them even.

How many carbs per meal are ideal?

“It’s tailored to each individual,” says Weisenberger, who factors in medication, hormones and
other key information for each patient.

A typical starting point is 45 grams per meal for women and 60 grams for men (15 grams per
snack). From there, make adjustments according to your blood glucose readings.

2. Eat more food with resistant starch.

Resistant starch — found in some potatoes and beans — bypasses the small intestine, gets
metabolized by the good bacteria and then acts as dietary fiber in the large intestine,
Weisenberger says.
“Even after your next meal, your blood sugar will be lower,” she says. “It’s called the ‘second-
meal effect.’”

You’ll find it in a potato that has been baked and then cooled, but not in a warm potato. So a
half-cup of potato salad will bring on better blood sugar readings than the same amount of warm
mashed potatoes.

Black and kidney beans also have natural resistant starch.

3. Bring on the beans.

Can something as simple and inexpensive as beans really help with diabetes control?

Yes, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Beans digest slowly, resulting in
only a small rise in blood glucose levels. Several studies have shown that eating 1-1/2 to 2-1/2
cups of cooked beans daily improves diabetes control.

Beans also are an excellent source of folate, which is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular
disease, a common diabetes complication. Eating 1-3 cups of cooked beans a day will lower total
cholesterol 5%-19%.

Sneak beans in soups and salads, or eat them as a side dish.

But introduce them gradually into your diet, the ADA says. Chew thoroughly, drink plenty of
liquids to aid digestion and take enzyme products such as “Beano” to avoid gastrointestinal
distress.

For convenience, go for canned beans, which require less preparation time and are as healthy as
dried.

4. Cook up cactus.
The paddle-shaped nopal cactus (also known as “prickly pear”) slows carbohydrate absorption
and lowers post-meal blood glucose readings in people with type 2 diabetes, according to some
studies. In Mexico, nopal is used for treating the disease.

According to a 2007 article in the journal Diabetes Care, the cactus is very high in soluable
fiber, and, when eaten with other foods, slows the rate at which sugar from the meal enters the
bloodstream.

Nopal, popular in central Mexico, is boiled, grilled, fried or mashed and added to soups and
stews.

It’s available in supplements, but be careful: Some people experience gastrointestinal distress,
and it hasn’t been studied extensively in the U.S. as an oral extract. Always talk to your doctor
before trying this or any other supplement.

5. Get more sleep.

Poor or limited sleep affects body chemistry and getting more shut-eye helps with blood sugar
control, Weisenberger says.

People who get fewer than 6 hours a night consistently are 4.5 times more likely to get abnormal
blood sugar readings than those who slept longer, according to a study by the University at
Buffalo, N.Y. Adults typically need 7-9 hours a night.

Lack of sleep is also linked with other health conditions, including heart disease, stroke and
cancer.

More than a third of people with type 2 diabetes have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), where a
collapsed airway causes a person to repeatedly stop breathing during sleep, according to James
Herdegen, M.D., director for Sleep and Ventilatory Disorders at the University of Illinois in
Chicago.

“Studies have demonstrated that type 2 diabetics who also suffer from OSA can dramatically
reduce their glucose levels by getting treatment,” he says.

OSA can be treated with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a mask worn during
sleep that sends air through the airway to keep it from collapsing.

Check out more sleep disorders here.

6. Lose a little weight.

Carrying around those extra pounds causes insulin resistance, keeping the blood sugar lowering
hormone from working.

Your weight-loss goals don’t have to be enormous either, Weisenberger says. Some of her
patients have seen improvements in blood glucose readings with only a 5-pound loss.

7. Manage stress.
When you’re stressed out, your body creates a lot of stored energy – glucose and fat – so cells
can use it when called into action.

In diabetics, this extra energy doesn't make it to the cells, so glucose piles up in the blood and
results in high readings, according to the ADA.

How can you burn off tension?

Yoga and meditation have helped lower blood sugar levels in her patients, Weisenberger says.

The ADA also recommends creating your own stress-relieving routines: talking with a
supportive friend, taking a warm bath or shower, watching an enjoyable movie, listening to
music or taking a walk.

8. Get moving.
Exercise normalizes blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes (but not type 1).

"In type 2, exercise helps improve insulin resistance,” says James Beckerman, a Portland,
Oregon cardiologist. “The end result is lower blood sugars.”

But exercise is important for both types because it helps prevent heart attack, stroke or
diminished blood flow to the legs.

Because exercise can immediately reduce blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics, work with your
health care team to determine the right amount of activity and timing for insulin.

A combination of resistance and aerobic exercise may be the most beneficial, Beckerman says.

9. Fidget more.
That’s right. It’s OK if you can’t sit still.

Mayo Clinic researchers studied how thin people burn calories and found that they have more
“spurts” of daily activity, such as fidgeting, than heavier people. Just how much? Up to 350 more
calories per day.

Add these short bursts of activity to your daily routine:

 Park your car at the back of the lot and walk to the store’s door.

 Return your grocery shopping cart to the supermarket door.

 Walk to your neighbor’s house instead of calling her.

 Walk your outgoing mail to a farther mailbox.

 Do some sit-ups or pushups during TV commercials.

10. Eat breakfast.

We’ve all heard that breakfast is the day’s most important meal, and this is especially true for
those who have diabetes. After fasting 8-12 hours, your body needs food to balance blood sugar
levels and injected insulin from the previous night.

Besides, eating breakfast can help overweight people with type 2 diabetes shed extra pounds.

Of the 4,000 participants In the National Weight Control Registry who maintained at least a 30-
pound weight loss for about 5.5 years, almost all said they ate breakfast daily.
So what’s the best breakfast? One with carbohydrate, protein and fiber, according to the ADA.

Good options are cereal or an English muffin, low-fat milk or yogurt and fruit. (Save high-fat
foods, such as bacon, sausage and eggs, for special occasions.)
And think beyond the breakfast box: Leftover chicken breast with fruit is just fine too, the
ADA says.

What if you're not usually hungry for breakfast? Then make your previous night’s meal smaller,
so you’ll wake up hungry, the ADA says. It will spread your carbohydrates more evenly
throughout the day, leading to better blood-sugar control.

Still unsure?
For more advice, speak to a diabetes educator or other member of your health care team and visit
the ADA Web site at www.diabetes.org.

How Much Do You Know About Diabetes?

In the United States alone, 23.6 million people have diabetes. And 5.6 million of them don’t even
know it. Unfortunately, misinformation about diabetes is rampant – and mixing up the facts
about this disease can have dire consequences. Are you confused about diabetes? Test your
knowledge with our diabetes quiz.

Check out Health Bistro for more healthy food for thought. See what Lifescript editors are
talking about and get the skinny on latest news. Share it with your friends (it’s free to sign up!),
and bookmark it so you don’t miss a single juicy post!