We already know the same old phrase that everyone is talking about: food, sugar, carbs increase your blood sugar.
That’s true, however did you notice that if you measure your BS two mornings in a row, after having the same breakfast, those numbers can be very different from one day to the other? For good reason you ask how can this be??
1 – Body needs fuel!
There are several reasons why your BS goes up and down. First of all because every little cell in your body needs glucose as fuel in order to function. The biggest consumer is your brain as it is the “bandmaster” of the entire body orchestra. Billions of cells that control your thoughts, your taste, your eyes, your heart, your limbs, your bowels, you name it! Once that your brain gives the command, all the other cells start playing their role. They use the glucose transformed into energy so that your hand can move, our heart can beat, your lungs breath, your teeth chew and so on…
All these movements can be different from one moment to the other, needing more or less glucose as fuel. Where does glucose come from? From your food, of course. Whenever you’re eating more carbs than your body needs at that very moment, glucose will be stored in the muscle cells, in the liver or transformed into fat and stored around you organs or on your hips and waist… These reserves will keep your body functioning even during the hours of rest or fasting. The “dawn phenomenon” is a great example.
Now, if, for example you had nightmares during the night, your brain worked more than during a peaceful night. It was very busy coming up with all those frightening images of your dream. Maybe your heart rhythm or your breath were faster than usual… Sweating or crying can occur… These actions imply a certain activity that needs fuel. Therefore the liver will dump the reserves of sugar into the blood. Thus sugar gets to your brain and heart, lungs, sweat glands, eyes etc. Upon waking up, there might still be high amounts of sugar in the blood that show up on your meter.
2 – Stress
The same thing happens when you’re stressed up, angry, upset. Your cells need sugar in order to process those feelings that are messing up your brain, your stomach, your emotions. So your liver empties the reserves and your blood sugar goes up again!
How do you bring under control your BS in these situations? By doing something that you love! Meditation, Yoga, walk in a park, play with children or with dogs, prayers, shopping, exercise, gardening, reading, listen to music… Practice your hobby, anything that brings you pleasure. The key is the strength to detach yourself from the cause of your stress and trust that things will turn out well at some point.
3 – What about exercise?
When you’re doing moderate exercise, your muscles will use up the current glucose and the reserves from your muscles cells. Moderate exercise can be walking, swimming, cycling, dancing, Yoga, stretching etc. However, “moderate” has a different meaning for all of us according to each person’s health, body-weight, fitness degree… This type of exercise should lower your BS and it is the perfect tool to avoid spikes if done for about 15 to 30 minutes within half hour after your meal.
Whenever you’re going over your physical limits pushing for higher intensity exercise like HIIT, TABATA, weight lifting, Zumba, jogging, etc, your cells will need more glucose than the ones in your muscles and liver reserves. Thus fat will be burned as fuel! Good news is that the first that will go is the fat laying on your organs!
If there is no more fat, no more sugar reserves, muscles will start aching, fatigue steps in and it can turn into a total collapse if no immediate action is taken. That’s when you’ll see athletes drinking high energy, specially prepared drinks or even eating something (absolutely not commercial protein bars!!!) in order to increase their blood sugar that will transform into energy again. High intensity exercise will increase your blood sugar temporarily so it can be one way to treat your hypoglycemia.
4 – Medical issues
Other situations that can change your blood sugar are different medical situations: pregnancy, menstruation, bleeding of any kind, bad peripheral blood circulation, low blood pressure, anemia, other health conditions that need medication especially steroids, even a flu can shoot up your BS.
Under these conditions it is more important to treat the emergency and doing the best you can with the BS. Do not stress if it is higher than usual for some time. Focus on the treatment of the other issue if it is temporary, later you’ll take care of your BS levels too.
Bottom line:
Even if you have the exact breakfast for two days in a row, or if you do five tests on all your fingers just minutes apart, it is absolutely normal to have different readings. Moreover your glucometer does not give you an accurate reading but an estimate value. Keep in mind that your reader, if it is a good one, it has a marge of error up to 15%. So there is no need to poke your fingers a thousand times a day, just take the first reading and don’t stress any further. Every three months you’re should do blood tests to check the average HbA1c – this will be the exact figure that will count. Till then, just do your best to keep the numbers low.