Balancing your blood sugar is more important than balancing your bank account.
Hidden underneath this underestimated high blood sugar umbrella are serious chronic diseases impacting, heart, kidney, eye, foot, and nervous system. Consistent presence of high blood sugar in your blood is termed diabetes type 2.
Your options-treat or suffer.
463 million adults (20-79 years) were living with diabetes by year 2019 leaving 2 in 1 (232) million) undiagnosed per International Diabetes Federation. By year 2045 this is expected to rise to 700 million.
You never want to suffer from diabetes type 2 and related chronic symptoms when there are easy and effective ways available to reduce high blood sugar.
1. Eat Food of low GI
Low Glycemic indexed foods (GI less than 55) raise blood sugar slowly. They are thus preferred for diabetes 2.
2. Eat food with high fiber
Compared to low fiber foods the high fiber takes longer for digestion and does not result sudden spike of blood sugar.
3. Eat proteins to stretch the digestion time longer – slow release of sugar
4. Drink Water
- Hydration/ excretion of sugar in urine/ re-hydration results in depletion of blood sugar.
- It flushes toxins out of the liver
- Relieves stress which is related to increase of blood sugar
5. Breath Fresh Air
Pollutants in air have been ascribed to a leading cause of diabetes by developing insulin resistance. Tobacco smell, nitrogen dioxide have been linked to insulin resistance.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO- in collaboration with Veteran Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri studied United States veterans with no previous history of diabetes. They followed these participants for a median of 8.5 years. Medicalnewstoday.com, July 6, 2018.
Based on these analyses, they estimate that globally, air pollution contributed to around 3.2 million cases of diabetes. They reported
“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution diabetes globally. We found an increased risk even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organization (WHO).”
6. Exercise Regularly
You need energy for exercising. Glucose is equivalent to energy. That is how you lower glucose and may force activate insensitive insulin.
Measure your blood before and after exercise. You will see yourself.
Exercise like HITT, brisk walking >100 steps/minute increases fat utilization which depletes stored glycogen blood glucose.
What is important is the regularity.
7. Sleep Well
Current world is sleep deprived because of heightened level of insecurity, stress in jobs and personal life. Sleep deprivation leads to reduced insulin secretion and impaired pancreatic beta cell function.
Reduced sleep results in high appetite for carbohydrate leading to obesity.
8. Stress Free Your Mind
Stress whether mental or physical can unexpectedly raise blood sugar. Learn how to relieve stress.
9. Kapalvati Pranayam-Exercise the Pancreas and Kidney
In this breathing exercise, your entire endocrine system is worked out, the pancreas and liver in particular. The pancreas is activated and start release insulin.
10. Get Optimal Vitamin-D and Vitamin C
More recently it has been found people with diabetes type 2 are Vitamin d deficient. Increasing vitamin d Level from 4 to 25.7 mg/liter resulted in improved vision and reduction in HbA1c.
Vitamin C supplementation along with metformin medication significantly decreased fbs, and HA1c level in diabetes type 2 patients.
11. Get Sufficient Micronutrients
Chromium: Studies have shown diabetes type 2 patients carry less chromium than the people having no disease
Numerous animal studies and human clinical trials have demonstrated that chromium picolinate supplements are safe.
Magnesium: Magnesium is involved in more than 300 biochemical reactions. It particularly assists the synthesis of Hydroxy-vitamin –d, the critical nutrient that helps Insufficient Magnesium causes insulin resistance. Elevated level of blood sugar is purged through urine12. Control Portion Size
12. Control your Portion Size
It is food and how much you eat determine what you are. You may be eating right food but if you eat more than the desired portion, you are in trouble for getting high blood sugar.
My dietician left me with eating fist full of cooked brown organic rice, -75 g of salmon or lentils or few eggs and the rest of the food will be salad, fruits and vegetables as my main course meal.
It was really hard to sustain that mind set and many times, the diet has gone out of the roof. Cultivate the mindset so that your mind is always reminding of the consequence of a long term high sugar situation if you slip. Occasional missing is OK but quickly get back to normal.
13. Get Optimal Body Weight
Obesity is linked to diabetes type 2. The fatty pancreas resists releasing insulin to use sugar in the bloodstream. Taking off weight from obese patients by diet and regular exercise help reduce blood sugar.
14. Use Medication per Doctor’s Advice
The doctor can evaluate your situation and may put you on medication along with diet restriction and exercise recommendation. He/she may eventually reduce or take off medication if your life style helps improve blood sugar level.
15. Monitor Body Glucose
Keep a glucometer handy to check your blood sugar level before and after a meal. That helps to know the food and portion is right for you. The ideal blood sugar level before and after a main meal should comply with American Diabetes Association.
Fasting plasma glucose for normal person is <100 mg/dl and for a diabetes it is 126 mg/dl or higher.
16. Stay Away from Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Field
Exposure to high radio frequency electromagnetic field radiation (RF-EMFR) generated by mobile phone base stations (MPBS) is associated with elevated level of HbA1c and prevalence of pre diabetes mellitus among school aged adolescents in a study involving 159 male. RF-EMFR appears to be another risk factor contributing to high levels of HbA1c and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
17. Diet and Exercise Log Book
Get your recommended diet, portions to eat and the amount of exercise from a dietician. You can keep an account of your diet, exercise and blood sugar helps keep you on track. You could present it to your doctor during your visits. If you have deviated your routine it is relatively easier to come back in when you document it every single day a few times.
Summary
Exploit all the above ways to accomplish a healthier leaving. Feel the best of health happiness and avoid costly medical symptoms. Win the challenge!
Learn 17 ways to reduce your high blood sugar and keep it under your belt. Low GI, high fiber diet with protein, exercise, and meditation are few of them.
It is my first time to hear Kapalvati Pranayam, and I googled it to find more about it, and it’s the breath of fire! I have done it before, and it’s usually done at the end of a Bikram yoga practice, but I didn’t know it’s THAT good to reduce blood sugar/anti-diabetic! Thank you for this information.
I am trying my best to research about diabetes prevention, as this disease is the one we should avoid to prevent Covid-19 too! It’s a risk factor, and diabetes is a typical disease in my country because we love rice! I also learned that Vit D could prevent it. It is one of the easiest things to do on the list (haha) so I guess I would be getting more of my sunshine and exercise. I copied your list to share with family members and with my foodie friends, to prevent this life-threatening disease. Thank you so much. Cheers, A
Hi there,
I do “kapalvati”. It is routine in my family in the morning. We do it in empty stomach sitting straight. It activates your entire endocrine system including your pancreas that release insulin. This is one of the best pranayam as per the creators.
I just had a corona related death of an elderly who had diabetes. His kidney failed and heart stopped working as well. Vitamin d is free from sun. It is a vital nutrient of the body and more than 200 diseases are related to vitamin d deficiency.
Thank you for sharing your views.
This is a very interesting post about the ways one can reduce blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. I have never heard of Kapalvati Pranayam exercise for the pancreas and kidney, so how is this breathing exercise done?
You mention that a high frequency electromagnetic field radiation is associated with an increased level of HbA1c, but what is HbA1c and how is that related to diabetes?
The pranayam which is related to the breathing exercise is “kapalvati”. There is a reference in this article. All I could tell you, this pranayam helps stimulate the entire endocrine system and activate the pancreatic cells to liberate insulin. Clinical trials also have been reported.
A1c measures blood sugar of your body which actually tells you the average over 2-3 months. I have a sepate blog on A1c. Please go through that blog to learn more.