3 Reasons Why I am OBSESSED with my Blood Sugar Right Now.

NO I am not a diabetic. 

I am a breast cancer survivor, over 50 and menopausal. I am a nutritionist that eats really well and has her self care in check … BUT my sleep suffering and everytime I turn around I am gaining 5-10#. 

WHY oh WHY?

I have to know!  This question led me quickly down the rabbit hole of taking a good, hard look at my blood sugar levels. As women age into perimenopausal/menopausal years, we become more prone to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a state in which your body has enough insulin available to handle your blood glucose levels and chooses not too. Yep, your insulin is as tired as you are and just can’t keep up with the glucose load. 

What you need to know is that increased blood sugar and insulin levels can contribute to these health issues. 

#1-Increased insulin and or blood glucose levels can cause you to gain weight...seemingly overnight. Insulin primary jobs in the body is to #1 to let glucose into your cells so it can be churned out by your mitochondria to produce the energy that is needed to run your body. Surprised? Calories do not run your body, ATP runs your body.

ATP is made from 2 sources: #1 GLUCOSE from the foods that you eat and fat from consumption/body storage. #2 INSULIN.  Insulin can be a storage hormone as well. So ... that means if you have a high circulating insulin, you're more likely to be storing fat instead of burning it. 

#2-Increased blood glucose can disrupt your sleep. If you are not consuming the right amount of macronutrients during the day, you can pay for it at night IF you have high fasting blood glucose. 

How does this happen? Remember when you are insulin resistant, blood glucose starts to rise. You won’t be in diabetic range, BUT this increased level is sustained. 

So here are the juicy details on how this relates to sleep disruption. If your blood glucose dips down too low while you are sleeping, your body keenly releases cortisol to bring your glucose back up into the range that your body has become accustomed to. Cortisol is very stimulating. It alerts us to danger and gives us access to all of the energy we need to get away from danger. This stimulation could be the reason you wake up and can’t go back to sleep for several hours. 

#3-Increased glucose and increased insulin levels have been linked to the production of cancerous tumors in the body. Most recently, I have read studies that resemble the story about which comes first, the chicken or the egg. Is it high glucose that causes high insulin and what is truly linked to the body’s ability to grow cancer. As a cancer survivor, I want to make sure I am cancer free for the rest of my life. This(and the sleep issue) are the main reasons why I wanted to find out what macronutrient combo is right for my body. I feel like incorporating biohacking tools to figure this out was definitely money well spent. 

I know that I am not the only menopausal woman/cancer survivor out there that is struggling with blood sugar issues. This is one of the many things that I work on with my clients to help them achieve body composition changes and sleep well. If you’d like to dig into these questions for yourself I would love to hop on a free discovery call to see how we could work together!  

Grab a spot on my calendar here I can’t wait to chat with you!