Are you one of the many people with Type 2 diabetes who have difficulty balancing blood sugar and have often been told to exercise and lose weight?
You may have tried changing your diet and introduced some exercise to get your blood sugar under control. But like many people with abnormal sugar metabolism, you may have found it is not so simple to lose those stubborn pounds, to keep your unruly appetite under control, and to generate enough energy and stamina to keep up with your workout regimen – no matter how hard you’ve tried.
If you are about to give up and reach for a chocolate cookie or that slice of bread, stop and think. Why is your body not cooperating with your efforts? Is there a glitch in the pathways of your metabolism that prevents you from letting those pounds go?
The answer is YES. There is a glitch; more precisely, several glitches. Your diet choices and physical activity level do play significant roles in your health. But there are many other factors that influence your success in balancing blood sugar.
Let’s start with genetics. Some people were created by Nature to have a very “conservative” or “thrifty” metabolism. These “lucky” ones can efficiently convert food they eat from any food group into sugar. But the “unlucky” part of this “conservative” approach is that sugar can be quickly stored as fat.
If you’re one of those people who feel fantastic on a low-carb diet, if you can lose weight and gain it all back a few weeks after you have celebrated your weight loss, you have a ”thrifty” metabolism. Your body knows how to store fat in the most efficient way possible. You need to understand how your body responds to different foods and how you can use the efficiency of your metabolism to your advantage.
The next important glitch in your sugar balance is your hormone balance. Do you remember what your diet looked like when you were in college? Can you count all of the pizza slices and soda cans loaded with sugar and caffeine you consumed while working on a late night project in your 20’s or 30’s? What magic thing in your body kept you from getting diabetes and/ or gaining weight at that time? Why 10 years ago you were able to cut your calories for a few days and drop 5 pounds without a big effort and now you literally have to erode your joints on the treadmill to drop a few ounces? It is because the balance of your blood sugar depends on the balance of all your hormones. You had much more efficient metabolism when your hormones were perfectly balanced.
Another important obstacle to balancing sugar and dropping pounds is your stress. Poor coping strategies for high stress situations will keep your body in the mode where each one of your stress hormones mobilizes to provide for your survival. Think of it: you are a mammal. Nature wisely created many beautifully working protective responses in your body to give you a good chance at survival. Let’s imagine a chain reaction of events: you have spotted a dangerous animal, experienced stress, and are pumping adrenaline so you can run away from the danger. To successfully run you need some support with extra blood sugar!
Now back to reality: while you are feeling stress, tossing and turning in your bed at night, sitting in front of your computer, or driving your car, your body is helping you to run from a dangerous animal; it is pumping your blood sugar higher and higher.
At Water’s Edge Natural Medicine we have the privilege and opportunity to serve hundreds of patients who are suffering from impaired sugar metabolism, diabetes and obesity. We have developed state-of-the-art treatment protocols and coaching techniques that appreciate the uniqueness of each individual’s metabolism and help patients to get control of their blood sugar. We empower our patients with every necessary tool to improve their diet, to balance hormones and to safely lose and keep off significant amounts of weight.
Stop and do not reach for that cookie. Do not give up on your weight loss or balancing your blood sugar. Call (206) 966-4522 today! We are here to help.
