Welcome back to week four of our four-part series of my best nutrition tips.

You’ll want to be sure you’re caught up on the past three weeks:

1. Understanding blood sugar and why it’s my number one nutrition tip.
2. Understanding carbohydrates
3. Understanding the importance of protein

This week I promised you my tips that have nothing to do with food but are key to balancing blood sugar which is my number one nutrition tip.  

Sleep and stress are key lifestyle elements to balancing your blood sugar.

Sleep and blood sugar go hand in hand.  Adults need 7-8 hours of sleep a night.  Less than that creates a stress on the body.  Our brain believes we’re in survival mode when we lack sleep.

Lack of sleep will cause you to overeat as you search for simple carbohydrates like a muffin, cookie, or sweetened beverage to give you a quick energy boost.  Your hormones that regulate feelings of hunger and satiety will be totally out of whack.

If you eat sugary foods or simple carbohydrates before bed you’ll eventually end up with low blood sugar which will trigger cortisol to pick you up out of the slump and you’ll find yourself wide awake at 2 AM.

Lack of sleep affects the health of the gut microbiome which houses your immune system.  Poor microbiome health creates a stress which impacts your blood sugar balance.

I’m sure you’re starting to see how nothing in the body acts in isolation.  It’s all connected.

Modern life has most of us feeling some degree of stress each day be it sitting in traffic or feeling the pressure of caregiving or work stress.

Stress tells the body there’s an emergency so it releases the stress hormone cortisol.  It will also raise blood sugar to give your body the fuel to run from the tiger so to speak.  Constantly elevated cortisol and blood sugar make it hard to lose weight.

Stress can contribute to food cravings and overeating simple carbohydrates like a muffin or cookie.

The gut microbiome is also impacted by stress which sends distress signals that result in inflammation and dysbiosis.  Poor gut health impacts blood sugar regulation.

When we think about nutrition it impacts the whole body from sleep to stress to blood sugar and digestion.  All of these systems work together to either give you great health or poor health.

If you struggle with stress try taking 3 minutes in total silence and take 3 cleansing breaths.  

If you struggle with getting enough sleep try getting into bed 15 minutes earlier.  See if you can get outside and get sunlight within the first 90 minutes of waking.

Small steps can make big changes.

Thank you so much for joining me on this four-part journey.  I hope it’s helped to give you a better understanding of how to nourish your body and manage your blood sugar.