I shared quite a lot about my story in my previous blog post More on how I met nutrition.
As I mentioned there, I only learned about functional medicine and functional nutrition after starting to get better and overcoming many of my most challenging health issues. In retrospect, though, I can understand what it was that I had done and that had led me to my biggest improvement, and what in my approach had been “functional”. My mentor, Andrea Nakayama, often states that the first 3 “non-negotiable” aspects to address are “sleep, poop and blood sugar balance”. I definitely found this to be very true for me!
In today’s post, I’d like to address my personal story with blood sugar imbalances and how tending to that important balance was one of the first effective steps in my journey, giving me the energy and motivation to go further in my quest for taking control of my own health.
So let’s go back to about 4 years ago.
I was on a quite restrictive diet, which was giving me some respite from my digestive symptoms…yet, many other symptoms were still there.
Among them, I was having huge energy dips during my day, especially right after eating. The worst happened right after lunch. I was totally unable to think and function without a short, but deep, nap. And, after the nap, I had strong sweet cravings, and could not resist the temptation to eat some fruit. At that point in my journey, I had already removed gluten from my diet – before removing gluten, I had also been dealing with a distressing and invalidating brain fog after every meal. Even though I felt some more freedom due to my improved digestive symptoms, I feared I would never be able to get back to work.
How would I explain my inability to keep awake, let alone to focus and do productive work after lunch? How would I get in my car and drive back home from work, without the possibility of taking a nap?
My blood tests were “perfect”, I most certainly did not have diabetes, and no doctor had ever pointed my attention towards my blood sugar levels. I had mentioned my need for a nap to a few doctors and gotten feedbacks ranging from the explanation of my naps as a habit, rooted in my Italian culture, to their attribution to my “heavy meals”, in particular with reference to fats (and my diet was low in fats at the time!). Coincidentally, my father was dealing with a diagnosis of pre-diabetes, risking full-fledged diabetes, at the same time…and I happened to listen to a very good informative video on hyper- and hypoglycemia. That was such an “aha” moment for me!
The suspicion that this was at least partly what I was dealing with was strong: were my unbalanced blood sugars at the root of my energy swings and need for naps?
As any typical Italian, I had never questioned the habit of having a rather good portion of pasta or rice for lunch. Even when I had removed wheat, I had simply substituted my durum wheat pasta with a gluten-free one. Possibly making my glycemic swings even worse by eating even more refined flours!
My meals, and particularly my lunch, were relatively rich in refined, high glycemic index and load, carbohydrates. Were they to blame for my afternoon dips?
I decided to experiment and another big change to my diet took place immediately. By almost entirely avoiding refined carbs, and balancing all of my meals with a combination of good fats, proteins and fibres (as in complex carbohydrates), I immediately noticed an improvement in my energy, and a more stable energy level during the day.
Since the very first meals, designed according to the “fat, fibre, protein” mantra, I stopped having the need for a nap after lunch. I also didn’t feel hungry just a couple of hours after breakfast anymore and could easily reach lunch time without snacks, staying focused all morning and stopped collapsing on the sofa right after dinner.
Understanding how to balance my own blood sugars and acting upon that understanding also had an effect on the quality of my sleep: no more wake-ups in the middle of the night…who would have thought?
Then when I started studying functional nutrition, and digging deeper in the topic of blood sugar balance, I further understood not only the importance of the “fat, fibre, protein” balance, but also that it doesn’t apply in the same way to everybody. Each of us has a different ideal proportion, for instance.
Some might still need a snack between the main meals, while others might be able to fast for a long time without problems, and even skip meals. Needs, furthermore, change at different stages of our lives. You can easily imagine that those of a nursing mum or pregnant woman might be different from the needs of the same woman at a different stage in her life.
While studying the topic, I decided to further experiment, put my blood sugars to the test, and see my numbers “black on white”. I measured my blood sugars with a portable device for a few days, at different times during the day, and playing with different combinations of macronutrients (and fibres) in different meals.
And lo and behold my blood sugar increased very moderately following my own “balanced” meals (that were giving me the best results in terms of energy and satiety), while it spiked to higher than optimal levels when I had meals with a different combination, in particular when they didn’t include enough fibre while being richer in refined carbohydrates.
This confirmed my suspicions.
The macronutrient composition of your meals is not the only factor to blame for blood sugar dysregulation.
And when addressing it, other root causes need to be taken into account – for example family history, infections, even trauma – and nutrition and lifestyle factors other than macronutrients need to be taken care of – i.e. micronutrient status, timing of the meals, sleep, movement, stress and more.
In terms of symptoms, blood sugar imbalances can affect a lot more than just energy levels and sleep. This was my own particular story. But here are some examples:
Feeling better right after eating
Feeling tired right after eating
Sugar cravings after eating
Needing coffee or stimulants after eating
Cravings and feeling of hunger, inability to function without frequent (sugary) snacks
Feelings of “hangriness”: being hungry and angry
Need to eat “whatever, right here, right now”
Need to eat something sweet as soon as possible after waking up
Feelings of anxiety and nervousness
Mood instability
Snapping at people
Difficulties or inability to focus
Fatigue
Headaches
Metabolic dysfunctions and chronic lifestyle diseases – think insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, diabetes…
Liver impairments, i.e. “fatty liver”
Weight challenges
Hormonal challenges, i.e. with thyroid hormones and sex hormone balance – think premenstrual syndrome symptoms as well as conditions such as Polycystic ovarian syndrome
Challenges with sleep hormones and sleep
Nutrient deficiencies (linked to insufficient intake and/or absorption issues and/or high consumption of micronutrients as cofactors)
With all the clients I worked with so far, I have been able to recognise more or less debilitating signs or symptoms likely due to blood sugar imbalances.
And following my mentor's wisdom, this is always one of the very first areas I educate my clients about and guide them with.
And they can immediately see noticeable results!
Waking up with more energy, getting to lunch without a snack, early recognition of the signs their body sends them when the blood sugar is getting too low, allowing for more conscious decisions with regard to their snacks rather than running to the first sugary snack or drink they find on their way (and causing a blood sugar roller coaster), stable energy between meals etc.
What about you? Are you aware of your own blood sugars? Do you experience any of the symptoms listed above or others? Have you ever considered that some of your symptoms could be linked to blood sugar swings or non-optimal blood sugars? Have you ever measured them?
In order to let you reflect on your own glycemic response, and experience the benefits of starting out your day with a balanced break-fast, I created a free pdf: after-breakfast body check-in | discover how your breakfast affects your symptoms. I hope you’ll give it a go and let me know about your thoughts and experiences!
Or are you ready to go further and would like to receive my 1:1 support?
Get in touch for a free 20-minute functional nutrition and lifestyle consultation and let’s find out how I can further support your healing journey.
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