The Delicate Balance of Your Blood Sugar Hormone: Insulin
Blood sugar balance has been trending in 2024 and is still going strong! Right now, you may be searching continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and drinking apple cider vinegar to balance your blood sugar hormone: insulin.
You can’t google the term “balancing blood sugar” without getting a myriad of links to understand insulin, the main focus hormone of blood sugar balance.
This blog post will discuss insulin and its near cousin, glucagon. Both of these have a role in the delicate balance of your blood sugar. Blood sugar balance is not limited to insulin and glucagon. Other hormones like estrogen and cortisol also help control your blood sugar hormone.
We’re also going to touch on other things (besides a CGM) that can help the delicate balance of your blood sugar, including:
- Exercise
- Fiber
- Lowering sugar intake
- Decreasing alcohol
- Proper sleep
- Meal timing
- Decreasing belly fat
Before we start with insulin, your blood sugar hormone, let’s note how low blood sugar shows up in the body.
What Does Low Blood Sugar Feel Like?
If your blood sugar drops, you may feel:
- Shaky
- Dizzy
- Sweaty
- Nervous
- Irritable
You may get a headache. When it dips really low, you can also get confused. Hypoglycemia is the term for low blood sugar, and it can be severe. There are many hormonal players in blood sugar balance: insulin, glucagon, cortisol, growth hormone, and amylin. When you use our bioenergetic test, we will energetically assess all of those, excluding amylin.
What Does High Blood Sugar Feel Like?
When your blood sugar is high, meaning there is a lot of glucose floating around in the bloodstream and insulin is not helping get it into cells, you may experience:
- Excessive thirst
- Increased hunger
- Fatigue
- Frequent urination
Hyperglycemia is also the term for high blood sugar, which, over time, can cause issues with many systems of the body, including the kidneys and the cardiovascular system. High blood sugar can lead to Type 2 diabetes, not to be confused with Type 1.
Both of these types of health issues are related to insulin, except that with Type 1, the Pancreas does not produce insulin. Scientific literature notes that the body’s immune system attacks the cells in the Pancreas that make insulin. In Type 2, the Pancreas may make less insulin, or the body becomes resistant to insulin.
We do not diagnose or treat health conditions with bioenergetics. However, we do support the body in getting back to balance with bioenergetic testing that shows organ and system stress.
The Role of Insulin in Blood Sugar Balance
Insulin is a peptide hormone that regulates your body’s energy supply. Insulin has a few jobs, but it mainly directs the use of the carbohydrates you take in. Think of it as a doorman! It opens a door to the cell, thereby transporting glucose (what we think of as blood sugar) into the cells of the tissues that need it. This includes your liver, muscles, brain, and even fat tissue.
Without insulin, you would not be able to use the glucose from the food you eat. The beta cells within the islets Langerhans of your Pancreas make insulin.
Besides regulating glucose and energy production, insulin also promotes:
- Fat Storage: excess glucose is stored as fat, which can be used as a source of energy when needed.
- Protein Synthesis: essential for the growth, repair, and maintenance of your body’s tissues and organs.
When you eat, your food is broken down into glucose, which is used as energy for all body systems. Insulin, when in balance, helps your cells use this energy. It brings blood sugar back into balance by lowering it. Its partner glucagon brings blood sugar into balance by raising it when blood sugar gets too low.
The Role of Glucagon in Blood Sugar Balance
Glucagon also comes from the Pancreas (in the alpha cells). Low blood sugar stimulates glucagon, which tells the liver to make glucose when your body needs it.
Insulin shuttles glucose into cells to lower blood sugar, and glucagon gets the liver to raise blood sugar when needed through gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis.
Both of these hormones keep blood sugar in a state of homeostasis or balance. They also play a role in insulin resistance, which is the first stage of Type 2 diabetes.
What is Insulin Resistance?
Insulin resistance occurs when your body’s cells become less responsive to the effects of insulin. This condition can lead to a buildup of glucose in your bloodstream, which can have significant consequences for your health and body systems, such as:
- The Cardiovascular System
- The Nervous System
- The Liver
Scan tip: If you see stress in these systems on a Full Scan report, look for energetic sensitivities to high-glycemic foods: white flour, high fructose corn syrup, white or brown sugar, and beverages like cola and alcohol. Take a peek at your energetic hormones and look for high insulin in the energetic hormone section.
While we do not diagnose, bioenergetics can give you subtle hints that your energetic body may not do well with high-glycemic foods (simple carbohydrates) and may benefit from some diet tweaks. Another possibility is your toxin load. Do you see chemicals show up on your report? Keep reading as we discuss endocrine disruptive chemicals or EDCs below.
Insulin resistance can be influenced by a variety of factors, including:
- Obesity or excess weight
- A sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity
- Poor diet high in refined carbohydrates and added sugars
- Genetics and family history
- Certain medical conditions, such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and fatty liver disease
If you also experience:
- Difficulty losing weight or experiencing weight gain
- Dark patches of skin, known as acanthosis nigricans
- High blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels
Then, it’s a good idea to visit your licensed healthcare provider to make sure you do not have a health issue. Insulin resistance can lead to Type 2 diabetes if left unchecked.
Don’t worry: your blood sugar is meant to rise and fall
Glucose rises and falls with meals, movement, and sleep. Hormones from your Endocrine System are the monitors that keep your blood sugar balanced. The crazy spikes and crashes of blood sugar or continuous high blood sugar are what we want to prevent!
Improve Insulin Sensitivity and Manage Your Blood Sugar
Making positive lifestyle changes can take time, but they are an effective way to manage your blood sugar levels:
1. Adopt a balanced, nutrient-dense diet: We feel like we say this regularly but focus on consuming whole, unprocessed foods rich in fiber, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates. Limit your intake of refined sugars and carbohydrates.
What does this mean? People think of the obvious things, like cake and cookies. But refined sugar is also used as a flavor enhancer in salad dressings and other condiments. Proper mineral balance can also help with balanced blood sugar. Proper mineral balance comes with adequate intake and supporting the Digestive System. Hydrochloric acid helps to utilize minerals, and we may not make enough of this stomach acid in a state of emotional and physical stress.
2. Make sure you get adequate amounts of protein: Protein helps with satiety and gives you much-needed amino acids to build muscle and help with numerous body processes. It also “crowds out” the simple carbohydrates by increasing feelings of satiety.
Scan tip: If you see hydrochloric acid, protease, or pancreatin in your energetic nutritional imbalances, this may be a subtle nod to your ability to digest protein —energetically speaking.
3. Engage in regular physical activity: Aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week and build in movement throughout the day. Our practitioner, Tanya, explains the trend of “movement snacks” in this video. This can help enhance insulin sensitivity and promote weight management.
4. Get enough sleep: Sleep deprivation can contribute to insulin resistance. Prioritize an evening routine and aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Many people with blood sugar imbalance experience night waking. If you suspect any type of sleep-disordered breathing, visit your licensed healthcare practitioner, as this may elevate blood glucose and impact your blood sugar hormone.
5. Maintain your own healthy weight: Carrying excess weight, particularly around the abdomen, can increase your risk of insulin resistance. Work towards achieving what you consider a healthy body weight through a diet and regular exercise that works for you.
6. Decrease toxins and improve detox: It’s possible that the chronic stress and inflammation that is caused by our environment may increase oxidative stress. This can indirectly have an effect on your blood sugar hormone. Improving the functions of the Liver and Pancreas through diet can also improve your own natural organ function.
Toxins and Your Blood Sugar Hormone
Have you heard of the term diabetogens? This term refers to chemicals or toxins that may contribute to Type 2 diabetes.
A large category of them are endocrine-disrupting chemicals of EDCs. The Endocrine Society’s Second Scientific Statement on endocrine-disrupting chemicals shows that EDCs disrupt many aspects of human health, including reproduction.
Some of the chemicals that are considered hormone disruptors include:
- polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
- polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs)
- dioxins
- plastics [bisphenol A (BPA)]
- plasticizers (phthalates)
- pesticides [methoxychlor, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)
- fungicides (vinclozolin), and pharmaceutical agents [diethylstilbestrol (DES)]
Endocrine toxins are not the only things that can impact your blood sugar hormone. Viruses can also have effects on the Nervous System, specifically the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Viral proteins can increase the permeability of the BBB. Many types of chronic issues that are viral in nature may be involved in impaired insulin production. These include Coxsackievirus B and different types of herpes viruses.
Tips for Keeping Your Blood Sugar Hormone(s) Balanced
One way to support balanced blood sugar is through diet. Our blog post 9 Foods That Lower Blood Sugar Naturally, has some food suggestions!
Other ways to keep your blood sugar hormone balanced include:
- Regular physical activity, especially after meals.
- Manage stress (and cortisol) through relaxation techniques, meditation, or mindfulness practices.
- Decrease alcohol consumption
- Ditch the household and beauty products that have EDCs in them
- Stop using pesticides in the garden
- Prioritize quality sleep and aim for 7-9 hours per night.
- Limit your intake of refined carbohydrates, added sugars, and unhealthy fats.
- Stay hydrated – being dehydrated can increase your blood sugar.
Certain supplements can help support your blood sugar hormones, and our favorite is Berberine Intrinsic. Berberine has been shown to lower glucose levels and lipids. This herb should not be taken with any medication for diabetes, or your blood sugar may dip too low. We can’t overlook the fact that certain minerals also play a role in balancing your blood sugar.
Boron: This mineral helps modulate insulin concentration in the blood.
Calcium: People who have blood sugar control issues may also have impaired calcium balance.
Chromium: This mineral may reduce insulin resistance.
Iodine: Too much may compromise the function of insulin secretion in the beta cells of the Pancreas.
As you can see, many things affect your blood sugar hormones, including insulin and glucagon. Some are in your control, such as managing the sugar intake for yourself and your children and consuming a whole-food diet where possible.
Other things, like exposure to pathogens, are not in your control. We are exposed to pathogens and other toxins, like EDCs, on a regular basis. While you cannot control your exposure to germs and bugs that make you sick, you can start to ditch cleaning products that are loaded with chemicals and look for more natural solutions.
Our blog post, Your Guide to All Natural Cleaning Products, contains an easy DIY recipe! You’ll learn about the difference between sanitizing and disinfecting and the properties of apple cider vinegar as a cleaner.
If you want to be proactive in supporting your body’s systems in balancing your blood sugar hormones, consider trying our Full Scan testing option. Not only will you get your list of energetic toxins spanning metals, bacteria, chemicals, and mold, but you will also see the systems they impact and the energetic nutritional gaps they may be creating.
DISCLAIMER: Balanced Health, LLC/CBH Energetics and any parent, subsidiary, affiliated or related entities and companies do not provide medical advice or services. This post and the bioenergetic products and services offered by Balanced Health, LLC/CBH Energetics including, but not limited to, bioenergetic tests, bioenergetic scans, bioenergetic reports and related products and services (collectively the “Bioenergetic Products and Services”) are designed for educational and informational purposes only and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, condition, complaint, illness or medical condition and are not a substitute for professional services or medical advice. Testing is not used for the purpose of obtaining information for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of disease or the assessment of a health condition or for identification purposes.
