The Importance of Stabilizing Blood Sugar for Proper Brain Function
Dr. Kaitlyn J. Popp
Glucose is vital to our bodies and to our brains, but it can also wreck havoc if we eat too much! It’s another one of those delicate balances we have to pay attention to in life. I know – it’s exhausting! But you know what? It is totally worth the work. A good rule of thumb to remember: The only effect eating should have is to relieve hunger.
So what does blood sugar have to do with your brain? Glucose is the brains fuel source. Making sure you have stable blood sugar is vital to healthy, balanced brain chemistry, and the prevention of neurodegeneration. When blood sugar is unstable – as in low blood sugar for example – not enough glucose gets to the brain and the brain will degenerate and not function well. With hypoglycemia, when your blood sugar drops too low, your brain isn’t getting enough fuel. When it is deprived of fuel it stops functioning well, causing feelings of dizziness, shaking, headache, and difficulty concentrating.
Symptoms of Blood Sugar Imbalances:
Hypoglycemia is also often linked with adrenal fatigue, a condition in which the adrenal glands do not produce enough cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that helps us cope with stress. It is also responsible for raising blood sugar levels when they drop too low, as they do in hypoglycemia. However, when cortisol levels are low, the body is not able to boost blood sugar up to a healthy level. When this happens you get the symptoms of feeling shakey, light-headed, spaced out and irritable.
Reactive Hypoglycemia Symptoms (a drop in blood sugar):
- Increased energy after meals
- Cravings for sweets between meals
- Irritability if meals are missed
- Dependency on coffee and sugar for energy
- Becoming light headed if meals are missed
- Eating to relieve fatigue
- Feeling shakey, jittery, or tremulous
- Feeling agitated and nervous
- Become upset easily
- Poor memory, forgetfulness
- Blurred vision
Insulin Resistance, the other end of the blood sugar spectrum, is a condition in where blood sugar is chronically too high. This often results from a diet high in carbohydrates – sugars, sweets, potatoes, corn, grains, beans, and other sugars that can send blood sugar levels soaring. In response, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin to carry the sugar out of the blood stream and into the body’s cells to convert it into fat for storage. When this happens repeatedly, the cells develop a resistance to the constant surge of insulin and refuse it entry. As a result, too much glucose and insulin circulate throughout the bloodstream causing inflammation, skewing hormones, and throwing off neurotransmitter balance, all of which lead to rapid degeneration of the brain.
Insulin resistance promotes testosterone production in women. This can lead to increased facial hair and thinning of hair on the scalp. In men, insulin resistance promotes excess estrogen causing an increase in breast tissue, hip girth and emotional sensitivity.
Insulin Resistance Symptoms (a spike in blood sugar):
- Fatigue after meals
- General fatigue
- Craving for sweets not relieved by eating them
- Must have sweets after meals
- Waist girth equal to or larger than hip girth; carries fat in belly
- Frequent Urination
- Increased appetite and thirst
- Difficulty loosing weight
- Migrating aches and pains
Neurotransmitter synthesis depends upon an appropriate insulin response – not too little and not too much. This explains why brain chemistry imbalances are such a huge issue in our society. All the herbs and supplements in the world will not help you until you make the necessary, brain-friendly dietary and lifestyle changes.
Here are some tips:
Eating to Balance your Blood Sugar and Boost your Brain Health
- Eat a breakfast of high quality protein and fat
- If you have hypoglycemia, eat a small amount of protein every two to three hours. This does not mean eat a full meal every 2-3 hours – a few bites will do. The point is to keep your blood sugar stable and leave the adrenals out of the picture.
- Find your carbohydrate tolerance and stick to it. How many grams of carbohydrates should you each day? I follow this simple rule: If you feel sleepy or crave sugar after you eat, you have eaten too many carbs.
- Never eat high carb foods without some fiber, fat or protein. These will slow down the rate at which the glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream and help with “insulin shock”
- Do not eat sweet or starchy foods before bed. Chances are your adrenals will kick into action, creating restless sleep or that 3 a.m. wake up with anxiety or hunger.
- Avoid all fruit juices and carrot juice. These can be more sugary than soda, and will quickly have you crashing.
- Avoid or limit caffeine. Blood sugar imbalances are hard enough on the adrenal glands. Adding in adrenal stimulants fatigue them more.
- Eat a well-balanced diet consisting mostly of vegetables, and quality meats and fats (or other protein if you’re a vegetarian). A diet of junk food, fast foods, and other processed foods works against you. To restore your brain health you must find ways to restore your diet closer to what our ancestors ate. A diet dominated by leafy, green vegetables and adequate in quality protein and fats is enormously restorative.
- Eliminate food allergens and intolerances. Whenever a food creates an immune response, such as an allergy or intolerance, it also creates blood sugar instability and insulin surges. Common food intolerances are to gluten, dairy, eggs, corn, soy and yeast. Eating these foods can create sugar cravings and fatigue after meals. To stabilize blood sugar and promote brain health, problem foods should be eliminated and the gut repaired.
A brain free of inflammation and degeneration requires balanced hormones, a healthy gut, good thyroid function, and good adrenal function.
The path to wellness isn’t always easy. In fact, it is HARD WORK. Hard to eat consciously, hard to choose the healthy route, hard to say no to an extra large pizza when it’s staring you in the face. It is hard to always think about eating more vegetables, using less plastic, filtering your water, restricting foods that don’t agree with you. The list goes on and on. But you know what else is hard? Hypertension, diabetes, having to take 10 prescription drugs a day just to FEEL like your life is in balance. It’s not. You create your hard.
Information courtesy of Dr. Datis Kharrazian, “Why Isn’t My Brain Working”
