What is Hyperglycemia or High Blood Sugar Levels?
Hyperglycemia, or high blood glucose, occurs when too much sugar is in the blood. It usually happens when your body has too little insulin, a hormone that transports glucose into the blood. It also happens if your body can’t use insulin properly. These conditions are most often linked with diabetes.
Hyperglycemia is fasting blood glucose greater than 125 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter). A person with fasting blood glucose greater than 125 mg/dL has diabetes.
Having impaired glucose tolerance, or pre-diabetes, with a fasting blood glucose of 100 mg/dL to 125 mg/dL.
A person has hyperglycemia if their blood glucose is greater than 180 mg/dL one to two hours after eating.
If you have hyperglycemia and it’s untreated for long periods, you can damage your nerves, blood vessels, tissues and organs. Damage to blood vessels can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. Nerve damage may also lead to eye damage, kidney damage and non-healing wounds.
High Blood Sugar Levels: Causes in Patients with Diabetes
The insulin or oral diabetes medication dose you are taking is not adequate per your needs.
Your body isn’t using your natural insulin effectively (in case of type 2 diabetes)
The number of carbohydrates you are eating or drinking is not in sync with the amount of insulin your body is making or the amount of insulin you inject.
Lack of physical activity
It can also be due to physical stress from illness, a cold, the flu, an infection, etc.
Emotional stress
Steroids you are taking for another condition.
The dawn phenomenon is a surge of hormones the body produces every morning.
Other Possible Cause
Endocrine conditions, such as Cushing syndrome, that cause insulin resistance
Pancreatic diseases such as pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer and cystic fibrosis
Certain medications like diuretics and steroids
It can be due to gestational diabetes, which happens in 4% of pregnancies. It is due to decreased insulin sensitivity.
Surgery or trauma
High Blood Sugar Levels and Foods
Foods play an essential role in almost all functions of our bodies. Just like foods are responsible for causing several health issues, they can prevent many of them. Similarly, your dietary and lifestyle habits play a crucial role in helping you manage blood sugar levels. Therefore, the primary component to look for in your foods is their glycemic index.
Glycemic Index
The glycemic index determines the spike in blood sugar levels after eating a particular food. For example, your blood sugar levels rise a lot after you eat sugary treats. That is because these foods are rich in sugar, a refined carbohydrate. However, when you eat a bowl of oats, the blood sugar level does not increase as much as after eating sugary treats. The glycemic index monitors these spikes in blood sugar levels.
A glycemic index is an effective tool to help you monitor and control your blood sugar levels. The GI of any food item ranges between 0 to 100, 0 being no sugar spike and 100 representing sugar spike due to pure glucose. Based on these numbers, there are three kinds of food groups:
Low GI foods have a glycaemic index of 55 or less.
Medium GI foods have a glycaemic index that ranges from 56 to 69.
Finally, high GI foods have a glycaemic index of more than 70.
Glycemic index is one of the best ways of categorising carbohydrates, particularly starchy carbohydrates. Eating many high-glycemic-index foods will cause significant spikes in blood sugar. It can increase your chances of getting type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and weight gain. In addition, high-glycemic diets lead to age-related macular degeneration, ovulatory infertility, and colorectal cancer. Low-glycemic-index foods aid in the management of type 2 diabetes and weight loss.
What Influences Glycemic Index?
The glycemic index of a food can influence by several factors, including the following:
High Processing: Grains that have been milled and refined (removing the bran and germ) have a higher glycemic index than minimally processed whole grains.
Physical Form: Finely ground grain digests more quickly than coarsely ground grain. Eating whole grains in their “whole form,” such as brown rice or oats, is better than highly processed whole grain bread.
Fibre Content: Since high-fibre foods contain less digestible carbohydrates, they slow down digestion. It results in a more gradual and lower rise in blood sugar.
Overripe fruits and vegetables have a higher glycemic index than ripe fruits and vegetables.
Fat and Acid content: Foods high in fat or acid convert to sugar more slowly.
So, if you want to control your blood glucose levels, you should consume more low and medium GI foods. However, it does not make high GI foods unhealthy or less nutritious. You can have them occasionally and in moderation.
Foods to Naturally Lower Blood Sugar Levels
1. Complex Carbohydrates
2. Low GI Fruits
3. Protein-Rich Foods Lower Blood Sugar Levels
4. Good Fat
5. Supplement with Moringa
Lifestyle Changes to Naturally Lower Blood Sugar Levels
Active Lifestyle
Keeping yourself physically active imparts several health benefits to your body. Similarly, it helps lower blood sugar levels. It is one of the best ways to lower blood sugar naturally. For example, exercise helps to regulate insulin function, which helps reduce glucose.
Examples of physical activities to consider:
-Stretching, yoga, meditation 60 minutes a day
-Brisk walking for 45 minutes a day
-Jogging for 35 minutes a day
-Running every day for 30 minutes
-Aerobic exercise such as rebounding on a trampoline for 10 min a day
Sleep Hygiene
Lack of adequate sleep prohibits natural healing and compromises the body metabolism, which leads to weight gain. An increase in weight leads to the impaired working of insulin. It, in turn, spikes the blood sugar levels.
The Bottom Line
High blood sugar levels or hyperglycemia is prevalent worldwide. It is spreading like wildfire nowadays. But, as the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure”. Therefore, you should keep your blood sugar levels in check to remain fit and healthy. As the article explains, your dietary habits, healthy and active lifestyle and optimum sleep can help you lower blood sugar levels. Hence, you should eat fibre-rich foods, good quality protein and fat. In addition, follow a healthy lifestyle with physical activity, and get optimum sleep. These fundamental changes are essential to lower blood sugar levels naturally.
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