How Blood Sugar Levels and Stress Have an Impact-I Need Balance

imageThis past Monday, I worked out at 6:30am again, and I met with a dietician after work.  I completed a health questionnaire prior to my appointment.  It was confirmed that I lost 5 lbs. in the past month.  I have 33 percent body fat, which puts me at a moderate health risk. Anything over 35 percent is high risk.

As we talked, he determined that I eat pretty healthy lunches and dinners. Typically, we have a starch, a green vegetable, and a meat or fish.  I usually take leftovers for lunch the next day for work. Occasionally, I am invited to lunch with co-workers, or we have free lunch offered to us.  In those cases, I make healthy choices, like a salad.

imageAccording to my dietician, the  problem was my snack choices and breakfast. I was getting carbs, but not enough protein.  The rule is to look at the ratio of carbs to protein with fiber. When I was ingesting a higher ratio of carbs to protein, it was causing  an imbalance in which my blood sugar levels can rise and then drop. Either way, it promotes fat storage. Stress can increase cortisol levels, which coupled with low blood sugar levels, can also cause fat storage.  I learned this past week that your thoughts can cause stress; therefore, I make sure that my thoughts are not negative.

Normal blood sugar encourages fat use. For example, eating a bowl of oatmeal alone was leaving me short on protein. I needed to eat something else with it, like chicken or some nitrate- free breakfast meat.  Plain greek yogurt is high in protein. Since it doesn’t taste delicious by itself, I add fruit to it, which adds a nice balance.

As for snacking, I eat nuts, fruit and cheese, or hummus and raw veggies.  Sometimes, I just have a cup of green tea, and I’m satisfied. I’m sure as time goes on, I will get more creative. These were just suggestions, and they work for me.  I used to eat hummus often, but I just needed a change.

On my Friday session with the trainer, I struggled with a few of the exercises.  She set me up with a different personal trainer twice weekly for 30 minutes for the next month.  I will see how much progress I make and move forward from there.  It’ll be hard work, but well worth it.

I often hear people talk about being fat and overweight; however, they don’t make any changes with their diet or their lifestyle.  Looking back, I was a very skinny kid that wanted to be more curvy.  Now, I can still be curvy, but it’s about my health.