The Root of Many Evils...

The single most important thing you can do for your health is to regulate blood sugar. Sleep is good, hydration is good, meditation is good, laughter is good, yoga is good, swimming is good, vitamin consumption is generally good.

All these things are wonderful and should be an integral part of your lifestyle. But the single most important thing you can do for your health; regulate your blood sugar.

It’s almost like asking what the most important thing is in a house. Is it the plumbing, electrical wiring, roof, furnace, doors? Of course they’re all incredibly important. If any of them goes awry, your home life will be very uncomfortable for a while. But none of those are any good unless your foundation is strong. Have you seen those million dollar homes slide off the hills when it rains in California? I think those homeowners would tell you that when the foundation failed, none of the other stuff mattered.

Your body’s foundation for everything is your blood sugar. It may be a stretch to say that all diseases have some foundation in blood sugar irregularities. But it’s not a stretch to say that many people with health issues do have problems that arise from blood sugar problems.

There are many things that factor into good health from a functional medicine perspective. The gastrointestinal system plays a huge role in overall health. The thyroid glands, adrenal glands, good nutrient status, oxidative stress, gut infections, systemic inflammation etc. There are many avenues to pursue when you just feel “off” and unhealthy. We’ll discuss many of those in this blog. But if blood sugar levels repeatedly spike and crash, then none of those other things matter.

Some people are quick to dismiss the blood sugar issue saying, “no one in my family is a diabetic. I’m fine.” Diabetes is one possible end result when blood sugar levels get completely out of control. But what about the approximately 280 million Americans who have not been diagnosed with diabetes? How do you know if you have problems with blood sugar?

If have sweet cravings, get irritated or light-headed when you eat lunch a little too late…

If you get easily fatigued in the afternoon or really sleepy after lunch…

If you really need coffee to get you going in the morning or depend on the afternoon latte…

… you probably have problems with blood sugar.

You see, blood sugar is the stimulus that tells your pancreas to release insulin. When blood sugar goes out of control, insulin goes out of control. It is released excessively and over time, your body stops paying attention to what insulin is trying to say. This is ‘insulin resistance.’ In the next blog, we’ll talk about the 2 faces of insulin. The good and the bad.