Lower blood sugar

In this article, you will learn how to lower your blood sugar. Blood sugar is the amount of glucose that is in the blood. In order to regulate these, medicines are not always in demand. With a change in lifestyle, especially in terms of nutrition, much can already be achieved. The blood sugar is divided into fasting, postprandial (about two hours after a meal) and preprandial (before a meal). Too high, but too low values ​​can damage your health.

contents

• Tasks of blood sugar
• What affects the blood sugar level?
• Lower blood sugar through nutrition
• Health Tip: rhubarb, nuts and blueberries
• Natural help with ginger and buckwheat
• Select foods with a low Glyx index
• Movement and reduction of overweight
• Important for high blood sugar: avoid stress
• Naturopathy with elevated blood sugar levels

Tasks of blood sugar

The blood sugar, which is in the form of glucose in the blood, is vital and provides all cells with energy. First and foremost is the brain, which desperately needs glucose to deliver its performance. So that the sugar does not remain in the blood, but can get into the cells, insulin exists. The proteohormone allows the transfer of glucose from the blood plasma into the cell interior. Once there, energy is produced from it using chemical processes.

Using a special measuring device, the doctor can quickly identify whether there is an elevated blood sugar level. (Image: Kzenon / fotolia.com)

If insulin is missing, the glucose stays in the blood and the cells can not be adequately supplied. This is the condition of hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). If too much insulin is present, sugar in the blood is missing, which means a so-called hypo-glycemia (too low blood sugar). Insulin is produced in the islet organ of the pancreas and there in the beta cells. It has the task of taking glucose from the blood and then transporting it to the cells, which lowers the blood sugar level.

As with many messengers and hormones, there is also an antagonist called glucagon. This is produced in the alpha cells of the Langerhans Islands. Glucagon promotes the breakdown of glycogen (glucose storage) into glucose, which occurs when there is insufficient blood sugar.

What affects the blood sugar level?

The influence on the blood sugar value have the nutrition, physical activity, stress, illnesses, fever and medicines. Foods that contain carbohydrates increase blood sugar. This happens quite quickly with so-called "fast carbohydrates, which - as their name implies - pass quickly into the blood. By contrast, "slow" carbohydrates (such as wholemeal bread) take longer to be digested and cause the blood sugar to rise slowly.

People suffering from diabetes are advised to prefer this type of rapid-form carbohydrate. Grape sugar is known to increase the glucose in the blood quickly. Infections, especially if they are accompanied by fever, cause the blood sugar to rise as well. When stressed, the body releases epinephrine and cortisone, which in turn leads to an increase in glucose in the blood. Some medications, such as antihypertensives, lipid-lowering drugs, immunosuppressive drugs, and various hormones may also increase levels.

Sports or physical activity can lower blood sugar. (Image: ARochau / fotolia.com)

The mirror can be lowered by exercise or other physical exertion. Certain medications, such as analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs and some types of antibiotics, as well as prolonged fasting or alcohol, can lower blood sugar levels.

Lower blood sugar through nutrition

Insulin transports the glucose from the blood into the cells and lowers the blood sugar. However, if this mechanism does not work properly, diabetes may develop. In Type I diabetes, there is not enough insulin right from the beginning, for example because the beta cells are increasingly destroyed. Diabetes type II is usually based on a so-called "insulin resistance", which affects the responsiveness of the cells to insulin. These react less and less insulin over time and can no longer absorb glucose at some point, which raises the blood sugar level.

Diet is generally the alpha and omega for a healthy life. Through a special diet change sufferers can even get a diabetes disease without medication under control. This is especially true when type II diabetes exists. "Fast" carbohydrates (such as white flour products) and certain sugars, such as glucose or table sugar, increase blood sugar very quickly.

In "slow" carbohydrates, which have a so-called low or medium glycemic index, the blood sugar goes slower into the blood. Therefore, whole-grain products are preferable to white flour products. Legumes such as lentils, peas and beans are high in fiber, contain valuable protein and vitamins, and also help reduce blood sugar.

Health Tip: rhubarb, nuts and blueberries

Rhubarb is recommended, as it counteracts an increased glucose concentration in the blood. A particularly strong effect can be achieved if the stem vegetables are combined with cinnamon. Important: The rhubarb should of course not be sweetened with sugar. Cinnamon not only lowers blood sugar but also has a positive effect on blood lipid levels in the body.

Blueberries are now known as "health foods". They contain a high number of antioxidants, but can also lower your blood sugar. The darker these are, the better they help.

Healthy breakfast with high blood sugar levels: Muesli with fruits and nuts. (Image: yuliiaholovchenko / fotolia.com)

Nuts - consumed in moderation and not in bulk - are not fattening but contain healthy fats and gently lower blood sugar when consumed regularly in small quantities. It is important to ensure that the nuts are neither roasted nor salted and of perfect quality. A fresh grain muesli in the morning, enriched with some nuts is a healthy start to the day.

Recipe for two servings of fresh cereal: 8 tablespoons of wheat meal 300 g yoghurt (1.5% fat) two small apples or pears 2 tablespoons chopped nuts Preparation: Put the meal in a bowl and pour a cup of water over it to swell. Cover the bowl with a lid and place in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, the fruit is peeled, roughly grated and mixed with the yogurt. Then the swollen meal is added, everything mixed and sprinkled with the nuts. If necessary, the muesli can be loosened up with a little bit of low-fat milk.

Natural help with ginger and buckwheat

Ginger is mainly known from traditional Chinese medicine. The sharp root helps with sore throats and nausea. But that's not all, because ginger lowers, according to a study, the blood sugar level. The valuable medicinal plant can be used fresh as a spice or as a tea.

Recipe for ginger tea: Cut a small piece of ginger into four to five thin slices Put this in a cup or tea strainer Pour 250 ml of boiling water over it Let the infusion draw for about 10 minutes Drink two to three cups of it daily in small sips

Another healthy food that can lower blood sugar is buckwheat. This has nothing to do with wheat, because it does not belong to the cereals, but to the Knöterichgewächsen. Buckwheat flakes strewn over the muesli or consumed as a rice alternative, are considered a healthy home remedy to promote glucose degradation.

Enrich your muesli with flakes of buckwheat, as they promote the breakdown of glucose. (Image: Klaus Eppele / fotolia.com)

Select foods with a low Glyx index

In order to keep these values ​​in check, it is important to have a diet that primarily includes foods with a low glycemic index. The lower this is, the less the food will pollute the blood sugar. Grape sugar has a glycemic index (in short: GI or Glyx index) of 100. This means that it enters the blood immediately and makes the blood sugar soar.

Rye wholemeal bread, on the other hand, has a glycemic index of 37, while white bread (toast), for example, has a value of 73. Sprouted cereal has an index of 15, cauliflower as well and Camembert comes to a value of 0.

To keep the blood sugar level in the frame, the drinks should not be ignored. These should not contain sugar. Recommended are water and unsweetened tea. The aromatic green tea is also said to have a positive effect on blood sugar.

Movement and reduction of overweight

Sport usually reduces blood glucose levels because glucose burns energy. However, if sufferers already take antidiabetics or even inject insulin due to diabetes, athletic activity must be monitored and blood sugar must be checked so that no hypoglycaemia occurs. Regular exercise is always a therapy for diabetes.

Being overweight for a long time, usually in conjunction with lack of exercise, can be the cause of high blood sugar. To reduce this, therefore, the overweight should be slowly reduced. Losing weight can certainly lower blood sugar.

To achieve this, it is best not to take the evening meal after 6 pm and be free of carbohydrates. If insulin no longer needs to be released to process this meal, it also facilitates fat burning and thus weight loss.

Important for high blood sugar: avoid stress

Stress needs sugar, which means that the body provides more glucose in the blood and therefore increases blood sugar. To reduce this, negative loads should therefore be avoided as far as possible. Regular relaxation exercises help to reduce stress such as yoga and autogenic training. The stress avoidance is supported by sufficient sleep.

Naturopathy with elevated blood sugar levels

To regulate the blood sugar or at least keep it in check, there are some good naturopathic therapeutic approaches. These can also be used in conjunction with conventional medical therapy. Important: Natural remedies are of course only helpful if the affected people change their lifestyle with regard to exercise and nutrition as well as avoid smoking and alcohol.

The proven home remedy is cinnamon in the first place. This is administered in natural medicine as a dietary supplement in the form of capsules. A shot glass of vinegar, drunk before meals, should also help lower the value slightly. The bitter melon (Momordica charantia), a plant from Asia, is also said to have a beneficial effect on blood sugar when administered as a dietary supplement.

Curcuma stimulates the production of insulin and thereby counteracts too high a glucose level (Image: Popova Olga / fotolia.com)

Well suited for those affected is the Hintonia plant. In the field of Ayurveda, the medicinal plant Curcuma (turmeric) has long been used as a dietary supplement. Curcuma has a liver cleansing effect, is anti-inflammatory and has a positive influence on blood sugar.

Homeopathy also deals with the treatment of elevated blood sugar levels. It uses agents such as Acidum phosphoricum, Lycopodium and Syzygium jambolanum.

Other therapies that are used in natural healing practice to lower the values, for example, the ear acupuncture, acupuncture, foot reflexology, diversion and traditional Chinese medicine.

One method that is becoming more widely known and that can help regulate the level of the disorder is mycotherapy. Here is treated with various so-called "medicinal mushrooms". To lower the blood sugar, the medicinal mushrooms Agaricus, Coprinus and Maitake are used.

Positive effects through changes in lifestyle
In cases of mild blood sugar fluctuations that are not yet diabetes-related, natural remedies can be used. On the other hand, if there is already a "diabetes", naturopathy serves as a good concomitant therapy.

It is important to mention that life usually has to be changed in order to reduce blood sugar. These include weight loss, diet change, daily exercise and avoiding alcohol and nicotine. Again and again, cases are known in which patients have changed their lifestyle - possibly in conjunction with naturopathic therapies - their blood sugar after years of discomfort completely got under control. (sw, nr, last changed on 29.11.2016)