Poor lifestyle and eating habits can lead to the risk of developing diabetes or pre-diabetes. If not taken care of, diabetes can lead to several health complications like cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, stress, depression and makes your life worse. Therefore, you should keep a check on your blood sugar levels. On noticing the increase in blood sugar levels, look for measures that can naturally lower your blood glucose levels. It is the best way to lead a healthy and fit life for people with diabetes. Exercise and diet control are the top tips that help in maintaining blood glucose levels without medications. Read this blog to know how to lower blood sugar levels in a natural way.
Diabetes management is an essential part of a diabetic or pre-diabetic person’s life. These days, various medications and Insulin injections are available that help in controlling diabetes. However, it is daunting for diabetes patients to manage diabetes only with insulin or medications. Many natural ways can make a significant impact on your blood sugar levels. It not only helps you to control blood sugar level but enables you to live a healthy life. 1000s of patients were able to reduce their insulin intake and other medications, while many were completely off medications at the end of the Diabetes Reversal Program.
Inclination Towards the Natural Methods to Improve Health
When it comes to treating diabetes, you can avoid medications and keep your blood sugar levels in control naturally. Diabetes medications have some side effects if you take them without consultation. Even while being on insulin or diabetes medications, you have to take care of lifestyle modifications. Therefore, diabetes patients look for controlling diabetes without medicine because natural methods are safe and sustainable in regulating sugar levels for life
Know-How to Lower the Blood Sugar Level in Natural Way
Exercise and diet control help manage your blood sugar levels. Low-intensity exercises are the best natural remedies for diabetes patients. When you have to choose the diabetic diet, light meals including low carbs and high fiber foods are the best. In addition to this, food rich in micronutrients is also helpful in controlling blood glucose levels. Other factors that naturally help maintain blood sugar levels include managing stress levels, taking adequate and sound sleep, and drinking lots of water.
Many diabetic patients who got on a call with us were unaware of the proper diet and exercises required to manage blood sugar levels. While many others complained about lack of motivation. They all were delighted to know about receiving personalised diet plan, fitness regimen with constant push and motivation from the coaches during the Diabetes Reversal Program.
Having high blood sugar levels can adversely affect your health. Negligence can lead to hypoglycemia and other complications of diabetes. Thus, you need to control your blood glucose levels. Here are some effective methods to lower the blood sugar level in a natural way:
Exercising removes the excess fat from your body to maintain moderate body weight. It results in improving insulin sensitivity. Better insulin sensitivity enables the cells to absorb more glucose from your bloodstream. Thereby, lower your blood sugar levels naturally. However, high-impact exercise can result in hyperglycemia that is, in turn, harmful for people with diabetes. So, choose low-impact exercise like swimming, walking, dancing, cycling, etc. to keep your blood glucose levels in control. While exercising, you should be careful about its type. Many diabetic patients believe only walking or playing a sport can help them maintain perfect body weight. Exercise is equally important. Fitness experts plan a feasible workout routine that helps you stay fit for life.
Increase Fiber Intake
You can see a significant drop in your blood glucose levels when you include fiber-rich food in your diet. Fiber-rich foods are good for health. They help in slowing down the digestion of carbohydrates and absorption of glucose in your body. Therefore, such foods help in maintaining your blood sugar levels to normal. It also prevents the sudden spike and drops in your blood glucose levels. Vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains are rich in fiber. Personal Diet Coach ensures a rich fibre diet for patients which helps them regulate and maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
Drink Plenty of Water
Drinking water is the natural cure for diabetes. Water rehydrates the blood and helps your kidneys to flush out excess glucose from your body. In this way, it helps in keeping your blood glucose levels in control naturally. Make sure that you should not replace water with alcoholic or high-carb beverages. Even non-alcoholic drinks, like fruit juices, do not give you the same benefits as drinking water. However, you can try apple cider vinegar to manage diabetes. During consultation calls, forgetting to drink water seemed to be the most common worry for people. Constant reminders and challenges after joining Diabetes Reversal Program, were able to help them achieve the target with ease.
Cut Down the Carbs Intake
It is the most effective way to control your blood sugar levels without any medications. You have to cut down the consumption of sugar. The lower carbs food makes it easier to stabilize your blood glucose levels. When you consume less amount of sugar, it lowers the metabolic response of your body. It ensures that the working of the pancreas and insulin production is normal. To reduce the consumption of carbs, eat leafy vegetables, nuts, avoid sugary drinks, anything that has high carbs. Proper carb management works wonders in normalizing blood sugar levels.
Choose Foods Rich in Magnesium and Chromium
The deficiency of micronutrients is another reason for the development of type-2 diabetes. Magnesium and chromium are the micronutrients that are essential for maintaining good health. These minerals, along with antioxidants help in lowering your blood sugar levels and keeps your metabolism energetic. Egg yolks, whole-grain products, oats, high-bran cereals, and nuts are rich in chromium. Foods rich in Magnesium are dark leafy greens, whole grains, fish, and beans. An adequate amount of micronutrients boosts up the process of Diabetes Reversal.
Manage Your Stress Levels
Stress plays a significant role in increasing your blood sugar levels. Under stress, your body releases hormones such as glucagon and cortisol. These hormones are responsible for increasing your stress levels. Also, these stress hormones initiate metabolic decomposition in sugar patients that further leading to higher blood glucose levels. Therefore, engage in exercise, relaxation, and meditation techniques like yoga to reduce stress levels. These basic lifestyle modifications will help in controlling your blood glucose level
Take Quality Sleep
Poor sleeping habits can increase insulin resistance in your body. It can increase your appetite and cravings for food. Hence, you may end up eating more carbs in a day and put on extra body weight. Lack of sleep also increases cortisol levels and decreases the release of growth hormones in your body. Therefore, it hampers the metabolic functions in your body. To keep your blood sugar levels in control, you should take proper sleep of around 8-10 hours per day. Poor sleeping habits and even Insomnia can be treated naturally by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Rely on Spices
Many spices and herbs are available in our kitchen help in controlling blood sugar levels naturally. These spices and herbs include cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, fenugreek, and curry leaves have therapeutic and anti-diabetic properties. Consuming these spices on an empty stomach gives the maximum benefit in controlling diabetes. You can soak any of these spices in a glass of water overnight and drink it in the morning. You can add a pinch of turmeric in water and drink to manage diabetes. These spices and herbs play an important role in the process of reversing diabetes.
Do Not Consume Heavy Meals
You need to keep your carbohydrate intake consistent, when your body is unable to manage the blood glucose levels. Spread out your big meals of the day into the small meals throughout the day. Your body has trouble breaking down carbs into sugar and absorbing its nutrients by consuming a big meal. Portion control helps in regulating calorie intake and managing your weight. It, thus, helps in regulating blood sugar levels and makes Diabetes Reversal easy.
Do Not Skip Your Breakfast
Breakfast is an important meal of the day especially, for people with diabetes. It not only keeps the person full but also helps in controlling the blood sugar levels. Insulin sensitivity is generally higher in the morning. Therefore, when you eat your breakfast, your body maintains the insulin level in your body throughout the day. Skipping a meal results in dangerously high or low blood sugar levels as it stimulates your liver to pump out more glucose in your body. Everybody has different body requirements. A certified Diet Coach can help you with a personalized Diet Plan with ingredients already present in your kitchen or easily available in the market.
Herbal Remedies to Lower Blood Sugar Levels Naturally
If you are looking for how to lower the blood sugar level in a natural way, don’t skip searching for herbal remedies. Herbal remedies help achieve overall health goals. The herbal remedies are completely natural, simple, and easy to follow at home. The top herbal remedies for controlling blood sugar levels are:
- Neem: Neem is an herb that has an abundance of flavonoids, triterpenoids, antiviral compounds, and glycosides. Such therapeutic properties make it the best natural medicine for diabetes. In the Ayurvedic treatment of diabetes, Neem is one of the main ingredients of diabetic medications. You can prepare neem water or neem leaves powder and have it every day to maintain your blood glucose levels.
- Bitter Gourd: Charatin and momordicin are the two compounds that are present in bitter gourd. They have blood glucose-lowering properties. Drink bitter gourd juice or have it as a dish in your meal to reap its benefits in controlling diabetes. Do not add sugar or artificial sweetener to bitter gourd juice to reduce bitterness.
- Mango Leaves: Mangoes are yummy fruits, and their leaves have therapeutic properties. Drinking mango leaves tea works fabulously on diabetes. Boil some mango leaves for a few minutes in water and then drink this tea in the morning on an empty stomach.
- Jamun: Black plum or Jamun has hypoglycemic properties. Thus, it is capable of reducing blood glucose levels naturally. You can either have Jamun with some salt or Jamun seed powder with water to lower your blood glucose levels.
- Ginger: Ginger is one of the best spices that is easily available at home. Take an inch of ginger and boil it in water for at least 5 minutes. After that, strain it and drink it two or three times a day to control your diabetes. Ginger helps in regulating blood glucose levels and improves insulin sensitivity as well.
- Fenugreek powder: Fenugreek seed is another natural medicine for diabetes. You can soak a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds in water overnight and drink this water in the morning. You can also prepare fenugreek seeds powder and have one teaspoon of this powder with water to control blood glucose levels. Fenugreek helps in improving the glucose tolerance of your body. It also stimulates the secretion of insulin to maintain blood sugar levels.
- Curry leaves: Curry leaves are a rich source of fiber. It helps slow down the digestion process and absorption of glucose in the body. Hence, it helps in managing blood glucose levels and boost insulin activity to stabilize blood sugar.
- Aloe vera: Apart from providing skin benefits, aloe vera helps treat diabetes as well. Aloe vera juice is beneficial for losing body fat and weight. On maintaining ideal body weight, your A1C levels also reach normal levels. Therefore, it keeps your metabolism up and reduces blood sugar levels effectively. Unsweetened aloe vera juice gives immediate results by lowering blood glucose levels.
- Cinnamon: It is the spice that gives an aromatic flavor to your dishes. Apart from making your dishes exotic, cinnamon triggers insulin activity to reduce blood sugar levels. Consuming cinnamon helps in reducing the oxidative stress that eventually leads to lowering blood glucose levels. You can drink cinnamon water or add cinnamon to your tea to control diabetes.
- Gymnema: It is a natural herb that is popular for controlling blood sugar levels. It has its exceptional use in Ayurvedic medicine. It helps in managing weight, improves metabolism, suppresses appetite, and improves digestion. Gymnema also helps in fighting sugar cravings that help to reduce calorie intake. Hence, it lowers your blood glucose levels.
While having these food items, spices and herbs you should be aware of the quantity you consume. Consuming too much or too less of the above mentioned products can adversely affect your blood sugar levels. A balanced diet should contain different kinds of food in certain quantities to get your sugar levels in control. It’s suggested to consult experts and have a personalised diet plan and workout routine to reverse diabetes effectively.
Why should I regularly check my blood sugar levels?
It is essential for people with diabetes and pre-diabetes to monitor their blood sugar levels regularly. It helps them to know how their efforts in controlling blood sugar levels are affecting their diabetes. Some people with high blood sugar levels experience a fall in their blood sugar levels after intense exercise or taking some medications for diabetes. It can cause hyperglycemia and negatively affect their health. When you monitor blood sugar levels, the risk of hyperglycemia gets low.
How can I lower my blood sugar levels immediately?
People with diabetes can experience sudden spikes in their blood sugar levels at any time. It leads to hypoglycemia. Therefore, they need some quick solutions to lower their blood sugar levels immediately. A rapid-acting insulin is one of the solutions to reduce blood glucose levels. The other solution for lowering blood sugar are aerobics exercises for few minutes, eating high protein and no carbs foods, and relaxing techniques (deep breathing or yoga) helps in quickly lowering the blood sugar levels.
Do I have to rely on diabetes medications for a lifetime?
Diabetes can go into remission but, there is no permanent cure for it. When your body goes into remission, it means that your body will not show any significant symptoms of diabetes. However, it will be present in your body. Therefore, with your best efforts for healthy eating and exercise, you may go on the lower dosage of the prescribed medicines. Some people may stop medications for the short term but, eventually, they need to take the diabetes medications later.
What is the glycemic index?
In research conducted in 1981, it was found that the foods that convert carbs into sugar slowly provide energy continuously to your body. Subsequently, it doesn’t cause blood sugar spikes that can lead to low energy and tiredness. A glycemic index is a number allotted to the foods to indicate how fast they affect your blood glucose levels. Eating food with a low glycemic index is the natural treatment for diabetes.
What should be my normal blood sugar levels?
The amount of glucose that someone has in their blood at any given point in time indicates blood sugar levels. The normal range of blood sugar levels in people without diabetes or pre-diabetes is less than 100 mg/dL (while fasting). After two hours of eating, the normal range of diabetes in adults is 90 to 100 mg/dL. In pre-diabetes, the normal fasting blood sugar levels are between 101 and 125 mg/dL whereas, the PP blood sugar level is 190-230 mg/dL.