Why Blood Sugar Balance is so Important to Healing Anxiety

If you are suffering from anxiety and you aren’t focusing on blood sugar balance, what are you even doing?!?

Seriously, balancing your blood sugar levels and keeping it stable throughout the day could massively improve your symptoms! let me explain:

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Symptoms of Low Blood Sugar can Mimic Anxiety

Yep. Low blood sugar can mimic the Symptoms of anxiety, panic and DPDR.

Gone are the days of drinking a sugar packed coffee and skipping breakfast. The girlies (and guys) in the “healing their anxiety era” are dropping caffeine and getting in plenty of water and wholesome foods in the mornings.

Ditching breakfast and running on sugar and caffeine causes a spike in blood sugar levels. This can have serious negative effects on your health, including mental health. Imbalanced blood sugar symptoms are similar to those of anxiety.

Symptoms of low/imbalanced blood sugar:

shakiness
brain fog
racing heart
fatigue
headache
nausea
difficulty concentrating
panic

See how it could be hard to tell the difference between low/imbalanced blood sugar and anxiety?

When I started focusing on keeping my blood sugar balanced my anxiety symptoms really started to improve.

Ways to Balance Blood Sugar Levels

Consuming sugar and carbs first thing in the morning can cause a major spike in blood sugar levels, a spike is when it goes up really high. When blood sugar levels go up high, they will inevitably dip down low.

When the level dips or gets low that’s where the symptoms listed above start to come into play. In order to keep from having spikes and then dips in blood sugar, it’s crucial to eat in a way that balances blood sugar levels.

Instead of spikes and dips like in Fg.1, a more balanced level looks more like a wave as in Fg.2

So how do you lose the spikes and dips and create more stable waves?

Eating smaller meals every 2-3 hours.

Eating smaller more frequent meals and or snacks creates a very steady balance with blood sugar by decreasing major spikes and crashes. Waiting to long to eat can cause a dip in levels that can create major cravings for sugar to bring the levels back up. The problem is when carbs and sugar is consumed it causes a spike in blood sugar, and dips in blood sugar usually follow these spikes.

Consuming enough, protein, fiber and healthy fats

Protein works to balance blood sugar because protein is broken down into glucose really slow, so it doesn’t cause spikes in blood sugar. It also blunts the absorption of sugar and carbs so it’s great paired with high carb/sugar foods.

Fiber doesn’t raise blood sugar levels because it is not absorbed by the body. It is found in fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and legumes and offers bulk in our diets to help us feel full, provide healthy digestion and balance blood sugar levels by curbing cravings.

Healthy fats like coconut oil, grass fed butter and olive oil help balance blood sugar levels by slowing the digestion of carbohydrates and delaying their absorption into the blood stream.

Key Takeaway

If you’re struggling with anxiety, blood sugar balance is super important to incorporate into your healing journey. The symptoms of anxiety and low blood sugar are very similar and can be hard to tell apart. You can easily achieve a balanced blood sugar by eating smaller more frequent meals every 2-3 hours and incorporating plenty of protein, fiber and healthy fats into your diet!

Balancing my blood sugar was and still is a major contributing factor to my recovery from anxiety, panic and DPDR.

I wish you healing my friend.

_{Disclaimer: The information contained in this post is not meant to diagnose or treat any medical condition. If you have any medical or psychiatric concerns, please seek the advice of a licensed healthcare provider.}