Dry mouth, thirst, increased appetite, excessive urination, skin itching, slow sore healing, fatigue, blurred vision, frequent bouts of weakness — all these symptoms indicate an increased glucose level.
Knowing how to reduce sugar level at home will help you to improve health and prevent the development of such dangerous disease as diabetes, when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin hormone, thus raising the glucose level in the blood.
Sugar Benefits and Harms
After sugar splits into glucose and fructose, it is absorbed into the bloodstream. Its normal level is needed for brain functioning. In a case of exceeding the norm under the action of insulin, excess glucose is converted into glycogen, which accumulates in the liver and muscles.
Although sugar is made of beets or sugar cane, it contains only calories and no nutrients — vitamins or minerals.
You should consider reducing the high level of sugar because it increases the levels of uric acid, which triggers atherosclerosis, hypertension, gout. Abuse of sugary foods can cause diabetes.
The pancreas does not produce enough insulin, causing bad glucose absorption and thus, cells lose their ability to restore energy reserves.
Normal Blood Sugar Level
Blood glucose varies within fairly narrow limits. It is considered the norm if before breakfast the blood sugar level constitutes 4.0 to 5.9 mmol/L in men and women.
10-15 minutes after a meal, the blood sugar level usually rises and reaches a maximum after an hour. And a few hours later it is reduced to normal. Light exercises increase the level of glucose, while continuous ones, on the contrary, decrease.
The need to reduce the blood sugar level occurs in a case of diabetes, liver damage, stress, the excessive amount of carbohydrates, caffeine intake, adrenaline, an overactive functioning of the thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, pancreas diseases.
Hypoglycemia, lack of glucose, occurs in a case of insulin overdose, starvation, lack of hormone production by the thyroid gland, adrenal glands.
Lowering of blood sugar level with its reasonable use
In order to prevent diabetes or disease of the pancreas in future, it is recommended to consume a reasonable amount of sugary foods throughout the day.
Some doctors believe that healthy young people, whose bodies don’t undergo significant physical stress, should take up to 80 grams of sugar per day. This norm is covered by consuming two Fanta cans (0,3l).
One teaspoon contains 7g of sugar, so it is easy to calculate how much of excess sugar comes to our bodies throughout the day with tea or coffee.
To saturate the body with vitamins, minerals, you should limit the intake of sweets and at the same time to include organic foods in the diet and satisfy your sweet tooth: dried apricots, raisins, persimmons, apples, pears, plums, grapes, carrots, honey.
Lowering of blood sugar level with products at home
If a person suffers from diabetes, the useful diet for him is one that includes blueberries. It contains plenty of tannins and glucosides, so the berries and decoction of blueberries leaves are recommended to use in order to reduce the blood sugar level.
Brew 1tsp of crushed blueberry leaves in a cup of boiling water, wait 30 minutes and then drain. Drink 1/3 cups 3 times a day.
In a case of slow metabolism, in order to normalize blood glucose level, it is recommended to stick to the diet based on fresh cucumbers because they contain an insulin-like substance. Furthermore, cucumbers help to reduce appetite.
Jerusalem artichoke normalizes the work of gastrointestinal tract, slightly reduces blood sugar level. Use fresh tubers to cook salads or take 1tsp of its powder. To make the powder, wash tubers, dry and finely chop, then grind.
Cabbage is rich in fiber, pectin, vitamins, substances that suppress the growth of harmful bacteria. Cabbage juice promotes the removal of fluid from the body, it helps to lower blood sugar level.
Potato juice lowers blood glucose level, helps with digestive problems:
Take 0.5 cups of potato juice two times a day for half an hour before meals.
Blood sugar level is also reduced with the help of carrot juice, squashes or pumpkins, tomatoes.
To reduce the level of sugar you need zinc since it is the part of the insulin and serves as a catalyst for chemical reactions. You can find a lot of zinc in oysters, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast. Eating white bread, meanwhile, increases zinc deficiency.
Experiments on rats have shown that the abuse of white bread and sugary foods lead to sharp fluctuations of blood sugar levels, which as a result causes a biological need for alcohol.
The metabolism is disturbed due to the release of significant amounts of insulin to convert sugar that came with food. Caffeine, nicotine exacerbate the need for alcohol.
So, to stop drinking alcohol, you must first normalize your diet.
At the initial stage of diabetes, it is useful to take brewed strawberry leaves. The decoction dissolves the sand in the kidneys, exerts diuretic, diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory effects.
Drinking tea made of brewed leaves of wild raspberries, taken warm, it reduces blood sugar level, cleanses the blood. Tip to remember: three upper leaves possess the best therapeutic properties.
Roots and leaves of parsley strengthen blood vessels, lowers blood sugar levels.
The young leaves of dandelion contain insulin, they are taken in the form of salads.
Soak the leaves for half an hour, dry, finely chop, add parsley, dill, egg yolks, sour cream or vegetable oil.
Dandelion roots recipe:
Brew 1tsp finely chopped roots with boiled water, wait 20 minutes and then drain.
Drink 1/4 cup 3-4 times a day.
Nettle improves blood clotting, raises hemoglobin, reduces blood sugar level and exerts a diuretic effect. It is used for the treatment of the kidney, pancreas and bladder diseases.
You can cook soups, salads, teas with leaves of sprouts or dry them in the winter.
Boil 50g of fresh nettle leaves in 0.5 liters of water in a glass or enamel pot, wait 2 hours and then strain. Take 1tsp 3 times a day before meals.
To reduce sugar level, it is recommended to take the pharmaceutical extract of Siberian ginseng – 20 drops 2-3 times daily before meals.
Laurel leaf helps in case of pancreatic function disorders, increased levels of blood sugar.
Brew in a thermos 10 laurel leaves in 300 ml of boiling water, strain for a day.
Take 50 ml half an hour before meals for two weeks.
Moreover, bitter plants such as onion, pepper, tansy, tarragon and others improve the functioning of the pancreas, the liver, lower blood sugar level, promote the speedy elimination of the consequences of a heart attack, arrhythmia.
To treat diabetes use the juice of plantain taken by 1-2 tsp 3 times a day.
Birch buds recipe:
Brew 3sp birch buds in 0.5 liters of boiling water, leave for 6 hours.
Drink decoction throughout the day. After 1-2 weeks of therapy blood sugar level will be lowered.
Turmeric cleanses the blood, serves as the prevention of constipation, helps to lower blood sugar level. Brew a small amount of turmeric like a tea. Take 2 times a day to lower blood glucose levels.
Folk medicine recommends treating diabetes with
Lowering of blood sugar level with the help of exercises
Medical studies have proven that physical exercises reduce the level of glucose in diabetes and increase its level in hypoglycemia. For the production of insulin in addition to proper nutrition, you need adequate sun exposure.
During walking, jogging, biking, swimming, skiing, it is necessary to drink mineral water, the decoction of rose hips every 20-30 minutes. You should eat every 2 hours.
Low-carbohydrate diet in diabetes is very individual. However, there are general rules that should be followed: exclude from your diet all foods that contain simple carbohydrates. A detailed list of banned products you will see below.
It’s not just sugar! Bread, potatoes, pasta – consist of starch which instantly turns into glucose and causes raise of blood sugar level. These products act as fast and powerful as refined sugar, so they are categorically forbidden.
Limit total carbohydrate intake to 20-30 grams per day, dividing them into three meals. Because of this, you will have no increase in blood sugar after a meal, and will raise the chances to keep alive the remaining pancreatic beta cells.
Eat only when you are really hungry. Leave the table with a feeling of light satiety, but not the full stomach. Overeating is strictly prohibited! Because it leads to rises in blood sugar level, even if you have eaten only useful products.
Every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner it is advised to eat the same amount of carbohydrates and protein. Use different products but keep the same amount of carbohydrates and protein in your portions.
To do this, first, determine how much protein you want and can afford to eat. Target – feel satiety after a meal, but not overeat and avoid pikes in blood sugar.
The best result of diabetes control with low-carb diets is achieved when the patient is planning the diet and menu a week ahead and then executes the plan without deviations.
This is the real way to follow the recommendations to maintain the same content of carbohydrates and protein in your meals.
Fruits and honey contain many simple carbohydrates, so they are strictly forbidden in a low-carb diet for people suffering from diabetes. Excluding fruits can be quite difficult, but necessary.
With the help of the blood glucose meter, make sure that the fruits cause surges in blood sugar, and say goodbye to them forever. Unfortunately, the same problem applies to most of our favorite vegetables.
For a diet with carbohydrate metabolism disorders, vegetables are suitable only from the approved list. This list is shown below. Fortunately, there are a lot of vegetables in it.
What fruits and vegetables cannot be eaten, if you want to lower your blood sugar level.
The greatest dissatisfaction among diabetics and people with impaired glucose tolerance (metabolic syndrome, prediabetes) is the necessity to give up the fruits and vegetables with many vitamins.
This is the biggest problem, which they face. But there is no other way to reduce and maintain blood sugar level.
The following products cause the sharp rise of blood sugar level, so it is necessary to exclude them from your diet.
Forbidden fruits and vegetables:
- all fruits and berries, except for avocados;
- fruit juices;
- carrot;
- beet;
- corn;
- beans and peas (except green beans);
- pumpkin;
- onions (you may add raw onion for flavor in the salad, boiled onions are prohibited);
- tomatoes boiled, fried, tomato sauce, ketchup, tomato paste.
Unfortunately, in a case of disorders of carbohydrate metabolism, all these fruits and vegetables bring much more harm than benefits.
Fruits and fruit juices contain a mix of simple sugars and complex carbohydrates, which are quickly converted in the body into glucose. They enormously increase the blood sugar level!
Check it out by measuring the sugar in the blood after a meal with blood glucose meter. Fruits and fruit juices in the low-carb diet in diabetes are strictly prohibited.
I should also mention fruits with a bitter and sour taste, such as grapefruits and lemons. They are bitter and sour not because they have no sugar but because along with carbohydrates they contain acids too.
They contain nos, so just put them on the black list. If you want to control diabetes, stop eating fruits.
This is essential, despite what your relatives, friends and doctors say. More often measure blood sugar level after a meal, to see beneficial effects. Don’t worry that you will not get enough vitamins contained in fruits.
All the necessary vitamins and fiber you get from vegetables, which are included in the list of allowed for the low-carb diet.
Pay attention to information on the packaging of products.
You should look at the information on the packaging in the shop before choosing products. First of all, we are interested in what percentage of carbohydrates is contained in products.
Don’t buy products, if their composition contains sugar or sugar substitutes, which increase blood glucose in diabetes. The list of such substances includes:
- Dextrose
- Glucose
- Fructose
- Lactose
- Xylose
- Xylitol
- Corn Syrup
- Maple Syrup
- Malt
- Maltodextrin
This list is far from complete. To truly adhere to the low-carb diet, you need to study the nutrient content in the relevant tables of products and carefully read the information on the packaging.
It indicates the content of proteins, fats and carbohydrates per 100 g. This information can be considered more or less reliable. At the same time remember that the regulations allow deviation of ± 20% of the actual nutrient content of what is written on the packaging.
Leave comments about your own experience in lowering blood sugar level.
