How to Lower Blood Sugar Levels Naturally

Most (if not all) people have experienced a blood sugar crash at one point or another—even if few understand why it’s happening or what to do about it. A quick boost in energy from a late-night snack, followed by feelings of fatigue, hunger, and/or moodiness, is a tell-tale sign of a crash. These symptoms can be especially prevalent when indulging in relatively low-quality carbs like candy or ice cream.

While blood sugar crashes are fairly common, people should strive to maintain healthy blood sugar levels most of the time to prevent more serious health issues. Luckily, there are straightforward lifestyle changes you can easily adopt to maintain your blood sugar levels.

Below, we’ll walk through those lifestyle changes, the ins and outs of blood sugar, and why it’s important to maintain healthy levels.

Understanding Blood Sugar Levels

Also known as glucose, blood sugar is the primary sugar found in our bodies. It's obtained from the foods we consume and acts as the body's key source of energy. 

When we eat food, the body breaks it down into glucose, which enters the bloodstream. This then triggers a reaction in the pancreas that releases insulin throughout the body, allowing glucose to be used for energy.

However, having too much or too little blood glucose consistently can be dangerous. Sustained unhealthy blood sugar levels can complicate bodily functions and lead to other serious health conditions, so it’s important to monitor and control our levels through diet, exercise, and more.

Why Healthy Blood Sugar Levels Matter

Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels is imperative. A high blood sugar level‚ or hyperglycemia‚ is often associated with health issues like diabetes, but can also occur from stress, overeating, and lack of exercise. Some may also experience symptoms of hypoglycemia, when blood sugar levels drop too low‚ causing fatigue, irritability, irregular heart rate, and other health issues.

While everyone’s body is different, there are some useful general guidelines for what a healthy blood sugar level is and how most people can manage blood sugar. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), healthy blood sugar targets for most people are about 80-130 mg/dL before a meal, and less than 180 mg/dL two hours after the start of a meal.

Doctors often test patients’ blood sugar levels during an annual physical. If you're diabetic or pre-diabetic, you can work with your doctor to track levels with a home glucose monitor.

How to Control Your Blood Sugar Levels

Controlling blood sugar requires commitment on multiple levels. First, there are general health and wellness best practices to follow, like monitoring certain indicators that could be related to blood sugar levels. Then, there is a physical and mental wellness discipline. Finally, maintaining blood sugar levels requires attention to detail and being intentional with what we eat.

General Health and Wellness

Any healthy lifestyle has to start with fundamentals. Before getting into advanced exercises, diets, or other considerations, you’ll need to establish a sound baseline for blood sugar control.

That starts with practices like:

• Tracking daily activities – Before you get into detailed monitoring of blood sugar levels, it helps to take informal notes on what you eat and do throughout a normal day.

• Monitoring stress levels – One aspect to focus on when establishing your baseline is how much stress you experience daily, and from what sources, as it could impact blood sugar.

• Keeping track of reactions – It’s also important to note how your body reacts to certain inputs, such as foods or supplements you take regularly. Some substances can impact your blood sugar levels without you realizing—caffeine is a very popular example.

• Paying attention to hormones – Sudden changes in hormones could indicate a blood sugar issue. For example, gestational diabetes is a temporary, treatable condition.

Perhaps the most important aspect in terms of general health and wellness is checking in with one or more qualified healthcare providers regularly. If you feel like something may be wrong with your blood sugar—or anything else—you should book an appointment as soon as possible.

Physical Activity and Mindfulness

With a healthy baseline in place, it’s time to start building on it with physical and mental fitness practices. You don’t need to be a competitive weightlifter or mindfulness guru just to control your blood sugar, but some basic exercises can’t hurt.

On the physical fitness front, getting moving and incorporating some form of regular exercise into your routine can help regulate blood sugar levels. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) specifically recommends choosing moderate-intensity workouts (e.g., aerobics), ideally later in the day, to maximize the positive impact of working out on your blood sugar levels.

Regardless of what activities you choose, maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best ways to prevent and mitigate the negative impacts of diabetes and other blood sugar issues. 

The other side of the coin for both physical and mental fitness is rest. In fact, mindfulness practices like meditation have been shown to improve blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes.

Intentionality in Nutrition

The things we put into our bodies have major impacts on our blood sugar levels and overall health. Taking an intentional approach to nutrition helps control and optimize blood glucose.

Some best practices to aim for with respect to nutrition are:

• Maximizing whole and super foods – Rather than cycling through fad diets, most people benefit from a more holistic approach like prioritizing whole foods (i.e., vegetables and fruits), especially certain natural foods that are packed with nutrients (e.g., leafy greens).

• Minimizing low-quality foods – It’s also helpful to eat fewer foods that are calorie-dense without being very nutritious. Foods high in saturated fats and/or refined carbohydrates (e.g., pizza, fried food, candy) should be avoided or eaten in moderation.

• Prioritizing probiotics – At a more advanced level, probiotics can make a big difference for gut health, promoting better digestion and healthier blood sugar levels.

One of the best ways to build on a healthy foundation of whole foods is to take high-quality, science-backed supplements that make it quick and easy to get more nutrients and probiotics into your diet.

Supplements and Healthy Blood Sugar Levels

Eating more healthy foods and fewer unhealthy ones may seem easy in theory, but it can be hard in practice—especially when targeting complex goals like micronutrients. Supplements support intentional nutrition by making it easier to get—and track—the essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients our bodies depend on for digestion, energy, and overall function.

For instance, scientific studies have found that consuming vegetable powder may help control diabetes and overall glycemic responses. High-quality supplements like Vibrant Health’s  Green Vibrance are packed with nutrients, micronutrients, and billions of probiotics from vegetables like zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and spinach leaf powder. These whole, science-backed ingredients can help you control your blood sugar while supporting your nutrition, digestion, circulation, and immunity.

Support Your Blood Sugar Goals with Vital Health

Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels helps regulate the body and prevent or mitigate serious health conditions. Keeping your levels in a healthy range requires general wellness practices, some physical activity, and an intentional approach to nutrition. Taking high-quality supplements can help with all of the above and promote optimal blood sugar health.

At Vibrant Health, we’ve pioneered science-backed nutrition for over 30 years, formulating transparently sourced superfood supplements that prioritize real results. We know that our superfood solutions are just part of the picture when it comes to living a healthy, balanced lifestyle, and we want to help you at every step of your health journey.

To learn more about how we can help you live a healthier life, get in touch today.