Lowering Blood Sugar: 5 Tips To Keep It Within A Normal Range

lowering blood sugar levels women menopause midlife XbyX ageing diet

Last update: 22.04.2024

With these tips, you can lower your blood sugar level and keep it in balance. And the main benefit? You'll feel full and energised.

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Blood sugar corresponds to the amount of glucose in the blood and glucose is one of the body's most important sources of energy. The hormone insulin ensures that glucose ingested through food is absorbed and utilised by the body's cells as quickly as possible.

Fluctuations are therefore normal during the course of the day and especially after meals. However, for long-term health, your energy levels and possible food cravings, these fluctuations should not be too strong. The body manages this by controlling insulin well, but this is of course dependent on what and when we eat.

As our insulin sensitivity decreases in tandem with oestrogen during the menopause, it is particularly important to keep an eye on your blood sugar after 40. In this article, you will learn tips that are suitable for everyday life which can balance out strong fluctuations and lower your blood sugar levels.

How to lower blood sugar with nutritional basics

To keep your blood sugar stable, you should eat whole foods and as little processed food as possible. If you currently eat a lot of carbohydrates, you should try and reduce them. Remember: lactose, fructose, glucose - they all count! And the hidden sugars in processed food will add up.

Instead, opt for bread made from seeds and grains, and pasta or rice made from pulses. Put less oatmeal in your porridge and more linseed, psyllium and nuts instead. Fill up on low-starch vegetables and always combine proteins and healthy fats. Healthy protein in particular is great for preventing weight gain during the menopause.

But please don't follow a keto diet or a super strict low-carb diet, but a medium-carb diet (approx. 40% carbohydrates, including starchy vegetables), otherwise you will miss out on important gut-healthy fibre and your digestion will react with bloating and constipation. Additionally, your brain will not be sufficiently nourished and mood swings will increase.

And under no circumstances should you eat too little or irregularly. This will cause you to slip into hypoglycaemia. Hypoglycemia in turn triggers muscle breakdown. So if you don't eat for a long time or don't eat regularly, the body doesn't take the stored fat that we actually want to get rid of. No, that takes the body too long! Instead, it uses the sugar stored in the muscles and thus breaks down our valuable fat-burning muscles! Which is exactly the opposite of what we want to achieve! So please: Eat regularly, eat enough and don't go hungry! In addition to the nutritional basics, there are special tricks that you can use to stabilise your blood sugar. Here are our top 5:

#1 The "right" order to eat in

First fibre from vegetables, protein, fat and then starch and sugar. Translated into everyday life: eat the salad and vegetables before the carbohydrates. Or at the breakfast buffet, go for the scrambled eggs first and then the jam sandwiches.

How big the effect on the rise in blood sugar is depends on the individual - but filling your stomach with something low in calories first is a good idea anyway, regardless of the rise in blood sugar.

But don't start tearing apart your cheese sandwich and eating the cheese first and then the bread. Instead, eat a salad before or with it. After all, eating should still be an enjoyable taste experience!

#2 Don't eat carbohydrates on their own if possible

Don't eat carbohydrates on their own, but combine them with protein and/or fat. This is very effective for the feeling of satiety and the blood sugar level, as protein and fat are digested more slowly and the glucose is therefore also absorbed more slowly (and evenly) into the blood.

However, if you eat a piece of fruit on its own, nothing bad will happen, because fruit is packed with fibre. Okay, this is not entirely true for fruits like watermelon - but hey, 80/20 - and it's still definitely healthier than a chocolate bar with heaps of industrial sugar.

Speaking of chocolate bars, if you "need" them, then have them straight after a meal (see tip 1) and not as a snack in the afternoon.

#3 More protein in the morning

A protein-rich breakfast and snack fill you up for longer and provide more energy than a meal containing more carbohydrates. This is particularly important in the morning, as it lays the foundation for the whole day. This means that a protein-rich breakfast can also improve blood sugar levels for the following meal.

So go for quark with nuts, a smoothie with XbyX Daily Energy or an omelette in the morning - especially if you know you're having pasta or a sandwich for lunch.

#4 Apple Cider Vinegar before a meal

Acids such as lemon juice or apple cider vinegar before or during a meal can lower blood sugar. The apple cider vinegar trick works most reliably with clear apple cider vinegar, which is drunk approx. 20-30 minutes before a meal.

Now, of course, you shouldn't drink vinegar constantly, eat chocolate afterwards and be happy about the approximately 15 mg/dl smaller rise in blood sugar - it's better to eat more blood sugar-consciously in general.

But feel free to add apple cider vinegar to your dressing - it's better than high-sugar balsamic vinegar anyway! Or eat the side salad with vinegar and oil dressing in the restaurant beforehand.

For the really tough ones: apple cider vinegar is also probiotic - and that's great for your gastrointestinal system. So a glass of water with apple cider vinegar in the morning before breakfast is perfect for your blood sugar and digestion.

#5 Exericse after eating

After eating, your blood sugar naturally rises. If you start moving now, you use your muscles - and in order to move, they need energy in the form of glucose. They therefore absorb some of the sugar from the meal and thus reduce the glucose peak. As a result, less glucose remains in the body and the pancreas has to produce less insulin to process the sugar.

Just 10 minutes around the block is great! So instead of resting, take 1,000 steps.