High blood sugar is a problem for many people and can lead to all sorts of health problems such as blood clotting, infections, the inability of cuts and bruises to heal and diabetes. You do not want to end up a statistic, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on insulin and medication that will only create more hazardous side effects. If anything, you want to reverse diabetes, naturally. Of course, the best thing is to maintain low blood sugar levels so that you don't become diabetic.
It's no fun to take insulin and check your blood sugar every day and it's even less fun to find that your blood sugar is too high. It's stressful and upsetting to constantly have to worry about your levels and many medications for Diabetes can cause a host of other health problems. With that in mind, here are a few natural ways to lower blood sugar.
Of course, exercise should be done as it not only lowers blood sugar levels, but it can regulate cholesterol levels, too! Just a brisk walk can lower your blood sugar by as much as 30 points! You don't have to head off to the gym or do painful and strenuous exercises. Exercise can and should be fun. Exercises like, Yoga, Reiki, Pilates and Tai Chi are all good ways to exercise without tearing tissue and injuring your body and they are actually pleasant to do.
The "British Journal Of Sports Medicine" reported recently that in a 12-week program of Tai Chi, 30 adults with type-2 diabetes who participated showed a significant drop in their blood sugar levels by the end of the program.
Maintain a balanced diet of regular meals. Eat low-glycemic foods such as pears, apples, oranges, oatmeal, beans and legumes, peas, granola salads, fish and peanuts. Stay away from white breads, rice's and potatoes. White rice and breads are virtually nutrient-free as the nutrients are processed out of them. Not only that, but the body converts them into sugar and at a rate faster than a candy bar would be converted. A high-fiber diet can lower blood sugar and help to reverse type-2 diabetes.
Buy fresh fruit or grow your own and make sugar-free fruit drinks and smoothies.
Don't eat too much protein. Protein is eventually converted into sugar by the body. A fact that we are not often informed of by the medical community.
Research has shown that apple cider vinegar has beneficial effects that lower blood sugar. You can use it in a lot of applications; juices, cooking and you can even make apple cider vinegar cookies. Just two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar before a meal can lower your blood sugar spikes from meals. It improves insulin resistance when taken before a high-carbohydrate meal. Its acetic acid can lower blood sugar levels 19-34 percent! It suppresses enzymes required to break down sugars and results in slower absorption.
Add red-wine vinegar and olive oil to your favorite salads or pastas.
Keep a check on the sugar content of fast foods and packaged items. There's more sugar in most processed and packaged foods than you can imagine. Read the labels carefully.
Drink up to eight, (8) glasses of water a day to flush your body, thoroughly of toxins.
Unsweetened Green Tea is one of the healthiest things that you can drink. It's chock full of anti-oxidants and offers a lot of other health benefits. You may prefer to use Decaf.
Anti-oxidants that can help lower blood sugar are, zinc, chromium, vanadyl sulfate, among others, according to Dr. Jonathan Klemens, B.S. Bio. RPh.
Unsweetened Decaf coffee can aid in the lowering of blood sugar. You can add skim milk or half and half to suit your taste. Caffeine can raise the blood sugar levels.
Be sure to get your vitamins. There are many good diabetic vitamins on the market today that do not contain sugars. "Nature Made" is one of the best and can be purchased in stores and online at various discounts. "Coupons.com", "Valu-Pak" and other online coupon sites offer some great coupons for "Nature Made" vitamins. Print them out and save.
Cinnamon is a natural spice found useful for lowering blood sugar. Use cinnamon powder in your coffee and herbal teas.
There are several herbs, local, Ayer Vedic and oriental that can lower blood sugar, agaricus mushroom, ginseng, yarrow, licorice, (not the candy, the herb), cinnamon, aloe vera, bitter melon, blond psyllium, devil's claw, turmeric, fenugreek, jackass bitters, kudzu, milk thistle, prickly pear cactus extract, red sandalwood, stevia (a natural sweetener), gumar, holy basil, and bilberry or huckleberries. You can grow some of these yourself or buy them in health food stores or online.
Deliberately do what you can to relax. Stress can release hormones that can push up your blood sugar. Having fun can lower blood sugar levels. It's amazing what the state of the mind can do for our bodies and health.
Get plenty of rest. We all need a good, deep sleep, every night. However, some kinds of sleep apnea can raise blood sugar levels because it can deplete oxygen during sleep. Snoring is one example of the type of sleep apnea that can elevate your blood sugar. If you have sleep apnea or other sleep problems that are causing your blood sugar to be elevated in the mornings, you may want to see a sleep specialist.
Of course you don't have to spend a fortune on herbs and vitamins to lower your blood sugar, but try these various aids, a few at a time, and you may be very pleased at the results.