15 Easy Ways to Lower Blood Sugar Levels Naturally By Arlene Seme
High blood sugar occurs when your
body can’t effectively transport sugar from blood into cells.
When left unchecked, this can lead to diabetes.
https://authoritynutrition.com/author/arlene/
One study from 2012 reported that 12–14% of US adults had type 2 diabetes, while
37–38% were classified as prediabetic (1).
This means that 50% of all US adults have diabetes or prediabetes.
Here are 15 easy ways to lower blood sugar levels naturally:
1. Exercise regularly
Regular exercise can help you lose weight and increase insulin sensitivity.
Increased insulin sensitivity means your cells are better able to use the
availablesugar in your bloodstream.
Exercise also helps your muscles use blood sugar for energy and muscle
contraction.
If you have problems with blood sugar control, you should routinely check your
levels. This will help you learn how you respond to different activities and keep your
blood sugar levels from getting either too high or too low (2).
Good forms of exercise include weight lifting, brisk walking, running, biking, dancing,
hiking, swimming and more.
Bottom Line: Exercise increases insulin sensitivity and helps your muscles pick up
sugars from the blood. This can lead to reduced blood sugar levels.
2. Control your carb intake
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Your body breaks carbs down into sugars (mostly glucose), and then insulin moves
the sugars into cells.
When you eat too many carbs or have problems with insulin function, this process
fails and blood glucose levels rise.
However, there are several things you can do about this.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends controlling carb intake by
counting carbs or using a food exchange system (3).
Some studies find that these methods can also help you plan your meals
appropriately, which may further improve blood sugar control (4, 5).
Many studies also show that a lowcarb diet helps reduce blood sugar levels and
prevent blood sugar spikes (6, 7, 8, 9).
What’s more, a lowcarb diet can help control blood sugar levels in the long run (10).
You can read more in this article on healthy lowcarb eating with diabetes.
https://authoritynutrition.com/how-many-carbs-per-day-to-lose-weight/http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/31/Supplement_1/S61http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24622717http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9710660http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26965765http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15331548http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1325029/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19099589https://authoritynutrition.com/low-carb-diet-meal-plan-and-menu/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18495047https://authoritynutrition.com/low-carb-diet-for-diabetes/
Bottom Line: Carbs are broken down into glucose, which raises blood sugar levels.
Reducing carbohydrate intake can help with blood sugar control.
3. Increase your fiber intake
Fiber slows carb digestion and sugar absorption. For these reasons, it can help your
blood sugar rise in a steadier, more controlled way.
Furthermore, the type of fiber you eat may play a role.
There are two kinds of fiber: insoluble and soluble. While both are important, soluble
fiber specifically has been shown to lower blood sugar levels (11, 12, 13).
Additionally, a highfiber diet can help manage type 1 diabetes by improving blood
sugar control and reducing blood sugar lows (13, 14).
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Foods that are high in fiber include vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains.
The recommended daily intake of fiber is about 25 grams for women and 38 grams
for men. That’s about 14 grams for every 1,000 calories (15).
Bottom Line: Eating plenty of fiber can help with blood sugar control, and soluble
dietary fiber is the most effective.
4. Drink water and stay hydrated
Hydration is a key factor for lowering blood sugar levels.
During dehydration, the hormone vasopressin causes your liver to produce blood
sugar, elevating its levels (16, 17, 18).
Your kidneys then try to get rid of excess blood sugar through urine, making you lose
water in the process.
Drinking water regularly rehydrates the blood, lowers blood sugar levels and
reduces diabetes risk (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Keep in mind that water and other noncaloric beverages are best. Sugarsweetened
drinks raise blood glucose, drive weight gain and increase diabetes risk (20, 21).
Bottom Line: Staying hydrated can reduce blood sugar levels and help prevent
diabetes. Water is best.
5. Implement portion control
Portion control helps regulate calorie intake and can lead to weight loss (22, 23, 24).
Consequentially, controlling your weight promotes healthy blood sugar levels and
has been shown to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (22, 23, 25, 26, 27,
28).
Monitoring your serving sizes also helps reduce calorie intake and subsequent blood
sugar spikes (23, 24).
Here are some helpful tips for controlling portions:
● Measure and weigh portions. ● Use smaller plates. ● Avoid allyoucaneat restaurants. ● Read food labels and check the serving sizes. ● Keep a food journal. ● Eat slowly.
Bottom Line: The more control you have over your serving sizes the better control
you will have over your blood sugar levels.
6. Choose foods with a low glycemic index
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The glycemic index was developed to assess the body’s blood sugar response to
foods that contain carbs (29).
Both the amount and type of carbs determine how a food affects blood sugar levels
(30, 31).
Eating lowglycemicindex foods has been shown to reduce longterm blood sugar
levels in type 1 and type 2 diabetics (32, 33).
Although the glycemic index of foods is important, the amount of carbs consumed
also matters (34, 35).
Foods with a low glycemic index include seafood, meat, eggs, oats, barley, beans,
lentils, legumes, sweet potatoes, corn, yams, most fruits and nonstarchy
vegetables.
Bottom Line: It’s important to choose foods with a low glycemic index and watch your
overall carb intake.
7. Control stress levels
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Stress can affect your blood sugar levels (36, 37).
Hormones such as glucagon and cortisol are secreted during stress. These
hormones cause blood sugar levels to go up (38, 39).
One study showed that exercise, relaxation and meditation significantly reduced
stress and lowered blood sugar levels for students (40).
Exercises and relaxation methods like yoga and mindfulnessbased stress
reductioncan also correct insulin secretion problems in chronic diabetes (40, 41, 42,
43, 44).
Bottom Line: Controlling stress levels through exercise or relaxation methods such
as yoga will help you control blood sugars.
8. Monitor your blood sugar levels
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“What gets measured gets managed.”
Measuring and monitoring blood glucose levels can also help you control them.
For example, keeping track helps you determine whether you need to make
adjustments in meals or medications (31).
It will also help you find out how your body reacts to certain foods (45, 46).
Try measuring your levels every day, and keeping track of the numbers in a log.
Bottom Line: Checking your sugars and maintaining a log every day will help you
adjust foods and medications to decrease your sugar levels.
9. Get enough quality sleep
Getting enough sleep feels great and is necessary for good health (47).
Poor sleeping habits and a lack of rest also affect blood sugar levels and insulin
sensitivity. They can increase appetite and promote weight gain (48, 49).
Sleep deprivation decreases the release of growth hormones and increases cortisol
levels. Both of these play an important role in blood sugar control (47, 50, 51).
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Furthermore, good sleep is about both quantity and quality. It is best to get a
sufficient amount of highquality sleep every night (49).
Bottom Line: Good sleep helps maintain blood sugar control and promote a healthy
weight. Poor sleep can disrupt important metabolic hormones.
10. Eat foods rich in chromium and magnesium
High blood sugar levels and diabetes have also been linked to micronutrient
deficiencies (31, 52).
Examples include deficiencies in the minerals chromium and magnesium.
Chromium is involved in carb and fat metabolism. It also helps control blood sugar
levels, and a lack of chromium may predispose you to carb intolerance (53, 54, 55).
However, the mechanisms behind this are not completely known. Studies also report
mixed findings.
Two studies of diabetes patients showed that chromium had benefits for longterm
blood sugar control. However, another study showed no benefits (55, 56, 57).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18172212/https://authoritynutrition.com/7-common-nutrient-deficiencies/https://authoritynutrition.com/7-common-nutrient-deficiencies/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18165339https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9477383http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15925015http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/22/4/214.fullhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9356027http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9356027http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/(SICI)1520-670X(1999)12:2%3C55::AID-JTRA2%3E3.0.CO;2-G/abstracthttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15505017
Chromiumrich foods include egg yolks, wholegrain products, highbran
cereals,coffee, nuts, green beans, broccoli and meat.
Magnesium has also been shown to affect blood sugar levels, and magnesium
deficiency has been linked to a higher risk of developing diabetes (31, 58, 59).
In one study, people with the highest magnesium intake had a 47% lower risk of
becoming diabetic (60).
However, if you already eat plenty of magnesiumrich foods, then you probably will
not benefit from supplements (61).
Magnesiumrich foods include dark leafy greens, whole grains, fish, dark
chocolate,bananas, avocados and beans.
Bottom Line: Eating foods rich in chromium and magnesium on a regular basis can
help prevent deficiencies and reduce blood sugar problems.
11. Try apple cider vinegar
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Apple cider vinegar has many benefits for your health.
It increases blood sugar use by cells and decreases its production by the liver. It also
reduces fasting blood sugar levels (62, 63, 64).
What’s more, studies show that vinegar significantly influences your body’s response
to sugars and improves insulin sensitivity (63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69).
To incorporate apple cider vinegar into your diet, you can add it to salad dressings or
mix 2 teaspoons in 8 ounces of water.
However, it’s important to check with your doctor before taking apple cider vinegar if
you are already taking medications that lower blood sugar.
Bottom Line: Adding apple cider vinegar to your diet can help your body in many
ways, including reducing blood sugar levels.
12. Experiment with cinnamon extract
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Cinnamon is known to have many health benefits.
For one, it has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity by decreasing insulin
resistance at the cellular level (70, 71).
Studies show cinnamon can also lower blood sugar levels by up to 29% (72, 73, 74).
It slows the breakdown of carbs in the digestive tract, which decreases the amount of
blood sugar entering cells after a meal (75, 76).
Cinnamon also acts in a similar way as insulin, although at a much slower rate (77).
An effective dose is 1–6 grams of cinnamon per day, or about 0.5–2 teaspoons (78).
However, definitely don’t take more than that since too much cinnamon can be
harmful.
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Bottom Line: Cinnamon has been shown to reduce fasting blood sugar levels and
improve insulin sensitivity.
13. Try berberine
Berberine is the active component of a Chinese herb that’s been used to treat
diabetes for thousands of years.
Berberine has been shown to help lower blood sugar and enhance the breakdown of
carbs for energy (79, 80, 81).
What’s more, berberine may be as effective as some blood sugar lowering drugs.
This makes it one of the most effective supplements for those with diabetes or
prediabetes (79, 82).
However, many of the mechanisms behind its effects are still unknown (81, 83).
Additionally, it may have some side effects. Diarrhea, constipation, flatulence and
abdominal pain have been reported (84).
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A common dosage protocol is 1,500 mg per day, taken before meals as 3 doses of
500 mg.
You can read more about this impressive supplement here: Berberine – The World’s
Most Effective Supplement?
Bottom Line: Berberine works well for lowering blood sugar levels and can help
manage diabetes. However, it may have some digestive side effects.
14. Eat fenugreek seeds
Fenugreek seeds are a great source of soluble fiber, which can help control blood
sugar levels.
Many studies have shown that fenugreek can effectively lower blood sugar in
diabetics. It also helps reduce fasting glucose and improve glucose tolerance (85,
86,87, 88).
Although not that popular, fenugreek can easily be added to baked goods to help
treat diabetes. You can also make fenugreek flour or brew it into tea (89).
Fenugreek seeds are also considered one of the safest herbs for diabetes (87, 88).
The recommended dose of fenugreek seeds is 2–5 grams per day.
Bottom Line: Consider giving fenugreek seeds a try. They are easy to add to your
diet and can help regulate blood glucose levels.
15. Lose some weight
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It’s a nobrainer that maintaining a healthy weight will improve your health and
prevent future health problems.
Weight control also promotes healthy blood sugar levels and has been shown to
reduce your risk of developing diabetes (22, 23, 24, 25, 26).
Even a 7% reduction in body weight can decrease your risk of developing diabetes
by up to 58%, and it seems to work even better than medication (90).
What’s more, these decreased risks can be sustained over the years (91, 92, 93).
You should also be conscious of your waistline, as it is perhaps the most important
weightrelated factor for estimating your diabetes risk.
A measurement of 35 inches (88.9 cm) or more for women and 40 inches (101.6 cm)
or more for men is associated with an increased risk of developing insulin resistance,
high blood sugar levels and type 2 diabetes (94).
Having a healthy waist measurement may be even more important than your overall
weight (94).
Bottom Line: Keeping a healthy weight and waistline will help you maintain normal
blood sugar levels and decrease your risk of developing diabetes.
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Take Home Message
Make sure to check with your doctor before making lifestyle changes or trying new
supplements.
This is particularly important if you have problems with blood sugar control or if you
are taking medications to lower your sugar levels.
That being said, if you are diabetic or have problems with blood sugar control, then
you should start doing something about it as soon as possible.
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