If you’re ready to flatten out your blood sugar rollercoaster and enjoy more stable energy and better health, you have that power. There are natural ways to lower your blood sugar and keep it within a healthy range.

While changing our eating habits isn’t easy, it is the fastest and most direct of the natural ways to lower your blood sugar.

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EAT YOUR WAY TO MORE BALANCED BLOOD SUGAR

No one will be surprised to learn that fruits and vegetables should play the starring role in your diet if you’re trying to lower your blood sugar. Need some ideas for how to eat more fruits and vegetables?

Not all vegetables are nutritionally equal, though. Non-starchy veggies add fiber, nutrients, and longer burning carbohydrates to your diet. What are the best choices? My top six favorite non-starchy vegetables are:

• leafy greens (spinach, kale, mustard greens)
• salad greens/lettuces (romaine, arugula, bibb)
• brussels sprouts
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• sweet potato

Each of these non-starchy vegetables packs a fiber-rich punch. Better yet, they help you to feel full and ward off hunger pangs.

Fruits that are high in fiber like apple, citrus, banana are good choices. Berries are also a good choice for trying to balance blood sugar because their tiny seeds add bulk.

But not all fruits are a great choice if you want to maintain lower blood sugar. Fruits with high water content like melons and pineapple are more neutral with respect to helping lower your blood sugar. While they have great nutrients and taste delicious, if you have high blood sugar they should be eaten only in moderation.

Legumes can also help lower your blood sugar. They are an excellent source of slow-burning protein and fiber. Examples of legumes are black beans, lima beans, fava beans, chickpeas, soybeans, and lentils.

Legumes should be a staple in your diet, and not just for lowering your blood sugar. They are excellent sources of quick, easy, inexpensive nutrition. They are excellent for improving digestion and elimination, too.

You may be surprised to learn that there is such a thing as a blood sugar-friendly grain. Choosing a complex grain like barley, bulgar, quinoa, and farro packs great nutrition and long-lasting energy without spiking your blood sugar.

If you or someone you love cannot live without their pasta (like my husband!), switching to a protein-based pasta is a way to eat what you crave without riding the blood sugar rollercoaster. My family really likes the Barilla ProteinPlus Multigrain pastas which are made with a chickpea base.

HOW TO LOWER YOUR BLOOD SUGAR WHEN SNACKING

Snacks can be the downfall of many people trying to be more conscious about what they eat. But with a little planning and understanding about how to keep your blood sugar in a healthy range, snacking can help to support consistently stable blood sugar.

By combining a protein and carbohydrate even when snacking, you are working to keep your blood sugar more stable all throughout the day. The protein satiates your appetite for the long term while the carbohydrate gives you the quick hit of energy your hunger signal was looking for.

Some simple favorite protein + carb snacks are:

• An apple with a slice of cheese
• A banana with peanut (or other nut or soy) butter
• An orange and a handful of almonds
• A handful of berries  and a hard-boiled egg

SNEAKY PITFALLS THAT CAN AFFECT YOUR BLOOD SUGAR

As you learning how to lower your blood sugar, you need to watch out for “sneaky sugar” in things like salad dressing, pasta sauce, ketchup, and drinks. Once you start reading labels, you’ll be surprised by how much sugar is in seemingly savory items. Choose foods with lower sugar and higher fiber to help stabilize your blood sugar all day long.

White foods— things like flour, sugar, potatoes—are not your friends if you need to lower your blood sugar. This includes obvious things like cakes and candies and less obvious things like pancakes, waffles, and muffins. Just because it is marketed as a breakfast food does not make it healthy. Pastries are blood sugar bombs just waiting to explode.

OTHER NATURAL WAYS TO LOWER YOUR BLOOD SUGAR

• Eat on a regular schedule. If that is 5 small meals rather than three big meals, that is okay. But getting your body on a schedule and giving it regular carb + protein combos can help stabilize blood sugar.
• Eat breakfast every day. You need to fuel your body in the morning to balance the cortisol spike that your body produces when you wake up. What should you eat for breakfast? Go for protein (eggs or nut butters) and/or whole grain (oatmeal). No processed cereals! Those are sugar in disguise!
• Watch portion size. You need less than you think. (This is true of everyone!)
• Exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Walking counts. Try to raise your heart rate for at least 8 minutes of that time.
• Meditation can help to reduce inflammation in the body, and lowered inflammation means less insulin resistance. That’s a good thing!
• Go to bed! Regular sleep helps your body work most efficiently. If you have a hard time falling asleep, try one of my quick and simple bedtime routines.

Whatever strategies you choose, working to lower your blood sugar will have positive effects on your whole body health.

The Well Balanced Women blog is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please discuss your health issues with a licensed medical practitioner.