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Blood Sugar – the Key to Healthy Ageing

Sep 10, 2022 | Nutrition

Blood Sugar - the Key to Healthy Ageing

Working with thousands of women over my career there is one thing we all have in common, we age and we want to fight the ageing process as hard as we can with a healthy lifestyle through exercise.  Women often come into the studio with the best intentions. They work and train hard, but one thing that will often come unstuck is their diet. 

I feel, to date, it’s because we lack the education of why we need to follow a healthy diet coupled with food becoming increasingly convenient to outsource through takeaways, heat and eat meals and processed foods. As busy women, who really wants to be slaving away in a kitchen with raw ingredients when you can pick something up on the way home from work?… I totally get it… but it’s time to realise what damage is being caused in the process. As I have always said – you cannot out train a bad diet. 

The Blood Sugar Lowdown

As our age increases so do our blood sugar levels and our insulin becomes less and less effective at bringing it down. This means that we have to be careful when it comes to eating sugar and anything that gets metabolised to sugar ie pretty much all carbohydrates, especially the refined ones. If you eat more than your metabolic capabilities can handle, you will not only gain weight and increase your body fat, risking chronic health issues but you will accelerate the ageing process – now that’s one sentence none of us women want to hear! Am I right? 

So how do we keep our blood sugars in check, and how do we know if we have a problem with our blood sugar being to high (or too low). Whilst the doctors can do a blood test to check for diabetes this will only give you the results if you are too far gone, why not do some of the pre-work with seeing how your body responds to certain foods. 

Normal levels while fasting are 70 to 99mg/dL or more commonly measured in Australia as 3.9 to 5.5 mmol/L. When you eat your blood sugar will naturally spike depending on the level of sugar/carbs in your meal. A low GI meal will result in a lower spike than a high GI meal.  Your body’s natural insulin will kick in around 1-2hrs to reduce your blood sugars back to the normal range – if you are still sitting above normal after 2 hours this is an early indication that you may be on the road to diabetes. The best way to measure this is through a finger prick testing kit available at all pharmacies. 

So what can you do to help?

By eating a balanced diet with Low GI foods, protein and good portion control you are taking the pressure off your metabolic system to “correct your mistakes”, the less we make insulin overwork the healthier our system remains. 

Excess blood sugar promotes ageing for sure. Studies show that consuming sugar, especially refined sugar, can fast-track the ageing process through a process called glycation. Glycation occurs when the glucose from the sugar and carbohydrates we digest, attaches to proteins such as collagen and elastin, forming new molecules also known as AGEs – these AGEs cause wrinkling and sagging of the skin, under-eye circles and dehydrated skin. As well as widespread inflammation and damage to our organs. 

How we can help

If you are currently craving sugar, find you have a sugar addiction or have diabetes or other blood sugar related family history I highly recommend booking in a consultation with Danielle – our in-house nutritionist and naturopath and let’s reverse that clock together. 

Oh and just a reminder – exercise also helps maintain a balanced blood sugar level by helping to burn excess stored sugars… why not come in to The Vixletix Method Studio and see why Bondi’s Women are choosing to make the change to a Boutique Fitness Studio made for women in Bondi. Hit us up on our Get in Touch page and let’s help you on the right path to age gracefully, or flick us a message through Facebook.

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