Blood Sugar Detail

The average American ingests approximately 135 to 150 pounds of sugar per year.  When you eat refined carbohydrates (1), it causes your blood sugar levels to rise (2).  Your pancreas then secretes higher levels of insulin to try to store the sugar in the cell.  Sugar in the body is damaging. Your cells will begin to downregulate the receptors to insulin (4). An example of downregulation is when you walk into a room with a strong odor.  Next day you notice it less, eventually you don’t notice it anymore, this is downregulation.  When you have insulin as a constant stimulus the body will begin to downregulate the receptors to insulin causing insulin resistance (4).

First phase of poor blood sugar management is called hypoglycemia (6).  The body over-releases insulin in response to a carbohydrate meal.  This will cause the blood sugar to drop rapidly, if it reaches below a critical level of 70 or lower, it creates a stress (15) response in the body, causing your brain  to send a message to stimulate the adrenal glands which releases cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrin.  Cortisol will cause the body to convert your muscle into glucose raising your blood sugar levels (2).  Epinephrin and norepinephrin will cause the liver to increase production of glucose to also raise blood sugar (2), which leads to increased insulin secretion (3) and the whole process can start over.

In time the body begins to ignore the insulin & it requires a higher level of insulin to get the job done, this is called Hyperinsulinemia (7).  In females this will cause the body to produce two enzymes in the ovary, 17,20-lyase and 17 alpha-hydroxylase, creating cysts on the ovaries called polycystic ovary syndrome (28).  These enzymes, cause you to convert progesterone to androstenedione and testosterone, which creates a hyper-androgen situation for the female, leading to hair growth on face, chest, abdomen; loss of head hair; acne; extreme mood swings, and PMS.  If you have excess body fat you will produce an enzyme called aromatase.  This enzyme converts testosterone into estrogen creating a hyperestrogen situation or estrogen toxicity (31).  Estrogen toxicity can lead to fibrocystic breasts, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, PMS, breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer.  Insulin also decreases sex hormone binding globulin (31), which increases free estrogen levels.  This also can contribute to estrogen toxicity (32).  Decreased sex hormone binding globulin will increase thyroid binding globulin (33) giving symptoms of a low thyroid and weight gain (16), the excess body fat will produce more aromatase, increasing estrogen and the process continues.

Insulin is at pathologic level & blood sugar is not responding and therefore elevated, but it’s not diabetes yet.  You also have hypertension, high cholesterol or high triglycerides.  This is know as Syndrome X (8).

This elevated blood sugar creates advanced glycosolated end-products (29).  Advanced glycosylated end-products are sugar damaged proteins throughout the body.   Tissues most susceptible are the brain, kidneys, eyes, peripheral nerves, blood vessels, small intestines, & blood cells.

Final stage of blood sugar mismanagement is diabetes (9).  This is the number one cause of kidney failure (10), limb amputation (11), and the number one cause of preventable blindness (12).  Nine out of ten diabetics die from a heart attack  (13) and an early death (14).

When insulin resistance (5) is present you will have higher levels of insulin.  Insulin causes your body to stop burning fat and store calories as fat, leading to weight gain (16).  Weight gain can cause fatigue (17), fatigue can cause depression (18), and depression can cause more weight gain (16), and the cycle continues.  Weight gain (16) can cause depression (18), depression can cause fatigue (17), and fatigue can cause weight gain (16), and the cycle continues.  Weight gain (16) will cause an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (27), leading to myocardial infarction (27) and early death (14).

Carbohydrate ingestion (1) causes an increased plasma glucose (2), causing an increase in your “feel good” brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) (23), causing carbohydrate craving (24) and ingestion (1).  This cycle will cause the body to down-regulate to your neurotransmitters, causing a rebound type depression (18), which continues into the wight gain (16) and fatigue (17) cycle.  This down-regulation will  increasing carbohydrate cravings (24).  This is why people self medicate with sugar, and ultimately creates more insulin resistance(5, 5a).

Insulin blocks peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-gamma) (19).  This receptor is responsible for burning fat within the body.  Now fat accumulates in adipose tissues causing weight gain (16).  PPAR-gamma (19) will alter blood lipids (22) by increasing an enzyme in the liver called HMGco-a-reductase, which is responsible for cholesterol poduction and therefore increases cholesterol.  Insulin also stimulates cholesterol-ester transfer protein, this converts good cholesterol (HDL) into triglycerides.  Blockage of PPAR-gamma receptors (19) increases the inflammatory processes (20).  Inflammation creates pain (21) and produces nitric oxide (30).  Nitric oxide is a mitochondrial poison blocking the cis-aconitase enzyme & the conversion of citric acid to cis-aconitinic acid and therefore causing fatigue (17).  Pain and fatigue are the top 2 reasons patients go to the doctor.  Inflammation is a solid predictor of cardiovascular risk (27) because it causes thickening of the Cardiovascular wall, which is repaired with cholesterol causing arteriosclerosis.

Insulin resistance (5) increases sodium resorption (25) at the distal tubules of the kidneys leading to hypertension (26)and an increased cardiovascular risk (27), myocardial infarction (13), and early dealth (14).  The combination of inflammation, bad cholesterol, and hypertension is one of the primary reasons that 9/10 people with diabetes die from a heart attack.  Many probably die of heart attacks before they were ever even recognized as having blood sugar problems.  A recent study shows that obesity is a greater risk of death than smoking.  The literature defines insulin resistance as the first major metabolic abnormality contributing to obesity.

If you suspect that your having blood sugar problems, you can download our blood sugar questionnaire and see how you score.  A more objective way to check is by having your doctor check your fasting glucose levels.  Optimal levels are between 70-85.  If it’s higher then this, then you’re having some insulin resistance. Medical normals are 65-125, but we want you at optimal.  You also want to have your first morning urine checked to see if there are ketones present.  If they are, this means you went into a state of hypoglycemia sometime during the night.

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