Everyone’s blood sugar levels fluctuate, whether they have diabetes or not. This fact is crucial in understanding an approach to healthy eating that will help you lose weight and have you well on your way to a healthy lifestyle. If you’re failing to lose weight despite dieting, monitoring your blood sugar levels carefully could be the answer to your problem.
A health coach can help you regulate your blood sugar levels by choosing when you eat and what you eat. Your body has the ability to heal itself. By following a simple regimen that pays attention to blood sugar levels, you could see drastic changes for the better in as little as 30 days.
Is This Scientific?
Yes, the management of blood sugar levels as a way to lose weight has been proven. Yale Professor Gerald I. Shulman led research on obesity. The study shows that when both leptin (the “hunger hormone”) and insulin levels drop, the metabolism moves from using glucose to burning fat.
The published article titled Leptin’s hunger-suppressing effects are mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in rodents. That’s quite a title, and unless you’re a scientist, you’re more likely to prefer reading the summary article here.
From these findings, researchers could gain further insight into how certain changes in lifestyle could the chances of success in weight loss. This is where a dedicated health coach focusing on your blood sugar levels comes into the picture.
What Is a Health Coach?
Health coaches help people to take responsibility for their diet and lifestyle. Coaches enable them to reach their health goals by sharing with them the appropriate knowledge, skills, and tools they need to do so.
In the United States, there are various organizations where people can become a Certified Health Coach. One such organization is the National Society of Health Coaches.
Just like a sports coach, a health coach can help people to excel at living their life healthily. Health coaches are particularly helpful in cases where people have chronic medical conditions.
Coaching is similar to the talk therapy method. It involves the coach and coachee discussing ideas and issues. The difference is that the coaches (the person who is being coached) is the one who is in control of goal setting and developing strategies to achieve those goals.
People hire health coaches to help them with issues such as weight loss, stress reduction, managing chronic conditions, and improving diet and exercise.
Motivational Interviewing Techniques
A health coach asks open-ended questions so that you, as the client, come up with your own reasons to change your diet – and your lifestyle. So, you won’t be told that you need to lose weight. Instead, the coach will ask you something like “How would your life be different if you lost the weight you would like to lose?”
Positive psychology that harnesses your strengths is the basic approach taken by health coaches. Coaches use this method so that you can improve your health-related quality of life. And health coaching can be used to control your blood sugar fluctuations in your efforts to lose weight, even if you do not have diabetes.
Some More Medical Orientation
Insulin, a hormone produced by your pancreas, unlocks cells so that glucose can enter them. Without insulin, glucose keeps floating around in your bloodstream with nowhere to go, becoming increasingly more concentrated over time. When glucose builds up in your bloodstream, your blood glucose (blood sugar) levels rise.
When you have low blood sugar, as we have already mentioned, your body shifts from using glucose for energy, and starts to burn fat. That’s what you want!
Have you heard about the seven foods that help lower your blood sugar and the seven foods that result in high blood sugar spikes? Well, for years, this has been the basic advice given to diabetics, but a weight-loss health coach can help you take this one step further.
With the correct health guidance, you can regulate your blood sugar levels as part of your weight loss program.
The Seven Good Foods for Stable Blood Pressure
There are seven great foods for stabilizing blood pressure (and seven that are not so great):
- Raw, cooked, or roasted low-carb vegetables
- Greens like spinach, kale, chard, and salad (lettuce)
- Water and low-calorie drinks like fruit- or vegetable-infused water, and herb teas
- Melons and berries
- Whole-grain, high-fiber legumes like dried beans, peas, and lentils
- Foods containing polyunsaturated fat such as olive oil, almond butter, avocado, fish high in Omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon
- Protein in the form of Greek yogurt, eggs, lean meat, and cottage cheese.
And what about the seven bad foods? You know what those are already: fried processed foods high in carbohydrates, sugar-laden foods and drinks, and foods high in saturated fats. A cheese and bacon burger with fries on the side, and soda to chug it down, falls squarely into “the worst thing” category.
We’re not going to give them much space in this article, and because you’re not giving them much space in your life, right?
The variety of good foods listed above means that your meals need never be boring. You can devise a plan with your health coach centered on how and when to eat these foods.
Many overweight people say that they gained their weight in the first place because of over-reliance on fast foods. A lot of people are reluctant to spend any more time in the kitchen than they have to. Dinner Dude is one place where you can order meals prepared in a health-conscious way and have meals delivered to your home.
In fact, it makes sense to go through the menu with your health coach. Check out the various standard diets we cater for and see which meals agree with your health goals best.
Get Motivated, Get Going
Embarking on healthy new diet and lifestyle choices is as nerve-racking as it is exciting. With a certified health coach, you can get motivated, keep track of your blood sugar levels, and stay on track with your weight-loss goals. Make Dinner Dude orders part of your weekly regime, and you’ll be well on your way to fitness and health.