Quick & Dirty: 5 Mistakes You Are Making For Your Blood Sugar

This week we have a short and sweet episode for you. We are listing 5 of the most common mistakes we see people make for their blood sugar. 

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/

Featured Mocktails:

Poppi - https://www.instagram.com/drinkpoppi/

Recess - https://www.instagram.com/takearecess/

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

Baylee: 0:23

Hello everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey

Brianna: 0:28

And this is Brianna.

Baylee: 0:30

this week I got really fancy. I made my drink with Vanilla Protein from Drink Wholesome, and then I did the doc Pop Poppy.

Brianna: 0:39

Hmm.

Baylee: 0:40

Not as good as the root beer one, but it's still not bad.

Brianna: 0:44

Yum. I totally forget that I'm gonna do that until we get on here and I'm like, oh, that sounds so good. I'm making a note of it.

Baylee: 0:50

Yeah, and then it's like my snack too, because I'm getting some fiber. Well, only like two grams, but still some, and then I'm getting my protein in.

Brianna: 1:00

yeah, I mean, two grams is what? Two grams is what some people get in a day. So you're doing good. I'm doing a recess. I'm doing the raspberry lemon. I just really like recess. Can they sponsor us already? Like

Baylee: 1:13

Okay. If you, you get sponsored by recess, then I would die for a poppy sponsorship.

Brianna: 1:19

I would feel so cool.

Baylee: 1:21

Yeah.

Brianna: 1:22

Speaking of Poppy, total side note, PepsiCo bought them

Baylee: 1:26

Oh, great.

Brianna: 1:26

and everybody's upset, but they bought them for like. Over$2 billion. I'm like, who in their right mind is like, no, thank you. I don't want generational wealth.

Baylee: 1:35

Exactly

Brianna: 1:36

But anyways, neither here nor there. And I'm like,

Baylee: 1:38

Yayay all over again. And now like imagine being able to go out somewhere and get a.

Brianna: 1:45

That's what I'm saying. Like they're gonna be able to, yeah, they're gonna be able to like dis distribute it, distribute it. More. I'm like, that was wrong. They're gonna be able to sit like it's gonna be in more places now.'cause PepsiCo has that more of a reach. So cool.

Baylee: 2:00

Are you

Brianna: 2:01

I three refills. Absolutely.

Baylee: 2:04

the

Brianna: 2:05

Good,

Baylee: 2:05

We're a

Brianna: 2:07

right? It's for the good you guys, I'm telling you. But anyways, total side note.

Baylee: 2:12

today, we. Because we both overbook ourself and so we have to still get the podcast in. So we're gonna give you short, sweet, quick information. So we are talking about the top five mistakes that are affecting your blood sugar. We're gonna call it something like that. But basically top five things that we see people are doing every day that is just, it's not working well for your blood sugar rollercoaster and maintaining steady blood sugar levels is going to be beneficial for. Energy, your mood and literally your overall health. So many things stem from blood sugar balancing, in case you haven't picked that up from any of our other episodes. So first one, skipping breakfast because you, I mean, you've gone a long time without eating because hopefully you're sleeping. So you're fasting and then you're not eating in the morning. This one actually calls your blood sugar levels to drop leading to more cravings, fatigue, and overeating later in the day. So a lot of times when I see these types of issues, it's not necessarily like a nighttime problem. Maybe it's a morning time problem.

Brianna: 3:18

Mm-hmm.

Baylee: 3:18

It's also gonna trigger to release cortisol probably, which is gonna make blood sugar harder to control because now you're running off stress hormones rather than nutrients. So if you include a protein rich breakfast, you're gonna stabilize your glucose levels and prevent those spikes and crashes.

Brianna: 3:35

Yeah,

Baylee: 3:36

eat breakfast every day.

Brianna: 3:38

eat it

Baylee: 3:39

at least get some protein in. Start there.

Brianna: 3:41

at least. And I, you know, let's just, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna dwell on this, but. No breakfast and caffeine is like double. Just, just set your, set yourself up for disaster. I don't want it to be Yep. Like I'm doing all the right things. No

Baylee: 3:57

Of death.

Brianna: 3:58

yeah, that's exactly what it's, and then you just feel horrible and you rinse and repeat. The next one is interesting. It's relying on artificial sweeteners. So yes, it seems like a good idea. Okay, I'm gonna use the alternative sweetener. It's not gonna increase my my blood sugar, but, and we are having more research coming out on this, which people don't want to believe, but it can stimulate an insulin response and affect your gut health. So. Again, insulin is the key player in blood sugar balance. And yes, while your glucose isn't going up and everything looks good, you could have more insulin roaming around, which long-term isn't gonna be great. It can also lead to increased sugar, sugar cravings, and leading to overeating later because there're just so much more sweet. Than regular sugar. And so that can make you want to have more sweet stuff. And then some of the artificial sweeteners like aspartame and saccharin, they can alter your gut bacteria and gut bacteria and your gut health play a huge role in blood sugar regulation. And that is a very complicated topic. It's super hard to research, but we do know that they affect your gut microbiome. And your gut microbiome is a huge player in glucose regulation. So. It's like, what's the lesser of evils? I will say, don't just be like, well, if I just switch to sugar free everything, and then I'm doing a great job. Depends. But yeah, maybe just cool it a little bit, you know? But yeah.

Baylee: 5:24

Next one would be eating only a salad for lunch. So yes. It's tricky. I mean, yeah, salad is probably a better option than a burger and fries or a piece of pizza or something like that. So salads, they are in fact nutrient dense, but they often are lacking protein and truly fiber, even though it's like, wow, look at my. Bowl of lettuce. Okay. Lettuce doesn't have that much fiber to be quite hottest, so it's usually lacking the protein, fiber, fat, it kind of depends, but usually, especially if you're going out to eat to get a salad, you're not getting a good quality fat from that dressing. A lot of times they're like a soybean oil based. I have been obsessed with using these flavored oil and vinegars from a local place, so I literally use a, it's a lemon olive oil and a strawberry balsamic vinegarette. So good, so amazing. And I don't have to make the dressing myself. They just drizzle and drizzle, so they're often lacking the protein, fat, maybe some fiber. Kind of depends on what you do for it. So if you're having a meal low in protein and fast, this can lead to a quick glucose drop causing again that fatigue and the cravings in the afternoon. So at least you wanna make sure you're adding protein, chicken, or eggs. Great options that most places are.

Brianna: 6:41

Mm-hmm.

Baylee: 6:42

You can try and switch up the dressing, see if they have just olive oil and squeeze some lemon juice on it. Super easy to change it up and to keep that blood sugar more steady and keep your.

Brianna: 6:55

Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's a big one. And then if you're thinking like, well I skipped breakfast'cause I'm fasting and I worked out this morning and then I had a lunch that was just a salad. You could see where this is setting up for disaster later on. The next one, and I talk about this a lot with people, is consuming healthy process snacks. So we're thinking things like, you know, granola bars, even things like the Quest chips like. The hundred calorie snack packs, things like that. Or you know, protein shakes or yogurts that are like low calorie, but they have a lot of added sugar. Right? But the worst thing we could have ever done was been like, Hey, for your blood sugar let's just eat really small amounts of calories all day long that are simple, processed carbohydrates. No, but when you're really like, oh, I'm, you know, wanting to lose weight, I'm looking at my calories, those are the foods that you're grabbing and they're just not great. You're not allowing your body to fast throughout the day between your meals. You're not really having any fat or protein, especially fat. That's, that's how they're getting'em to be such low calorie fat is taken out of it. And we know fat is a huge, plays a huge role in blood sugar regulation, so. Even snacks that are like natural. You know, or they may not have like added sweeteners, anything like that, they can still spike your blood sugar. Not a great option. I would rather you reach for some Whole Foods and have like a snack that's actually going to keep you full and really help you manage your blood sugar. Something that's protein containing. So, you know, opting for the Whole Foods, net seed, boiled eggs, jerky sticks, Greek yogurt, I mean. The list goes on. Avocado is like a great one, et cetera.

Baylee: 8:34

Mm-hmm. And the last one we'll say, because we just picked five, is not drinking enough water.

Brianna: 8:40

Yeah.

Baylee: 8:41

I have so many people that they're like, I'm drinking water. Just know I'm not drinking enough. Honestly, I would say most adults, if you're getting 60 ounces of water, that's a good minimum. I think that's a good place to be at. So start there. But really, dehydration can concentrate your blood sugar levels, making it harder for your body to regulate your glucose. The water is also, it's gonna help flush out excess glucose through the kidneys and it metabolic function. So. Just keep it simple. Drink enough water throughout the day to help prevent those fluctuations and those cravings, because also you're hunger and there's signals. They get mixed up a little sometimes. So if you're making sure you're staying hydrated, then maybe you're not as hungry as often. Not as a dieting trick that we've been told, but as a way of No, it's just to make sure you're hydrated.

Brianna: 9:30

Yeah, like I'm not feeling so snacky'cause I'm actually hydrated and that's it. People would be surprised how much better blood sugar regulation they have when they just actually started drinking more than like 24 ounce of water like

Baylee: 9:42

it makes a difference. I think about address and make some of the changes that we recommended to help get better blood sugar balance, which will impact your weight loss, your energy, your sleep, your inflammation, all those things by simply balancing your blood sugar

Brianna: 10:00

It's the hill I will literally die on. I'm putting it on my heads down.

Baylee: 10:04

balance, your blood sugar,

Brianna: 10:05

Balance blood sugar.

Baylee: 10:06

watching you.

Brianna: 10:08

So yeah, maybe we'll do, maybe we'll start putting it like in the episode, like title, like quick and dirty or something like when we have these really short episodes.'cause these are fun.

Baylee: 10:17

Yeah. All right, everyone, have a great rest of your week and we'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Bye.

Brianna: 10:23

Hi.