Blood Sugar

Blood Sugar Imbalance

When talking about blood sugar imbalance, there are two possibilities:

1. Insulin resistance, which is characterized by two things: chronically elevated blood sugar levels, and subsequent elevated insulin levels to help deal with the blood sugar.

2. Hypoglycemia, which refers generally to low (”hypo”) blood sugar (”glycemia”), but is really characterized by blood sugar fluctuations –- sometimes it’s high and sometimes it’s low.

Both, however, have insulin surges.

And while each of these have their separate issues metabolically, both will cause issues with the function of mitochondria because there is not a steady stream of blood sugar available for ATP (energy) production.

Insulin Resistance

When someone is insulin resistant, glucose cannot effectively enter into the cell –- chronically elevated insulin levels create dysfunctional insulin receptor sites on the cell. Since blood sugar is not adequately entering the cells, it stays in general circulation rather than being stored. As a result, the body must produce higher levels of insulin to remove glucose from the blood stream, which causes even greater metabolic dysfunction.

Characteristic symptoms of insulin resistance include: fatigue after meals, craving for sweets that doesn’t go away when sweets are eaten, increased thirst, and frequent urination.