Is Your Blood Sugar The Reason You Can’t Lose Weight?

Healthy chocolate cinnamon rolls on a baking sheet designed to support blood sugar regulation and weight loss

When it comes to weight loss we all should know by now, that engaging in regular exercise and eating healthy is going to be important. But, sometimes we are doing all of the right things and the weight still won’t come off. This article is dedicated to one of the main reasons you can’t lose weight – poor blood sugar control!

When it comes to weight loss, the unfortunate truth is, the longer we wait to start our weight loss journey, the harder it generally is. One of the reasons is that our bad food choices (ie. consumption of high sugar foods) can affect our weight, in the long run. These ‘bad foods’ can change our physiology and metabolism. What this means is, that our past food mistakes could be the reason we are struggling to lose weight now, even if we have already kicked those bad habits.

When we consume high sugar foods they tend to be high on the glycemic index (GI), a measure of how quickly these sugars get digested and then released into your blood stream. Because these foods will cause sugar to rush into your blood, your body needs to respond to this sugar by releasing insulin from your pancreas. This insulin is designed to keep your blood sugars(glucose) at a constant level. If we continually consume these high glycemic foods, our insulin is constantly being released to keep your blood sugars stable. If the insulin fails to do this properly, this is when blood sugars start to rise and eventually we develop type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is when our blood sugars are no longer being brought back down to normal.

However, before we develop type 2 diabetes, we develop what is called ‘early insulin resistance’. This means the insulin levels are continually higher than normal because insulin is struggling to keep up with all of the sugar foods, and this process is becoming less efficient as time progresses. This is when you will start to see blood sugars rise but they are not quite high enough to be considered diabetes. This stage is also called pre-diabetes, and approximately 6 million Canadians are considered pre-diabetic.

So, what does this all have to do with weight loss?

High insulin, seen in ‘early insulin resistance’ and type 2 diabetes, could be the reason you are not losing weight. This is because sustained higher levels of insulin has been shown to encourage weight gain. It has also been shown that the more weight you gain, the more likely you are to develop insulin resistance. These two can go hand-in-hand, therefore if you are 1 of the millions with elevated blood sugars, your weight loss plan may need to include things that also address your blood sugars.

The good news is, there is a lot you can do to bring your blood sugars and insulin levels down! Working with a qualified doctor allow you to know you if blood sugars are the reason you can’t lose weight, and hopefully prevent you from developing type 2 diabetes!

Knowing where your blood sugars are at will help guide your weight loss efforts and make them more effective. Studies have shown that if you have elevated blood sugars and you tailor your weight loss efforts to lower those high blood sugars, you have more success!

Some general food recommendations for managing blood sugars are:

  • Lower things that spike your blood sugar(glucose)
    • High sugar foods: candy, pastries, fruit concentrates, sports drinks, sweeteners, processed foods, breakfast cereal, condiments, ect.
    • Highly processed foods
  • Increase foods that slow the release of sugar into your blood stream
    • Fiber
    • Healthy protein
    • Healthy fat

Disclaimer

Information can be empowering, but we all have unique health profiles and needs. The health-related information contained in this article is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for a visit with a licensed naturopathic doctor. The advice in this article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

References

1) Campos, C. (2012). Chronic hyperglycemia and glucose toxicity: pathology and clinical sequelae. Postgraduate medicine, 124(6), 90-97.

2) Vermeulen, K. (2014). Happy hormones: discover the breakthrough treatment program for better hormonal health: natural treatment programs for weight loss, pms, menopause, fatigue, irritability. Hobart, NY: Hatherleigh.

3) Hjorth, M. F., Due, A., Larsen, T. M., & Astrup, A. (2017). Pretreatment fasting plasma glucose modifies dietary weight loss maintenance success: results from a stratified RCT. Obesity, 25(12), 2045-2048.