Blood Sugar Explained

 Welcome to Diabetes Transformation 

When it comes to reducing biological and chemical stress and controlling your blood sugar and A1C  the question, we want to ask is what is the smallest, gentlest intervention we can make with the biggest positive impact, the answer is balancing Blood Sugar. What is Blood Sugar and why is important to keep it balanced? When we say Blood Sugar, we're not talking about the white stuff people put in baked goods. The Blood Sugar we're referring to is the concentration of glucose in the blood. Glucose is known as a simple sugar and is the bodies preferred main energy source. It's important to keep Blood Sugar balanced because when there's too much or too little glucose of what constitutes Blood Sugar in the blood it triggers a significant stress response in the body. To fully understand this process let's look at how food turns into Blood Sugar or glucose. When the body is in need of energy it will release a hormone called ghrelin which signals you to begin looking for nourishment. Once you have your meal let's look at the process food takes throughout the body. Food begins by going into the mouth, and this is where the digestive process starts it starts in the mouth as you chew your food. This is the first step in digestion as you break down the food and produce saliva that contains two enzymes to begin breaking down starches and fats. Next it travels to the stomach and here the food is churned by muscles in the stomach to further break it down. Food is also introduced to stomach acid, hydrochloric acid, and several enzymes, pepsin and lipase toNow in the small intestine the gallbladder releases bile to help break down fats, bile is kind of like if you think of soap detergent on a pan that has something sticking to it and that helps loosen down the fats. Well that's what bile does it helps break down the fats. Then your pancreas releases additional enzymes to break down starch, fat and protein, glucose is absorbed across the intestinal wall into the blood stream. And then we enter the large intestine any food that could not be digested or absorbed, IE fiber, moves into the large intestine to be eliminated. Excess water is also absorbed here. The slower the transit time the more water that is absorbed. When we eat food, it goes through this process in order for our body to benefit from all of the foods nutrients. But what is most important is for us to know as Health Coaches what happens once glucose enters the blood stream and how can that cause so much biological and chemical stress in the body. The blood stream is the delivery system that carries glucose to all your cells. This is important. Just because you have glucose in your blood stream does not mean that your cells can utilize it. This is where challenges can arise, frequent high Blood Sugar or extended periods of high Blood Sugar can lead to several health challenges, such as damage to your nerves, blood vessels and organs and can lead to diabetes. Your ability to utilize Blood Sugar is determined in large part by the hormone insulin. It's the hormone required for cells to uptake glucose. Insulin is produced and released from the beta cells in the pancreas. When blood glucose or sugar levels increase insulin is released. It then binds to the receptors on a cell which causes the cell to unlock the channel in which glucose can pass into the cell and eventually will be converted into energy, ATP, through a process called glycolysis. Tongue twister, glycolysis which is a fancy word for converting Blood Sugar into energy. Once the body has utilized all the glucose it needs at that time any excess will be stored first in the liver and muscles as glycogen which is a fancy word for stored sugar, and this is for short term energy storage and can easily turn back into glucose when needed. This happens through a process called glycogenesis. If all of the glycogen stores in your muscles and liver are full then what happens? Well the body turns the excess glucose into lipids. Lipids are fatty acids through lipogenesis. This is long term energy storage and cannot be converted back into glucose. In order to utilize this storage of energy the body has to do a process called ketogenesis. This takes fatty acids and turns them into ketone bodies. Ketogenesis usually only occurs when the body is a in perceived starvation state and is the last resort for the body as ketones mainly provide energy to the heart and to the brain. breakdown proteins and fats. Before food leaves the stomach it's in a liquid state called Chyme. Next it goes to the small intestine. Now what I found surprising when I started learning anatomy is that the small intestine is approximately 20 feet in length. And the reason why it's so long is that this allows time for as much nutrients to be absorbed as possible. Absorption square footage is 250 square meters or approximately the size of a tennis court.

Now in the small intestine the gallbladder releases bile to help break down fats, bile is kind of like if you think of soap detergent on a pan that has something sticking to it and that helps loosen down the fats. Well that's what bile does it helps break down the fats. Then your pancreas releases additional enzymes to break down starch, fat and protein, glucose is absorbed across the intestinal wall into the blood stream. And then we enter the large intestine any food that could not be digested or absorbed, IE fiber, moves into the large intestine to be eliminated. Excess water is also absorbed here. The slower the transit time the more water that is absorbed. When we eat food, it goes through this process in order for our body to benefit from all of the foods nutrients. But what is most important is for us to know as Health Coaches what happens once glucose enters the blood stream and how can that cause so much biological and chemical stress in the body. The blood stream is the delivery system that carries glucose to all your cells. This is important. Just because you have glucose in your blood stream does not mean that your cells can utilize it. This is where challenges can arise, frequent high Blood Sugar or extended periods of high Blood Sugar can lead to several health challenges, such as damage to your nerves, blood vessels and organs and can lead to diabetes. Your ability to utilize Blood Sugar is determined in large part by the hormone insulin. It's the hormone required for cells to uptake glucose. Insulin is produced and released from the beta cells in the pancreas. When blood glucose or sugar levels increase insulin is released. It then binds to the receptors on a cell which causes the cell to unlock the channel in which glucose can pass into the cell and eventually will be converted into energy, ATP, through a process called glycolysis. Tongue twister, glycolysis which is a fancy word for converting Blood Sugar into energy. Once the body has utilized all the glucose it needs at that time any excess will be stored first in the liver and muscles as glycogen which is a fancy word for stored sugar, and this is for short term energy storage and can easily turn back into glucose when needed. This happens through a process called glycogenesis. If all of the glycogen stores in your muscles and liver are full then what happens? Well the body turns the excess glucose into lipids. Lipids are fatty acids through lipogenesis. This is long term energy storage and cannot be converted back into glucose. In order to utilize this storage of energy the body has to do a process called ketogenesis. This takes fatty acids and turns them into ketone bodies. Ketogenesis usually only occurs when the body is a in perceived starvation state and is the last resort for the body as ketones mainly provide energy to the heart and to the brain.

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