If you’re looking to learn what a healthy range of blood sugar is, you’re not alone. It’s important to keep track of your blood sugar, especially if you have been diagnosed with diabetes or are pregnant. Additionally, looking for delicious and healthy foods that also keep your blood sugar in check can be difficult. Here, we provide all you need to know about normal sugar level fasting and a few healthy snack options.
What do people mean by high blood sugar levels?
Our body functions by breaking down the food we eat (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and micronutrients) into smaller nutrients, namely glucose, amino acids and triglycerides. These travel through the blood to reach the target organs. The organ cells in turn utilise them to breathe, repair, rejuvenate and perform the desired function. For instance, about 18% of the total glucose that we consume is required just by our brain for sending and receiving signals.
However, when there is either too little or too much sugar, things can go wrong. When you consume too many carbohydrates for several years, there is an increased load on insulin to try and make the cells take up the glucose in the blood. When this continues for a long time, cells lose their sensitivity to absorbing glucose and your body is always going to run short of insulin. As a result, your blood always has more glucose than normal which is the cause of diabetes.
The normal sugar level fasting for a healthy individual is 90-110 mg/dl, and for someone with diabetes, it is about 130-140 mg/dl. These numbers are bound to change corresponding to your meal and the time between your meal and measuring the sugar level.
Is too much glucose in the blood bad?
When there is more amount of glucose in the blood than the normal level for a long time, it damages the blood vessels. Blood is what supplies every cell with oxygen and the nutrients that we consume through our diet. When blood vessels are damaged, our cells become deprived of the necessary nutrients and begin to become weak. Some of the common illnesses that result due to high blood sugar are:
- Vision impairment, which can progress gradually to vision loss if the sugar level is not maintained
- Reduced immunity
- Potential kidney damage
- Reduced or impaired nervous responses
It is important to maintain a normal sugar level fasting to stay healthy and prevent damage to your organs.
How to know if you have a high blood sugar level?
Some of the common symptoms that may suggest that your blood sugar level is out of whack are:
- Increased thirst
- Increased need to urinate
- Increased hunger or cravings for sugar
- Blurry vision
- Wounds, cold, fever taking forever to subside
- Drastic weight loss or weight gain
If you experience any/some of the above symptoms, you can visit a diabetologist to check your blood sugar level. Your doctor may suggest you take a fasting blood test to measure your blood sugar level on an empty stomach.
- 140 mg/dl or lower – Normal
- 140 – 190 mg/dl – Prediabetic
- 200 mg/dl or higher – Diabetic
Your doctor may also ask to take another test called the HbA1C test. As glucose is carried in your blood, the former can bind with haemoglobin. The HbA1C test measures the average amount of glucose bound to haemoglobin for three months.
- 5.7% or lower – Normal
- 5.7 – 6.4% – Prediabetic
- 6.5% or higher – Diabetic
Fill your plate wisely to maintain a healthy blood sugar level
Our body’s way of responding to what we eat and how we live our life is through symptoms that are either pleasant or uncomfortable. So, maintaining a healthy diet that is low in refined sugar, gluten, junk, and oil and high in fresh vegetables, multi-grains, fruits and nuts, having a proper sleep schedule, being physically active, and managing stress are key to keeping your sugar levels on track.
Especially, being mindful of the amount of sugar and the quality of sugar you consume daily is inevitable. Today, there are many alternatives to refined sugar like jaggery, palm sugar, stevia, etc. These alternatives have relatively lower glycemic index values and do not raise the blood sugar level too high after consumption. Many biscuits sugar-free use these alternatives to keep your sugar level in check.
Alternatives to contemporary cookies
Having to give up your favourite snacks like biscuits, cakes, and desserts is one of the most exhausting things after you are diagnosed with diabetes. Worry not, there are biscuits sugar-free, cakes made from stevia/alternatives, and many more that give you the luxury of enjoying your favourites while also maintaining healthy random blood sugar levels.
Are these alternatives healthy?
With more people becoming mindful of their health, there are many so-called healthy snacks and instant food items being released on the market regularly. But, are these as healthy as they claim to be?
The answer is both yes and no, depending on your choices. Many popular healthy alternatives claim to provide benefits while they are only packed with non-nutritious and toxic chemicals. So, it requires you to read the ingredients of any packaged food item before buying. There are sugar-free drinks, smoothies, protein bars, muesli, oats, etc. that could be made from aspartame, high-fructose corn syrup or any other form of sugar which can be more harmful than white sugar itself.
While there are these false healthy foods, there are other brands that genuinely intend to make nutritious and healthy snacks like biscuits sugar-free for people who want to be mindful of their sugar consumption. You can always find the best way to maintain a healthy blood sugar level and live your life without having to make any compromises.
