How normal blood sugar works

The level of sugar in your blood fluctuates with eating, sleeping, and other activities. When you eat, your blood sugar level goes up. When you use energy, your blood sugar goes down. The most important thing for you to understand about your blood sugar level is that because you are sugar sensitive, it has a powerful effect on how you feel. If your brain or you muscles can't get the blood sugar they need to perform, they will tell you very clearly that something is wrong. You may get tired, shaky, or irritable. You may have a hard time concentrating. You may forget things. You may reach for something sweet to provide a quick pickmeup.

Most of the sugar in your blood comes from the foods you eat. The rest comes from the extra sugar stored in your liver, which is to be used if you run out of food for energy. The most effeciient source of sugar for the average person is carbohydrates because they require the least amount of work by the body to convert them from "food" to sugar in your blood. Carbohydrates can either be simple, like beer, sugar and white flour, or they can be complex, like potatoes, oatmeal, and whole grains. The simpler a carbohydrate is, the more quickly it is broken down into glucose (the simplest sugar) and realeased into your bloodstream, where it can be carried to your cells and burned for energy. The more complex a carbohydrate is, the longer it takes to be broken down and realeased in to your blood.

Your body's goal is to maintain the perfect level of sugar in your blood- neither too high nor too low. First, it draws from the regular sugar pool in your blood. Your body does this by releasing a hormone called insulin, which instructs your cells to open up, move sugar out of your blood and pull it into the cells themselves, where it can be burned for fuel. When the level of sugar in your blood goes up, your body releases more insulin and thereby moves more sugar into your cells. This not only provides fuel for your cells, it also keeps your blood sugar on an even keel.

If the level of sugar in your blood drops, your body will turn to the backup sugar supply in your liver. Your liver stores about 400 calories worth of sugar at any given time. After this backup supply is used up, you are in trouble. Your body needs more sugar to keep functionaing. It tells you to eat. Now!

Some people are biochemically sugar sensitive. When they eat sufar, their bodies overreact by releasing far more insulin than is needed. The result is that their cells open up and pull in more sugar than they should. This causes the level of sugar in the blood to drop too low and triggers those "crazy" Mr. Hyde symptoms of low blood sugar, including fatigue, restlessness, confusion, frustration, poor memory, and irritability.

Stay tuned for the next article...

The Root of the problem

If you are sugar sensitive, there are three things in your body chemistry that contribute to the "crazy" feelings:

• the level of sugar in your blood
• the level of chemical serotonin in your brain
• the level of the chemical beta-endorphin in your brain

An imablance in the level of any one of these biochemicals can brin striking changes in the way you feel or act. When all three are out of balance it is almost impossible to isolate which one is making you feel so bad. Let's take a look at them one at a time, then put them together to show you why sugar sensitivity can have such a powerful effect on your life.

The level of sugar in your blood

Your body uses a very simple for of sugar called glucose as its basic fuel. During digestion all the carboyhydrates you eat are broken down into glucose. It is carried by the blood throughout your body to be used as energy by the cells as needed. All your cells, particularly those in your brain, require a steady supply of sugar at all times.

When your body has the optimal level of sugar in the blood to supply your cells, you feel good. When your blood sugar level is too low, your cells don't get the sugar they need and they start sending out distress signals. These distress signals are the symptoms of low blood sugar, a condition known as hypoglycemia.

Brain Chemicals: Serotonin
In addition to blood sugar, a number of chemicals in your brain affect how you feel and act. Serotonin is a brain chemical that is particularly important for sugar sensitive people. It creates a sense of relazation, and gives you a sense of being at peace with the world. Serotonin also influences your self-control, impulse control and ability to plan ahead.

When your serotonin level is low you may feel depressed, act impulsively and have intense cravings for alcohol, sweets, or carbohydrates. Scientists have worked hard to find ways to increase the level of serotonin in the brains of people who are depressed. The result is that the newer anti-depressants that do this - such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Effexor - have been dispensed to well over six million people.

Brain Chemicals: Beta-endorphin
Beta-endorphin is the brain chemical that's gotten the least attention in the diet, depression and addiction books. That's very strange because it is immensely powerful and can drive you inexorably towards deeper addiction, or raise your spirits to a level of health that you may have never known before.

When your beta-endorphin is low, you feel depressed, impulsive, and vicitmised. You may be touchy and tearful. Your self esteem is low. And you have a desperate craving for sugar. The scientific community has been investigating beta-endorphin for more than twenty years, but the public understanding of its effects has remained fairly limited. You may have heard of the "runner's high", a phrase that describes how the body responds to the pain of long-distance running by automatically flooding the body with beta-endorphin, which produces euphoria.

Stay tuned for the next article on how you can maintain balance of these three things...