Mood

Management

Winning the Blood Sugar Battle

By kristen White

iT iS 12: 30 P.M. ON SuNDAY. We drive home from church, and there is something coursing through my veins besides the joy of the Lord: slight shaking, fatigue, inability to focus, and irritability. Now that I am in my 30s, I can recognize it — low blood sugar. So I close my eyes and eagerly await arriving home, where I snack on grapes and cheese while I make dinner. “Eating right before a meal?” you may ask. My husband’s answer: “All she needs when she gets grouchy is a hamburger!”

© PunchStock

Without oversimplifying the causes of anger we face, I want to share what my family has learned about blood sugar and how to optimize moods with food choices.

What Is Blood Sugar Anyway?

Your body needs fuel to run: food and water. As food digests, most of it is converted into glucose, the type of sugar in the bloodstream. Glucose travels from the bloodstream into cells and is used for energy and growth. But glucose cannot get into cells on its own.

Picture glucose as being on the on-ramp, trying to merge into an impenetrable highway — the cell walls. Glucose needs a traffic officer — insulin — to help it get into cells. Ideally, the pancreas lets out the right amount of insulin to get glucose in and stabilize blood sugar levels.

To maintain
positive
moods
and energy
levels, eat
the right
foods at the
right time.

glucose builds up in the blood. This causes chronic high blood sugar, also called diabetes. Overflows of blood sugar pass out of the body through the urinary tract. This can damage other parts of the body that were not meant to carry high levels of glucose. The body never accesses the food-fuel even though it is there, and the person is left feeling sick.

When Blood Sugar Is Too Low

Some people have chronic low blood sugar, called hypoglycemia. Symptoms of low blood sugar include feeling shaky, weak, irritable, anxious, tired, and scatter-brained. Sometimes a dull headache starts. Usually, eating alleviates low blood sugar. People with hypoglycemic tendencies must eat frequently to curb symptoms.

Most people experience some symptoms of low blood sugar if they wait too long to eat. Most children probably have experienced this, too. That does not mean you have hypoglycemia. But it may mean it is time to eat.

When Blood Sugar Is Too High When a person’s body does not produce insulin, does not produce enough insulin, or the body does not respond to the insulin that is produced (called insulin resistance),

Can I Control Moods

With Meals?

Not all foods are blood-sugar friendly. Have you ever eaten a couple of plates of food at a Chinese buffet and then felt hungry an hour later? Have you ever noticed that after eating certain sweet foods, your kids run wildly and then crash?

Foods impact blood sugar levels in different ways. Blood sugar levels, in turn, affect moods. A food’s impact

32 PARENTLIFE MARCH 2008