If you’re like many people around the world, you’ve increased your alcohol use significantly during the pandemic. Perhaps you’ve also asked yourself how alcohol impacts your blood sugar levels. If so, you’ve come to the right place for answers.

Highs and Lows

Many alcoholic drinks cause blood sugar levels to rise in the short term and lower in the long term. Much like alcohol’s effect on one’s mood, there might be a high and then a low, so prepare accordingly. These highs and lows are common even for nondiabetics.

At low doses, alcohol can act as a stimulant and raise blood sugar levels. Many types of alcohol contain carbohydrates in the form of sugar that may, at first, contribute to a spike in blood sugar. More on the sugar content in alcoholic drinks later.

Excessive drinking lowers the effectiveness of insulin and lowers blood sugar levels, and, over time, may lead to type 2 diabetes. This is because the liver has two pertinent jobs: it stores and secretes glucose to fuel your cells when you’re not eating. It also cleans the body of toxins. The liver can’t do both jobs at the same time. So since it treats alcohol as a toxin, it switches to detoxifying the body and stops secreting glucose, lowering blood sugar.

Skip the Mixers

People often mistakenly neglect the caloric content of liquids, but they play a huge role. In fact, one study found that alcohol accounts for 10% of sugar consumed by adults in the UK.

Beer, wine, and spirits don’t have as much sugar as, for example, a soda. But sugary nonalcoholic mixers are often used in cocktails and mixed drinks to cut the alcohol's pungent taste. So beware the Rum and Coke. While rum is made from sugarcane juice, straight rum actually contains 0 grams of sugar. But spirits are much higher in alcohol content, so that they may lower your blood sugar in smaller quantities. Additionally, liqueurs are high in sugar (at 10 grams) and high in alcoholic content (15–55%) so beware them most of all.

Some wines have enough sugar to make a difference. Most grape sugar is used up during the fermentation process, leaving red wines at less than a gram of sugar and white wines at 1.5 grams. But for certain wines, like sweet dessert wines, sugar is added afterward, bringing the total to a slightly more concerning amount of 8 grams.

Benefits of Moderate Drinking

“I like to have a martini, two at the very most.

After three I’m under the table, after four I’m under my host.”

-Dorothy Parker

Humans have been debating the merits of drinking for the 10,000 years of alcohol’s recorded history. Alcohol has been used as both a literal medicine and a poison. The secret is in the dose.

Interestingly, excessive drinking can lead to Type 2 diabetes, especially for women, but moderate drinking can actually lower the risk. Moderate drinking is defined as one drink for women and two drinks for men in a day. Also, moderate drinking can increase HDL or your levels of good cholesterol, decrease the risk of heart disease, stroke, and gallstones.

What accounts for the difference in alcohol’s effect between the sexes? The benefits of moderate drinking disappear at lower doses for women than for men, even when controlling for body weight. This may be because women have less water in their bodies, lower AHD levels (a chemical that breaks down alcohol) and because hormones may play a role.

Some Practical Tips for Tipsiness

When it comes to health, nearly everything should be moderate except for your desire to be healthy. So if you’re interested in drinking without incurring negative consequences on your blood sugar levels, here are some practical tips:

Drink Moderately:

• To recap, moderate drinking is defined as one drink per day for a man and two for women—sorry, ladies.

Drink Slowly:

• Remember, your liver can only break down roughly one drink per hour.

Drink Fewer Sugary Drinks:

• Stick with beer or some wines, and when drinking liquor, carefully monitor the alcohol content. Opt for a Rum and Diet Coke instead.

Eat a Snack:

• Alcohol is absorbed by the stomach and enters the bloodstream. When food is in the stomach, it acts as a buffer and slows the rate of absorption. Without food, the alcohol enters the bloodstream too quickly. Make sure to eat a well-balanced meal before drinking, including protein, carbohydrates, and fats.

Stay Hydrated:

• Drink water to stay hydrated and to dilute the alcohol in the bloodstream.

In short, if you choose to drink: drink moderately, drink slowly, drink less sugary drinks with more food, and stay hydrated. Here’s a drink to your health!

How Alcohol Impacts Your Blood Sugar was originally published in Vital Health on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Personalized nutrition is a concept that empowers each individual to seek out foods specific to his or her needs based on genes, lifestyle, and microbiome. It’s an intuitive idea. You wouldn’t settle for the same outfit everyone is wearing or listen to the same music. So why would you choose to eat the same?

Well, recently Harvard set out to prove the obvious. In an ambitious project surveying 700 sets of identical twins, preliminary results have shown that, in fact, different people respond differently to the same diet. Here are some of the most powerful determinants of your ideal diet.

Genotype

Personalized nutrition based on genotype is a field of scientific research called nutrigenomics. But nutrigenomics isn’t just the province of elite athletes or the ultra rich. It’s quite common. Lactose intolerance, for example, could be discovered within an infant’s genome before the child ever got a chance to get sick from an ice cream cone.

Some genetic considerations on your diet come from what groups you’re in. For example, older women face bone density issues and should therefore consume calcium. People from Mediterranean countries may encounter thalassemia, which can be treated with increased iron intake. So consider what “clubs” you’re in when considering your diet.

With personalized assessment and the proper nutritional remedy, some disorders can even be prevented from manifesting. For example, even if you have a genetic inclination towards diabetes, the disease can be prevented or delayed by eating fiber avoiding unhealthy fats and sodium along with some exercise. The same can be said of other genetic disorders such as obesity, coronary heart disease, and alcoholism.

Genes are not destiny. The field of epigenetics has proven that environmental and behavioral factors affect gene expression. For example, several studies have shown that malnourished mothers give birth to children with diabetes and a tendency to overeat. So epigenetics can affect nutrition but the reverse is true as well. Nutrition can affect epigenetics. For example, certain foods such as Polyphenols found in green tea and resveratrol found in grapes, can influence how your genes express themselves and lower your risk of developing cancer. Epigenetics is a sort of bridge between genetics and lifestyle.

So eat well. You’re eating for your grandchildren’s health!

Lifestyle

Genetics only goes so far to explain one’s health. In Harvard’s, 2019 study of 700 identical twins, researchers discovered that genetics only accounted for about a third of certain health consequences such as insulin responses to diet. Lifestyle plays a tremendous role in customizing your diet. For the sake of simplicity, let’s divide lifestyle into: eating habits, exercise habits, and sleeping habits.

1. Eating Habits: Much of nutritional advice is universal. Such advice includes: eat a well balanced diet, maintain portion control, don’t skip breakfast, stay hydrated. While the details may vary, the nutrients you should prioritize are fiber, protein, vitamins, whole grains, and avoid excessive sugar, fats, and alcohol.
   
   But some aspects of nutrition may be customizable depending on your eating habits. For example, perhaps mindless eating throughout your workday is impossible to avoid. If so, consider only bringing sugar snap peas and popcorn to work. This also works if you have a penchant for crunchy textures. The key is harm reduction and sustainability. You can’t always be the best, but you can always be better.
2. Exercise Habits: Exercise. For some, it’s a hellish torment. For others, it’s a dopamine fueled diversion. And for others still, it might be both of these things depending on whether they’re winning or losing the game. Whether it’s a big part of your life or a minor distraction, it’s important to remember your nutrition for exercise is different than resting nutrition.
   
   If you’re inclined towards high intensity workouts, sprints, or short bursts of weight training, you may be favoring fast twitch muscles and want to consider proteins as well as vitamins C, D, and E. Endurance and cardio-based workouts like jogging or biking favor slow-twitch muscles which can burn fats as well as carbohydrates.
   
   Another highly personalized aspect of nutrition is the timing of meals before or after a workout. The rule of thumb may just be to monitor your blood sugar levels to determine when is best to eat. Here’s a primer on fitness and blood sugar levels.
3. Sleeping Habits: Personalized nutrition may improve sleep problems and sleep problems may prove to be the culprit behind your less-than-ideal nutrition. Hopefully this is not news to you but eating sugar or caffeine right before you go to bed is probably not the best idea. The worst invention in the world is dessert. Who invented this custom of serving highly sugary confections at the very end of a day? Save your desserts for earlier in the following day!
   
   But then there are the less obvious considerations. For example, are you getting enough magnesium in your diet? Magnesium promotes better sleep. So can melatonin tryptophan, b complex vitamins, Omega-3 and Vitamin D.
   
   Sleep and nutrition can work as a virtuous cycle. Better nutrition leads to better sleep. Better sleep leads to better nutrition choices the next day!

Microbiome

Pregnant women are said to be “eating for two.” But in reality, at any given moment all humans are eating for thousands of organisms within our microbiomes. In fact, more than half the cells in your body are not human cells, but bacteria. These microorganisms, including fungi and archaea as well, live in the digestive tracts of humans, helping out with digestion.

Dietary nutrition and timing, including seasonality, circadian rhythmicity and intermittent fasting, shape the gut microbiome composition and function. The microbiome itself affects digestion, the absorption of nutrients, and the shaping of the mucosal immune response.

The microbiome is mostly a product of environmental factors rather than genetic and nutrition is probably chief among those environmental factors. But the microbiome may have the most individualized response to nutrition of any system. This hyper-individualized response may be key to identifying the correct nutritional response to genetic data. One subject found that while he was genetically predisposed to diabetes, an analysis of his microbiome revealed he did not have to bid goodbye to bagels. “It turns out those little bugs in my guts seem to like bread, if it’s combined with fats and proteins,” he says. Somehow, his gut was ordering him to eat his bagel with cream cheese and lox in order to keep his blood sugar levels steady.

There seems to be one universal nutritional takeaway: Diverse food inputs lead to a diverse microbiome, which tends to be more resilient. Perhaps the biggest myth to bust is that of the cult of probiotics. There’s no conclusive evidence that probiotics have beneficial impacts on the microbiome.

Now, analysis of your microbiome is one stool sample away. You contain multitudes. It may be time to learn more about those multitudes.

The Power of Personalization

Personalized nutrition is a revolutionary concept that may rapidly democratize healthcare and propel us into a new era of longevity. Its applications in the field of pregnancy may lead to a new generation of super-healthy, super-intelligent humans. We may not all be sharing the same diet but we will share in the same prosperous new world, savoring the fruits of our labor.

Joseph Conrad once said, “we live as we dream- alone.” He may well have added, “and that’s also how we choose what to eat.”

The Power of Personalized Nutrition was originally published in Vital Health on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you’re like a growing number of humans on earth, you need to lower your blood sugar levels. Half of Americans and half of all Chinese people suffer from diabetes or prediabetes. But high blood sugar levels are not just a symptom for diabetics but a condition in its own right. Lowering your blood sugar levels may not just improve your health. It may help you live longer, stabilize your mood, and avoid Covid-19. But how do you actually go about it?

Here are six strategies to help lower your blood sugar level effectively and safely.

Exercise

Yes, you guessed it: the dreaded exercise. But what you may not have guessed is that not all exercise is created equal. This is why it’s important to track your blood sugar levels to know which exercises work best for you. It’s also beneficial to know if you’ve lowered your blood sugar so much that you need a snack to stay in range and avoid a crash.

Firstly, regular exercise is important. Even if it’s just 15 minutes a day, secondly, it’s better to start slow with steady, endurance-based exercises like light cardio, including brisk walking, swimming, and biking. Lightweight training is great for maintaining muscle, and yoga will help with stabilization and stress control. More on that later.

Eat Well

Perhaps the most obvious way to lower your blood sugar is to put less sugar into your body. Prioritize foods with a lower “glycemic index.” Lowering your carbohydrate intake in general is a good idea. Here’s a good shorthand: if it tastes sweet, its effects are not. But if your sweet tooth is too powerful, try supplementing sugar with artificial sweeteners or add cinnamon to your coffee instead for a real boost.

There are so many pesky nutrients to keep track of! So here’s a laundry list of supplements to add. Try eating foods rich in fiber, Chromium, and Magnesium. Fiber slows the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. Foods with good “soluble fiber” include vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains. Deficiencies in Chromium and Magnesium might be the culprit behind your high blood sugar so seek out egg yolks, coffee, nuts for the former, and whole grains, bananas, and avocado for the latter. If you’re feeling really adventurous, add to your pantry these exotic-sounding supplements: apple cider vinegar, Berberine, Fenugreek seeds. If you want even more information, here’s your next grocery list.

Eat Less

Perhaps everyone’s least favorite health tip is reducing calories. But portion control is worth mentioning since it’s the most effective way to lose weight, and healthy weight promotes healthy blood sugar levels. Try using smaller plates, avoiding restaurants, keeping a food journal, and eating slowly. But make sure not to stress out too much about it.

Eating at certain times in the day may promote healthy blood sugar levels. Breakfast is important to avoid a crash later and cravings before lunch. But blood sugar levels are highest in the early morning. So make sure your breakfast is lower on the glycemic index despite the ubiquity of sugary breakfast foods.

Intermittent fasting has been helpful for many in lowering their blood sugar. The mechanism of action may involve the change in signaling pathways, the production of ketones, or the steadying of a metabolic rhythm. It’s important to mention that fasting comes with risks because it affects many people differently. Tracking your blood sugar levels is integral to reducing calories to avoid a crash.

Hydrate

This is perhaps the easiest of all the tips to follow. Water helps your kidneys flush out the excess blood sugar through urine. Increased hydration is directly linked to a lowered risk of high blood sugar levels. Try to down about eight glasses a day. Enough said!

Relax

At this point in the list, it’s important to remember that you can’t do everything all the time. Forgiving yourself for not having perfect blood sugar levels is actually an important way to… lower blood sugar levels! Relaxation, exercise, and meditation have actually been shown to lower blood sugar levels in students.

A huge part of relaxation is sleeping well and long enough. Getting enough quality sleep can stave off sugar cravings, boost mood, and increase weight loss. Make sure your dreams are sweet, and your foods are not!

Track

Perhaps the most important aspect of lowering your blood sugar levels is to track your blood sugar levels. All of the previously mentioned strategies are based on scientific evidence and statistical averages. But you are not a statistical average. Each individual is different and requires individualized treatment. What may work for many others may not work for you. Perhaps you get a bigger reduction in blood sugar from exercise than from reducing calories. This is invaluable information that no article can predict for you. Blood glucose monitors are now available to help you optimize your health. A tiny wearable device on your arm can tell you in real-time everything you need to know. So take your health into your own hands or arms for that matter.

6 Tips to Lower Your Blood Sugar Level was originally published in Vital Health on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We know the secrets to longevity. The catch? Many of the things that correlate strongly with longevity can’t be changed. Being born with the right genetics, as a female, and into affluence will increase your chances of becoming a centenarian. But this information won’t be very useful once you’ve already come into existence.

Then there is an assortment of factors that positively correlate with longevity such as exercise, healthy BMI, good nutrition, regular sleep, and mental wellbeing. So, in the spirit of mental wellbeing, here’s some good news. Every one of these factors can be evaluated in real time with one simple metric: blood sugar levels.

Tracking your blood sugar alone won’t directly add years to your life. But trying to increase your longevity without tracking your blood sugar is like trying to drive across Europe without a fuel gauge. It’s a necessary tool.

Good nutrition is crucial to longevity. So an aspiring health nut should really go for nuts. Numerous studies have shown that nuts are significantly linked to longevity. Another good, antiinflammatory food is the spice, Turmeric. Plant-based foods increase longevity through antioxidants. Moderate consumption of tea and coffee will also help. Good nutrition will increase the levels of glucose in the bloodstream without causing spikes which can be dangerous. You can see the gradual increase in your blood sugar monitor and get real time gratification for your responsible eating choices!

What you eat matters. But also “when” and “how much” affect your longevity. Blood sugar levels fluctuate throughout the day but spike especially after meals. Some scientists advise not skipping breakfast to avoid a larger spike after lunch. But this may not be for you. Some people may regulate their blood sugar levels with short term calorie restriction or intermittent fasting but it’s important to avoid a crash which can lead to nausea and dizziness. Calorie restriction and intermittent fasting are exciting new areas of longevity research but the benefits are highly variable by person. So it’s important to know your own “normal” when it comes to blood sugar.

A recent study has shown that short bursts of exercise contribute to longevity. This study joins plenty of others in underscoring the importance of physical fitness on cardiovascular health and lengthier lifespans. One of the most important benefits of exercise is its effect on blood sugar levels. Exercise is an expedient way to lower your blood sugar if you start to see a spike since muscles draw from glucose in the bloodstream. This helps time your workouts so they are most effective. Low blood sugar levels may make you dizzy and faint, and a workout may not be advised. A high blood sugar level means it’s time to get out and walk the dog.

Beauty sleep is a real thing. Good shut-eye affects just about every aspect of life, including how long it is. Regular, quality sleep will increase your lifespan. Less than ideal sleep will decrease the efficacy of insulin and lead to blood sugar surges. The goldilocks amount of sleep is 8 hours. But just like pillow preferences: every human has their own needs. Blood sugar is an effective way to track the health of your personal sleep cycle. So when it comes to tracking your personal health, don’t fall asleep at the wheel.

Perhaps the most important key to longevity is mental wellbeing. Happy people may live up to 18% longer. Pessimists have a 42% higher risk of early death than optimists. So cheer up! See that glass of prune juice as half full. Mental health is not just about the individual. Maintaining good social networks can help you live 50% longer. This extends into morality too. One study found that children considered more “conscientious” lived 11% longer than their peers. So do good for good’s sake but also because you’ll have more years of life to do good! Since mood is directly linked to blood sugar, understanding and regulating your blood sugar levels can greatly improve your mental wellbeing and thus, your lifespan.

Now if you’re looking to shorten your lifespan, the best way to go about it would be to overeat, smoke, and drink heavily. All of these are commonly observed coping mechanisms for stress which is also linked with shorter lifespans. So, arguably, perhaps mental health is most important of the factors linked with longevity.

Assuming you’d rather see more years than less, you should take your health into your own hands, or arm, to be exact. Blood glucose monitors are safe, cheap, and effective for giving you real time feedback on so many contributors to longevity. They also make real and present the often far-off consequences of every day actions. Humans are notoriously bad with long term planning. But a glucose monitor makes your longevity considerations a matter of the present. Blood sugar monitors are a great way of improving your life in the future by tracking your health right now.

Want to Live to 100? Track Your Blood Sugar Level was originally published in Vital Health on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Imagine owning a car and neglecting to maintain the engine. Shortsighted, right? Well, that’s the equivalence of neglecting your metabolic health. Yet it’s extremely common. According to one study, 88% of Americans have suboptimal metabolic health. With lower rates of obesity but higher rates of smoking, Europe has also seen a marked decline in metabolic health. Finally, recent studies from China have shown that widespread declines in metabolic health correlate with higher incidences of death due to Covid-19.

For a long time, metabolic health was defined as the absence of disease. But it is so much more than that. Optimized metabolic health is like an orchestra where every instrument plays in tune and on time. Blood pressure is like the percussion section. The strings and wind section consist of levels of glucose, triglycerides, and good cholesterol in the blood. Overall body proportion measurements are like the conductor. Metabolic health is like a symphonic balance among all the component parts.

Your metabolism breaks down the food you eat, the beverages you drink, and the air you breathe and turns that into energy. Most of this energy is spent on the less flashy functions of simply being alive: breathing, circulating blood, repairing cells, to name a few. The thyroid then regulates the rate of your metabolism with a complex set of hormones. These hormones then produce sensations of hunger and cravings and affect what foods you seek out and the process begins anew!

What affects your metabolic health?

• Firstly, genetics. Many are gifted with healthy metabolisms or cursed with metabolic disorders such as diabetes, anemia, and cystic fibrosis among many others.
• Secondly, demographics. Factors like age and sex affect the speed and quality of metabolic health.
• Thirdly, lifestyle. This last category is arguably most important since it’s the one you have control over. Diet, fitness, rest, and stress are important contributors to metabolic health. Nutritional content, frequency of meals, and even the temperature of what you consume can affect metabolic health along with frequency and type of exercise, length and quality of sleep, and many aspects of your mental health.

Without good metabolic health, all those salads you opted for will be less nutritious and those hours at the gym will be a waste. You will be at greater risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, or Covid-19. You may even experience cognitive decline.

But what does good metabolic health look like?

Most medical research is devoted to the study of diseases rather than the study of health optimization. This, despite the wide-ranging consequences of metabolic health. The closest research on health optimization identifies categories that correlate with good metabolic health. The study mentioned earlier found that women, younger people, nonsmokers, physical activity, and higher education levels correlated with greater metabolic health.

While research on metabolic health is helpful, it is not conclusive because everyone’s health is different. Medicine is starting to become personalized and so should your mindset. So the question becomes: What does good metabolic health look like for you?

Metabolic health looks like a lot of different things for a lot of different people. It’s important to consider your “bio-individuality.” In other words, observe yourself:

• When evaluating your blood sugar levels, monitor how your mood and energy levels shift throughout the day, how you feel after you eat, what do you crave, etc. For the most scientifically accurate measurement, consider wearing a glucose monitor to continually track your blood sugar levels throughout the day. Lifetizr makes analyzing your bio stats easy with their bespoke monitor and app.
• At-home tests for cholesterol and triglycerides are widely available but, so far, it does not seem that any kits offer continual tracking throughout the day and these levels may fluctuate.
• The other tools are far more old fashioned. A simple blood pressure cuff and measuring tape will do the trick.

Metabolic health affects every aspect of your life. It affects when you get up in the morning, your energy levels and cognition throughout the workday, your body temperature when you leave work, your fitness and appearance when you work out, your alcohol tolerance when you hit the bar, and even your mood throughout it all. At the intersection of mind and body, metabolic health is the gold standard for evaluating a person’s total health.

What is Metabolic Health? was originally published in Vital Health on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.