The chicken or the egg?….is your chronic stress leading to poor blood sugar control or is your fluctuating blood sugar leading to a stressed-out and inflamed body? No matter the root, you can manage your stress and your high or low blood sugar with a healthy lifestyle as practiced by our Paleo ancestors—get enough sleep, eat a nutrient-dense diet, move, and connect to nature and your tribe.

Hanger Management: Stop Getting Hangry with Blood Sugar Control

Your Sympathetic Nervous System May Be Triggering Your Hanger

Hanger is a clever word that arose for the need to describe that intense hunger that calls upon your emotions to get involved and demand that you eat immediately. When I’m hangry, my reactivity goes beyond the norm and I become embodied by the Tasmanian Devil, all reasoning flies out the door, and I’m ready to fight whoever comes between me and my next meal. To some degree, this affliction seems to affect a lot of us, especially women. But when you have system-wide dysregulation, the emotions that come with hanger can be overwhelming… and the Taz pays a visit.

Those of us that get overly hangry may have an exaggerated “fight”, “flight”, or “freeze” response.

So why do some of us get incredibly irritated when we haven’t eaten in a few hours and others are happily going on coffee and juice fasts? Those of us that get overly hangry may have an exaggerated “fight”, “flight”, or “freeze” response with our sympathetic nervous system kicking in too often. Our bodies have a well-designed system to combat acute stress, which gives us the ability to run from a predator or threat, stay and fight, or hide. However, in our modern world chronic stressors activate this system too often, which can tax us emotionally and physically and lead to system-wide dysregulation. We then may lose our ability to respond appropriately, by engaging our thinking part of the brain, and instead react with our lizard brain.

For me this system was kicking in way too often and my reactivity was out of control and even worse on days I exercised. I would go out and surf before dinner to have fun and relax, but would be picking a fight with my husband before dinner, interpreting everything he said as judgmental. His response would send me into a complete and utter tail-spin. First my “fight” response would kick-in and I would yell and slam doors. Then I would get so frustrated he couldn’t understand me, and my “flight” response would have me contemplate running out the door and living in the mountains alone. All these emotions would often end with me entering the “freeze” state where I would crawl in bed, cry, and disengage from the world.

HPA Axis Dysregulation the Syndrome Behind that Overreactive Sympathetic Nervous System

My exaggerated stress response was due to HPA axis dysregulation (HPA-D), which is a syndrome with a multitude of symptoms that occurs due to problems in the brain and central nervous system. In the past, this syndrome was incorrectly labeled as adrenal fatigue, but we know now that the brain and central nervous system are also involved. The adrenals are not necessarily “fatigued” or under-producing hormones such as cortisol. In many cases, people with this syndrome may actually have regular or even high levels of the stress hormone.

HPA-D has four main causes: perceived stress, circadian disruption, glycemic dysregulation, and inflammation. Often, more than one of these triggers may be occurring and disrupting our normal bodily functions. When we get hangry we may be triggered by both a dip in blood sugar and the perceived stress this brings. If we have HPA-D then we have a limited ability to regulate our blood sugar. Even if our blood sugar stays within a normal range, our body may perceive a drop as a real threat. Blood sugar dysregulation is a vicious cycle in that hypoglycemia can lead to HPA-D and vice versa.

Now that you know you are not alone and there is a real reason for your hanger, let me give you some tips on how to improve blood sugar control…

Steps to Prevent Getting Hangry

EAT PROTEIN!

One of the quickest ways to balance your blood sugar throughout the day is to eat some protein. You can increase your total protein intake to about 25% to 30% of your diet. Starting your day with a high protein meal of at least 30g can really help stabilize blood sugar throughout the day and provide sustained energy. This translates to a couple of eggs with a side of bacon or a couple of eggs and a protein shake (I like to use collagen powder). If you choose to just eat a bowl of cereal or a stack of pancakes and you are anything like me, then you may feel tired and hungry fairly quickly after you eat. I also try to include protein with all my meals and snacks. A good blood-sugar balancing snack could be a couple tablespoons of almond butter and half an apple or a hard-boiled egg and a banana.

FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE OF CARBOHYDRATES

Determining the right amount of carbohydrate intake for your body and activity level can really help support your mood and sleep. I am a fairly active person and while my body was under chronic stress from digestive issues and mold exposure, I found that increasing my carbohydrate intake reduced the likelihood that I would get hangry and have Taz make an appearance. It also helped prevent me from waking up in the middle of the night, which would turn into me lying in bed with my brain racing.

It is very popular to go on low carbohydrate or ketogenic diets for weight loss. For some people a lower carbohydrate diet may be effective for weight loss; however, for others it may actually be harmful. There are a few considerations that should be made to help you determine how much carbohydrate to include in your diet.

-Reflect on your exercise

A lower carbohydrate diet (<15% total calories) may work for you if you are fairly sedentary and may help balance blood sugar and improve weight loss. If you exercise, but participate in strictly aerobic activities such as running, then you may also be able to stick to lower carbohydrates and even adapt to a ketogenic diet. However, if you are fairly active and participate in high-intensity exercises or strength training, such as cross-fit, basketball, surfing, etc., then a lower carbohydrate diet may put stress on your body and can actually prevent weight loss. Make sure you are not accidentally on a low carb diet, which can often happen with health-conscious people who are not eating processed food or a lot of grains.

-Test your blood sugar

If you are planning on reducing your carbohydrate intake due to blood sugar imbalances, then you can test your blood sugar after you eat a meal with carbohydrates to dial-in the appropriate amount. You will want to make sure that your blood sugar is <140 mg/dl an hour after a meal and <120 mg/dl 2 hours after a meal.

-Support your hormones

For women on a lower carbohydrate diet, boosting carbohydrates the week before your period can help balance hormones throughout the rest of the month. The week before your period, the body creates a lot of hormones, including estrogen and thyroid hormone. This is also the time when you might start craving more carbs. So listen to your body! Also, not eating enough carbs may make us feel deprived and will affect our neurotransmitters and mood.

-Consider other health conditions

You also will want to consider eating a moderate carbohydrate diet (15 to 30% of total calories), if you have HPA-D or hypothyroidism. The increase in carbs may improve sleep, mood, and stop you from feeling so hangry! You will want to consider eating a high carbohydrate diet (>30%) if you have a fast metabolism or if you are very active.

There are other health conditions that may benefit from a lower carbohydrate intake such as neurological disorders or digestive disorders. Be sure to talk with a health care professional if you have one condition that may benefit from a low carbohydrate diet but some other reason why a moderate carbohydrate regimen may be warranted. They can assist you in figuring out the best diet for you and how to monitor your symptoms, such as mood and sleep, to adjust your carbohydrate intake.

FIGURE OUT FOOD SPACING

For those with high blood sugar, fasting intermittently (for example, skipping breakfast) and avoiding snacking can improve blood sugar balance. But for those of us that get hangry with low blood sugar, skipping meals can create stress on the body. For these folks, it is best to eat within 30 minutes of waking and every three to four hours. When I skip a meal, I not only get hangry but can also get dizzy or foggy-headed. Listen to your body for these signs and symptoms that can alert you to grab a snack. I like to carry food with me to make sure I don’t get stuck somewhere without a healthy option to eat. In addition, for those with hypoglycemia, adding a snack before bed can help prevent waking up in the middle of the night.

As your blood sugar improves you will want to increase the spacing between meals to at least four hours, which is better for those with digestive disorders and allows the body to clean out the small intestine of bacteria and yeast. Also, once sleep has improved, removing the snack before bed can allow a window of fasting between dinner and breakfast, which can help the body with maintenance activities and improve the gut microbiome.

GET PLENTY OF SLEEP

Poor sleep can result in bad blood sugar control. Even one night of sleep deprivation can cause insulin resistance the following day. So, don’t sacrifice sleep for Netflix. Make sleep a priority! You can improve sleep quality and reduce waking by practicing sleep hygiene, which helps improve melatonin production and maintain normal circadian rhythms. In the morning, get outside in natural light and after sunset minimize blue light (you can purchase inexpensive blue-blocker glasses). And when you are sleeping use blackout shades or wear an eye mask.

INCORPORATE MOVEMENT

For good blood sugar control you want to make sure you are moving during the day. A combination of aerobic and strength training exercise is great! But just getting off your butt and doing simple things like walking or using a stand-up desk at work can be beneficial.

REDUCE STRESS!

Too much stress can cause inflammation and worsen blood sugar control. Figure out how to reduce stress in your life and manage or reframe that stress that you cannot control. Think about adding some time into your busy schedule for relaxation (i.e. massage, breathing exercises, or meditation), fun, and connection with friends, family, or a pet.

PRACTICE GOOD GUT HEALTH

A poor gut microbiome may contribute to bad blood sugar control. You can work to improve your gut health by eating fermented foods or supplement with probiotics. You can also increase the amount of fermentable fibers in your diet by eating more veggies; these will help feed your good gut bacteria. Resistance starch is also great for improving gut health and insulin sensitivity and is found in potatoes and sweet potatoes (cooked and cooled), unripe bananas, and green plantains.