Blood sugar imbalance has short- and long-term effects on the body. When blood sugar is well-controlled, we have better control over energy, mood, cravings, weight, and overall performance.
In the short term, poorly controlled blood sugar levels can cause brain fog and low energy, and make us feel grumpy. Over time, out-of-control blood sugar can lead to prediabetes, Type II diabetes, and many of the health complications associated with diabetic conditions.
There’s a lot of information and lifestyle advice about treating and preventing diabetic conditions. Upon being diagnosed with prediabetes or Type II diabetes, trying to understand this information can be overwhelming. Between testing, monitoring, taking medications, and measuring food intake—and timing it all—there’s a lot to manage. It may even be hard to imagine how to carry on with regular life while learning the ins and outs of dealing with this new diagnosis.
Regardless of where we are in managing blood sugar, there are simple, affordable things we can do to help to improve the situation. Whether we’re just starting to notice symptoms of high or low blood sugar levels, or we have been managing a diabetes diagnosis for many years, some common herbs and spices can help to keep us in balance.
Multiple studies have shown there are safe, simple, and inexpensive herbs and spices that can help to keep blood sugar balanced. We all need to maintain blood sugar levels or blood glucose levels between 70 milligrams per deciliter and 140 mg/dl. The pancreas produces hormones that regulate blood sugar so that the brain and body receive the right amount of glucose to perform properly. Adding simple, inexpensive herbs and spices can support the function of organs, the digestive system, and the pancreas.
Blood sugar imbalance can be either high blood glucose levels known as hyperglycemia or low blood glucose levels known as hypoglycemia. While each of us may experience these sensations a little differently, common symptoms include headaches, blurred vision, weakness, fatigue, irritability, and brain fog. Other telltale signs of hyperglycemia are increased thirst and frequent urination.
Throughout the day, as we consume foods and beverages, our blood sugar levels change and adapt to our needs. Keeping blood sugar in balance allows the body to perform more efficiently. Although there’s a myriad of information and sometimes conflicting advice out there about maintaining blood sugar balance, there are five universal gold nuggets throughout the information that appear to be true:
Including strategic herbs and spices in our daily routines can have positive effects on each of these strategies for blood sugar control.
Some of us may have a predisposition to blood sugar imbalance or underlying health conditions that make managing blood sugar levels more difficult.
Lifestyle, activity, and diet also often play a large role in the ability to maintain blood sugar balance. Even the environment can have a profound effect on our blood sugar levels.
While not all of these factors are within our control, every positive step may benefit blood sugar levels.
Cutting down on fast food or limiting highly processed foods is something we can do to help ourselves with blood sugar control.
Learning ways to manage stress is another example.
Staying active during the day not only helps control blood sugar levels, but also contributes to better sleep quality. Better sleep is known to improve blood sugar balance.
Adding herbs and spices that promote a blood sugar balance to a daily routine is a simple, safe, and affordable tactic that almost anyone can benefit from.
Cinnamon is a useful and delicious culinary spice that comes from the bark of cinnamon trees. Most of us probably have cinnamon in our spice cupboards, even though we may not use it regularly.
Warm and sweet, cinnamon is sometimes associated with holiday baking. It can easily be incorporated into the diet by simply sprinkling it on foods, adding it to beverages, or mixing it into spreads such as honey or jam.
Medicinally it has been used for thousands of years and is known in some circles as the healthiest spice. Over the past 20 years or so, research into its bioactive compounds and their effects on blood sugar levels have demonstrated several antidiabetic properties. Cinnamon has phytochemical compounds that have anti-inflammatory properties. The polyphenols in cinnamon have shown antioxidant activity.
Cinnamon Constituents and Healing Activity—Evidence-Based Research
Evidence continues to demonstrate that cinnamon and its bioactive compounds and biological activity exert beneficial effects on blood sugar levels.
Cinnamon shows an ability to regulate glucose metabolism in tissues that mimics the effects of insulin. In assessing the research, 16 randomized controlled studies showed that cinnamon significantly reduced fasting blood glucose and insulin resistance.
With cinnamon, a little goes a long way. A pinch here and there throughout the day may be enough to stabilize blood sugar levels. Cinnamon supplements are available. It has also shown long-lasting effects of up to 12 hours.
Including cinnamon in a morning routine can help to keep blood sugar levels stable throughout the day. A simple pinch in your morning tea or coffee, a sprinkle on toast, cereal, or oatmeal, or a dash in a breakfast smoothie is often enough.
Again, a small amount in the evening may help to balance blood sugars overnight. A pinch in an evening beverage or dusting on some fruit will not only taste wonderfully warm, but it may also keep your glucose levels even.
As with all good things, too much over long periods might be less helpful. Although a very safe food in low quantities, avoid taking more than a teaspoon of cinnamon daily, as high doses can have negative effects.
Cinnamon, especially Cassia cinnamon, can act as a blood thinner, so consult your doctor if you’re taking blood thinner medications.
Ginger, or Zingiber officinale, is one of the most popular and widely consumed spices in the world.
It grows as a rhizomatous plant in tropical regions. The bright, hot flavor of ginger is used in many cuisines and styles of cooking. Ginger can be found in most grocery stores and health food stores as fresh roots and dry powder, as well as candied ginger. Look for organic ginger products when available.
Historically, ginger has been used as an herbal medicinal remedy for a variety of health issues such as vertigo, nausea, and vomiting. It aids in digestion and constipation. Ginger also has anti-cancer, anti-clotting, anti-oxidative, and anti-inflammatory actions.
The long list of potentially bioactive substances in ginger has been shown to possess anti-diabetic activity as well. The constituents of ginger that are bioactive phytochemicals are gingerol, shogaol, zingerone, and paradol. Ginger also contains volatile oils including sesquiterpenes, which are known for combating disease in humans. Some of the sesquiterpenes in ginger are beta-bisabolene, zingiberene, and monoterpenes.
Ginger Constituents and Healing Activity—Evidence-Based Research
Due to the long historical pharmacological use and extensive bioactive compounds, ginger continues to be investigated for its effects on blood sugar. A study on ginger conducted in 2015 showed a significant reduction in fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c, as well as other lipid proteins.
The participants received just 2 grams per day of a ginger powder supplement, which is less than half a teaspoon. With the improvement of fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c, the study found that oral administration of ginger powder supplements has a role in alleviating the risk of chronic complications from diabetes.
Since ginger is delicious and easy to find, including it in a blood sugar-friendly routine is inexpensive and safe, and provides many benefits.
The complementary flavors of ginger work well in both sweet and savory dishes.
Fresh ginger pairs beautifully with garlic, a potent medicinal food as well. For convenience, a batch of raw, fresh ginger, with or without garlic, can be blended in a food processor and stored in a jar in the freezer. It’s then fresh and ready to add to soups, salad dressings, pilafs, marinades, smoothies, and beverages.
Fresh or dried ginger can be added to a favorite tea for its warm, spicy flavor and blood sugar-balancing actions. A soothing warm drink, ginger and lemon are delicious together served hot or cold.
The long historical use of dandelion goes back centuries. This medicinal herb grows from the tropics to cool highlands and can withstand both drought and frost.
Dandelion is used within ethnopharmacology and traditional folk medicines throughout the world, including in Europe, Russia, India, and China. A rich source of micronutrients, minerals, and vitamins, dandelion is often consumed as food. It’s wild harvested and cultivated in many parts of the world to this day. Currently, it’s predominantly produced in the eastern European countries of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Poland.
In the search for alternative and inexpensive medicines for the tremendous rise in Type II diabetes, dandelion may provide a compelling solution.
Rich in a variety of anti-diabetic properties and bioactive components, dandelion is also abundant, easy to grow, and widely available in several areas around the world. The pharmacological uses of dandelion may treat a wide variety of issues.
In balancing blood sugar levels for the treatment and prevention of Type II diabetes, the bioactive components of dandelion are compelling. These include high quantities of chicoric acid, taraxasterol, chlorogenic acid, and sesquiterpene lactones.
Dandelion Constituents and Healing Activity—Evidence-Based Research
A large review of the physiological effects of dandelion has demonstrated a series of anti-diabetic effects.
Along with the nutritive and medicinal actions of dandelion, the bioactive components in dandelion have normalizing effects on blood sugar. These pharmacological actions are due to components such as sesquiterpene lactones, chicoric acid, taraxasterol, phenols, phenolic acids, and flavonoids.
Ongoing investigations are being explored into the potential mechanisms of these chemical components and their effects on blood sugar balance.
While most of us know dandelion as a detested turf and garden weed, each part of the plant has compelling medicinal uses.
Young leaves in spring are tasty in salads or used as a cooked green. Flowers in late spring and summer are surprisingly fragrant and make a lovely tea or salad garnish. Roots are bitter and best harvested in early fall.
Scrub the roots well. They’re quite pleasing when roasted and used in hot beverages, and are commonly used as a non-caffeinated coffee substitute. Alternatively, they can be chopped and dried for use in herbal teas or tonics. They can be used in decoctions, boiled rather than steeped like tea, to further extract their medicinal properties.
Harvest dandelions from areas known to be free of toxins, herbicides, and pesticides. While this plant may grow rampantly in lawns, ditches, fields, and fallow ground, source your dandelions from clean places. This will improve the quality of the recipes you make with dandelion.
If a clean, toxic-free area isn’t available to you, you might source organic dandelion from health food stores or online stores. Alternatively, you might grow your own, as the plant is incredibly easy to grow, even in a pot. Provide clean soil free of toxins. Dandelions grow easily from seeds. Even a small piece of root will propagate new dandelion plants.
A great way to start the day, this tonic can be made in small or large quantities. The recipe includes apple cider vinegar, which also has evidence of balancing blood sugar levels. Using this recipe may result in better control over energy, mood, cravings, weight, and overall performance.
Not only does this recipe incorporate many blood sugar-balancing herbs and spices, but it’s also hydrating. The inspiration for the recipe is from a traditional switchel. Switchel is a refreshing ginger-infused beverage that helps to replenish electrolytes and balance blood sugar levels.
We make this blood sugar-balancing tonic by decocting, or hard-boiling, the spices instead of simply steeping the ingredients like you would in making tea. The benefit of boiling the spices is that it extracts more flavor and beneficial compounds from the ingredients.
Other optional flavorful healing herbs and spices to add:
Place water and ingredients into a pot on the stove. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat. Let sit for 10 minutes. Strain ingredients. Add one-half to a full tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.
Enjoy first thing in the morning or throughout the day. It may contribute to improved energy, mood, cravings, weight, and overall performance.
Initially, you may wish to use half a tablespoon or less of apple cider vinegar, especially if you don’t use this ingredient often. This may be a surprisingly powerful tonic for some people. When possible, try this recipe on a quiet day when you don’t need to be out and about. Sensitive people may want to stay close to a bathroom.
Always consult your medical health team before commencing new herbal medicines. This is particularly important if you take medications. Some herbs may be contraindicated with certain medications. Talk to a health care professional about your medications and herbal interactions.