It is possible some of you have finished your sugar challenge, others may be starting or continuing for longer. If you are managing to keep your food consumption of sugar minimal and are sleeping well and exercising, a small glass of wine may not impact your body’s sugar balance as negatively as it did a week or so ago.
Alcohol isn´t good for our health for many reasons such as health of our liver and brain, but many of us do enjoy a drink with friends. If we are going to drink then some choices are better than others for our blood glucose levels.
Wine, spirits are the best options so long as they aren´t mixed with sweet things that increase the sugar load on the body. It is also possible to find sugar free versions and include those for a few weeks!
Very important!
If you do drink, ensure you do so with your food.
Alcohol is sugar so to manage blood sugar, the best time to enjoy alcohol or something sweet is after you´ve eaten some veggies (crudites and hummus/guacamole) or a meal with veggies/fibre, fat and protein. If you consume sugar on an empty stomach you send your system into a sugar spin riding on a high glucose and fructose spike!
If you do consume something on an empty stomach, use your muscles afterwards to they “eat up” the excess glucose as it arrives in your blood and then you reduce your glucose spike and the risk of weight gain and avoid an energy slump!
This works even better if you drink water mixed with some vinegar before you eat.
Image courtesy of glucose goddess