Functional Nutrition Tool: Blood Sugar Balance Done-4-You
Posted by Andrea Nakayama
No matter the presenting symptoms, blood sugar matters.
In fact, blood sugar balance is so critical to resolving any health issue, it’s part of what I call the Non-Negotiable Trifecta. (The other two factors are sleep and poop.)
To help you educate your clients on the importance of blood sugar balance, and why they need to pay attention to the foods that can disrupt this dynamic equilibrium, I shared our Functional Nutrition Alliance Carbohydrate Continuum. This is a great place to start your conversations about “sugars” and what they do in the body. Plus, you can put this sheet to use in your own practice and in your very next client session!
The Carbohydrate Continuum helps your clients understand what’s going on in their bodies. This is one of the key tools to patient-centered empowerment that I teach in our online nutrition immersion program, Full Body Systems. Most people that are not feeling well and are coming to you for support, likely don’t know how food affects their biology. They probably don’t know where their stomach is, let alone its importance in functions like digestion, protein breakdown and utilization, and iron and B12 status.
Yet this isn’t their fault. For the most part, nobody has taught us about our bodies. At least not in many decades and certainly not in relation to the ways in which the things we do every day (eat, sleep, move, think, drink, love) impact the way it functions!
When you close the Knowledge Gap, illuminating for your clients (at long last!) what’s going on in all the systems of their body, and how what they’re doing may not be in their best interest (and they didn’t even know!) you help them take a giant leap in their own empowerment. Closing the Knowledge Gap is also one of my top secrets to client compliance!
Once your clients understand what’s going on, and why they need to make changes, then it’s time for you to recommend what those changes should be.
I like to think of this as Symbiosis. It’s where the modifiable lifestyle factors meet physiology and the two shake hands. And despite what all the health and diet books, blogs and big shots say, one size never fits all. Taking a Functional approach means that we’re always paying heed to bioindividuality. We’re assessing each person’s needs, and making our recommendations based on their unique situation, both biologically and situationally. Step by step, tracking and pivoting as necessary.
This is true with blood sugar balance as well as every other health issue.
Blood Sugar Balance Done-4-You
There is never a formula that works for all patients with a particular sign, symptom or condition, there are key factors that help us to determine what to Recommend after we’ve done a proper Assessment.
In fact, when you know how each body system is connected to every other system, like a web of interactions, and you know how food meets physiology, you also know where to start and what to consider as an intervention that will truly make a difference in someone’s life and in their healing journey.
Our Blood Sugar Balance Done-4-You is such an important set of recommendations because it highlights the top things I’d consider in practice (and you should too!) for one of our Non-Negotiables!
As you work with this Blood Sugar Balance Done-4-You, remember to follow the Functional Nutrition Protocol — Assess, Recommend, and Track. This and all the other Done-4-Yous available to students of our nutrition immersion program are frameworks, not formulas. They’re things to consider along the way throughout your therapeutic partnership with your patient or client.
Functional Nutrition always works to uncover the unique root causes of each client’s symptoms. That’s why it functions well for every client, no matter their signs, symptoms, or diagnosis.
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Blood Sugar Matters
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