Can You Stress Your Way Into Diabetes?

Stressed out and feeling like it's taking a toll on more than just your mood? You aren't wrong!  In this episode of Blasphemous Nutrition, you'll find out how being stressed all the time messes with your sugar control, and may even hike up your risk of diabetes. It's a two-way street where stress affects blood sugar, and erratic blood sugar can ramp up stress—a vicious cycle that we need to break.

Aimee unpacks the body's physiological responses to stress, including the roles of cortisol and adrenaline in blood sugar balance. She also explores how stress can pave the way to insulin resistance. This episode isn't just a dive into the science; it's packed with practical strategies to help you put a dent in your stress and its impact on your blood sugar. From the power of social support and the necessity of quality sleep to the benefits of regular physical activity, Aimee has you covered with ideas to sustainably reclaim more time to combat the impact of stress in your life. Tune in to discover how to keep your stress and blood sugar levels in check and maintain your overall health!

Key Takeaways:

• Chronic stress can disrupt blood sugar regulation and increase the risk of insulin resistance, potentially leading to diabetes.
• Fluctuations in blood sugar levels can impact stress responses and emotional well-being, creating a feedback loop between stress and blood sugar.
• Practical strategies such as meditation, physical activity, adequate sleep, and social support can help mitigate the negative effects of stress on blood sugar levels.
• Building and nurturing supportive relationships, engaging in joyful activities, and maintaining a balanced diet play crucial roles in managing stress and promoting stable blood sugar levels.
• Addressing stress and blood sugar regulation is essential for overall health and well-being, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to health management.

Resources:

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Work with Aimee

Photography by: Dai Ross Photography

Podcast Cover Art: Lilly Kate Creative

Find Research Citations and Transcript at Blasphemous Nutrition on Substack

Work with Aimee

Photography by: Dai Ross Photography

Podcast Cover Art: Lilly Kate Creative

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Transcript

MacBook Air Microphone 0:00

So we've all had this situation. Before. That feeling when. You spill your coffee while you're stuck in traffic, you're already late for work. And then when you finally arrive. You realize you've got more tasks on your to-do list that day than you expected. Situations like this often lead to one predominant feeling. Uh, stress. It's that tightness in your stomach, those racing thoughts and that overwhelming sense of pressure that just kind of makes you want to throw in the towel. But beyond the immediate, emotional and psychological effects of stress. There is something else happening beneath the surface. And that's our physical response to stress. We've long known that high levels of chronic stress increase our blood pressure. However, chronic stress also has pretty significant implications for your blood sugar levels as well. And today's episode, I'm going to explore the dynamics between stress and blood sugar levels. And share with you some of the mechanisms behind stress induced changes that increase our glucose levels and this dynamic back and forth between high blood sugar and stress. But more importantly, I'll also share with you some practical strategies to mitigate this connection in order to preserve our health and longevity. It's always my goal to empower you with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the contradictory and confusing world of health and nutrition with more confidence. And I hope today's episode does just that. Now let's get started.

1:50

Hey Rebels, welcome to Blasphemous Nutrition. Consider this podcast your pantry full of clarity, perspective, and the nuance needed to counter the superficial health advice so freely given on the internet. I'm Amy, the unapologetically candid host of Blasphemous Nutrition and a double degreed nutritionist with 20 years experience. I'm here to share a more nuanced take. On living and eating well to sustain and recover your health. If you've found most health advice to be so generic as to be meaningless, We're so extreme that it's unrealistic, and you don't mind the occasional F bomb. You've come to the right place. From dissecting the latest nutrition trends to breaking down published research and sharing my own clinical experiences, I'm on a mission to foster clarity amidst all the confusion and empower you to have the health you need to live a life you love. Now let's get started.

MacBook Air Microphone 2:49

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to blast Ms. Nutrition. So today I'm talking about stress and blood sugar, which is this nasty vicious cycle that I think actually plays a more significant role in the development of diabetes in the Western industrialized world than we give credit for. When stress strikes our body's released this cascade of physiological responses that are designed to help us cope with threats and challenges. Historically, this would have been. Fights right. An incoming tribe. That's coming to attack you or your family, or the need to hunt and chase down prey or the need to flee from an oncoming mammoth. At the forefront of this stress response are key stress, hormones, cortisol, and adrenaline. Now, these hormones are often referred to as the body's fight or flight messengers, and they mobilize resources to fuel our immediate response to stress. Cortisol in particular plays a central role in regulating our blood sugar levels by promoting what is called gluco neogenesis or the process where the liver actually creates glucose. From non glucose sources like amino acids and fats, and then there's glycogenolysis, which is the breakdown of stored glycogen into glucose for energy. The energy that is then provided by the liver creating glucose ensures that we can move quickly and have the energy for sustained battles. So as a result when our stress hormones, surge, so to can our blood sugar levels. And this gives us that energy needed to tackle the perceived threat head on. And while this response is so beneficial in the short term, chronic or persistent stress can disrupt our blood sugar regulation resulting in a multitude of negative health impacts over time. One of these consequences is the development of insulin resistance, which is when our cells become less responsive to the effect of insulin. You may remember that insulin is a storage hormone, right? And it is responsible for storing amino acids, which are the precursors of protein into the cells. It's responsible for storing glucose into the cells. And it plays a role in storing fat into the stills as well. It is a storage hormone. And it brings glucose into the cells from the bloodstream so that the cells have that energy. To use. However over time, insulin resistance can lead to chronically elevated blood sugar levels because the cells. Become unable to take in additional glucose. This can happen because the cells are already stuffed full of glucose and there was no room. It also happens because of some of the downstream impact of insulin resistance is an alteration of the receptor on the cell where insulin just doesn't quite fit in as well as it used to. So there's a mechanistic component at play as well. And this is how insulin resistance. Eventually leads to elevated glucose that cannot come down without significant dietary changes. And sometimes medication. Chronic insulin resistance increases the risk of type two diabetes as well as other metabolic disorders. So we see how stress influence our blood sugar levels, but it's really crucial to recognize that that relationship works both ways. Fluctuations in our blood sugar levels can profoundly impact our mood and our ability to respond to stressors, creating this feedback loop that further exacerbates our psychological and physiological response to stress. One important aspect to consider is hypoglycemia. And this is a condition characterized by low blood sugar levels. That can happen if your body has difficulty. Bringing blood sugar levels up to kind of a balanced place. It can also happen in response to certain foods where you have a glucose spike. And then it crashes down very low. And when blood sugar levels drop too low, it can lead to a range of symptoms like irritability, anxiety. Mental confusion and even heart palpitations that feel like an anxiety attack. These symptoms are a direct result of the brain's reliance on glucose as its primary energy source. When our glucose levels fall, the lowest certain threshold, the brain struggles to function optimally. Which then leads to emotional and cognitive disruptions. Additionally having like unstable or erratic blood sugar levels where there's highs and lows throughout the day, kind of like going on the most insane roller coaster at an amusement park. Also contributes to heightened reactions to stress. When we have a lot of highs and lows. It itself is a stressor on the body. Our body does not like extremes. It wants things to be kind of chill. Right. And if it needs to have an extreme response, It will totally do its best to meet the task, but like most of us. It doesn't prefer to hang out in that space all the time. Research suggests that individuals who have unstable blood sugar levels have greater emotional volatility as well as a reduced ability to cope with the stresses that they do have effectively. And so. This experience of unstable blood sugar, leading to well, unstable emotions, right? Or difficulty managing your emotions. Can be attributed to the body's reliance on having stable blood sugar levels. So that it can maintain optimal brain function and better regulate mood. So the impact of our blood sugar levels on our stress response and our stress response on blood sugar levels is like a back and forth conversation. Justice stress disrupts our blood sugar regulation. Fluctuations in blood sugar levels also intensify our physiological and emotional response to stress. So the question at hand is can you actually stress your way into diabetes? There is some research suggesting that, dysregulated, cortisol levels, especially high levels of evening cortisol. May increase the likelihood of high levels of glucose and subsequently a higher risk for diabetes. Now, given the impact of longterm stress on cortisol and cortisol's impact on glucose and gluconeogenesis, it is really easy to see this association, but we don't want to leap to conclusions. There is not yet actually very strong evidence supporting a direct link between stress levels and future diabetes. But there are studies. Among highly stressed college students. Workers who, um, Self report, having high jobs strain. As well as disaster relief workers suggesting that this association warrants a closer look. There was a study done with 700 Thai college students. And it showed that those who were at risk for type two diabetes, and this was based on an assessment tool. Like, you know, what's your BMI? Do you have a family history of diabetes? What's your age? What's your gender, right. Things like that. Individuals who scored high on that assessment concurrently. Also reported higher degrees of psychological stress. They also measured with higher pulse rates and a lower HRV status. Of those 700 participants in the study, half of them did have a higher risk of diabetes and half of them did not. But within those groups, Nearly 60% of those who had high risk for diabetes. Who had high risk for diabetes also reported high levels of stress in the group that had low risk for diabetes, slightly less than 14% reported, high levels of stress. And the researchers analyze this group a little closer. And revealed a nine fold association between high levels of stress and increased diabetes risk. Or an odds ratio of 9.32. For those of you who look at research, An older analysis done in 2014 that was published in diabetes care. Took a look at data from nearly 125,000 Europeans with self-reported jobs strain. And this analysis showed a really modest increase of about 15% greater diagnoses of diabetes after 10 years among those who had high jobs strain versus those who did not. And in this study, they did take into account several variables, like physical activity, whether or not these were shift workers, right? Because shift work is definitely a variable that puts a lot of physical stress on the body and has its own. Issues. So they wanted to exclude that as a factor, right. They also took a look at socioeconomic status, which we know increases the risk of chronic disease. And so all of these were taken into account to exclude those factors that could muddy the waters. And once those factors were excluded at the end of the day. They saw a 15% increase in. Having a diabetes diagnosis, right? So this wasn't risk, this was actually 15% more of those who reported high job strain ended up with diabetes compared to those who did not. So. 15% is like, you know, that's not terribly impressive, right. As far as numbers go, but it is a signal. There's something there. And how I would interpret that study is I would take a look at. Perhaps someone who did have jobs, strain, and then look at other factors as well. Like their individual risk. What is their personal health history? What is their family history of diabetes? Do they belong to a genetic subgroup that has higher risk for diabetes? Like African-American or the Latino population? And these can impact. Whether or not one might want to start taking action immediately to mitigate that. And I'm quoting here. 15% risk, right. It is worth noting that. Research published in diabetes care did look at Europeans and Europeans do not have as high a risk of diabetes as African Americans, American Indians, a Latino population. Or the Asian population. So again, it may be higher in different. Genetic demographics then revealed in this study. But we can see between these two studies that high stress levels do increase the risk markers for diabetes, but the degree to which it actually then becomes diabetes. We don't quite know. Right. There's a lot of unknowns at play. Regarding how this is all gonna pan out. And, regardless of what the research suggests about direct association, we cannot dismiss that behavior changes under stress can also. Increase. The risk of developing diabetes, completely independent of the stress itself. For instance, if under stress you smoke, that's going to increase your risk of developing diabetes due to the oxidative damage of smoking. If under stress, you lean on sugar or alcohol to cope that is going to increase the risk of you developing diabetes. So. And this is a limitation of all research, right? Is research. Most of the time looks at one variable. Independent of everything else. But humans don't live in a one variable kind of world. Right? If you have high stress, Whatever degree that increases your risk of diabetes also needs to take into consideration the other things that you do in your life that may increase your risk or decrease your risk, like physical activity and stress reduction, which I'm going to talk about here in a minute. Aside from responding to stress with increased alcohol consumption or emotional eating, lack of sleep. Which in and of itself may be due to elevated cortisol levels. Also disrupts glucose regulation and lack of sleep itself is a high stress upon the body and strongly correlated with an increased risk of diabetes. Moderate to severe sleep apnea is also an independent risk factor for diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease. And it has to be considered as part of one's overall risk assessment. Additionally, some people do notice a strong correlation between chronic stress and weight gain. And those who have higher percentages of body fat are also often at higher risk of developing diabetes than those who have more healthy levels of body fat. So stress of course is implicated in high blood pressure as well as inflammation and both of those exacerbate diabetes risk. So the research on all of this is thus far. Pretty incomplete and with mixed results. So we definitely can't walk around saying that stress increases your risk of developing diabetes by X percent. But it isn't unreasonable to consider the role of stress in your life, alongside your family history and your personal health history. To make some decisions as to whether or not you feel that the stress in your life is an additional personal risk factor for you. Evidence is stronger that those who already have diabetes have a much more difficult time controlling their blood sugar levels. One they're under high degrees of stress. And this makes stress management a crucial part of their overall health care plan. I see this clinically as well. My clients with diabetes will come back and report that, you know, they had a stressful incident at work, or there was a, an argument with a family member. And if they're wearing a continuous glucose monitor, they can see the results of that stress showing up on there. Glucometer reading on the CGM, which is pretty amazing, right. One of the things I do love about CGMs, despite some of the limitations that they have is they do tend to make us more aware of the things in our life that are having a negative impact in our body. And there are things. Independent of what we eat that can impact our blood sugar levels. So it goes without saying that managing stress and maintaining stable blood sugar is essential for overall health and wellbeing. And there are a number of practical strategies that you can incorporate into your daily routine to help build resilience to stress and kind of. Balance the scales a little bit, so that the stress that you do have. Does not have as strong an impact on you as it may currently be having. It goes without saying, and I apologize for being like everybody else on the internet, but it goes without saying to prioritize your stress reduction techniques, whatever that looks like for you, because this will have a significant impact on not only your emotional perceptions of stress, but also your physiological reaction to stress. Meditation, deep breathing exercises, right? Mindfulness practices. These help calm the mind. They help promote relaxation and reduce our body's stress response. I really struggle with all of those, to be honest, I'm. A not quite recovering sort of type a person. And anything that requires me to sit and be calm. Honestly. Tends to create more agitation than relaxation. So for me, one of my stress reduction techniques that also has significant data supporting it is regular physical activity. This has been shown to be an effective way to combat stress and. Physical activity releases endorphins. Even if you don't get the runner's high that everybody's chasing, it does release endorphins and promotes a sense of wellbeing. So you want to aim for. About 30 minutes of movement, most days of the week to get that benefit. For both your mind and your body. You can break this up into three, 10 minute breaks if you need to, because I know there are some people out there who do not see a way to fit in. 30 minutes of movement in their day. If that is you break it up into 10 minute bouts. And just start today with 10 minutes, you can get up and leave right now and go for a walk while you're listening to this podcast as part of your first 10 minutes for the day. Or your last 10 minutes of the day, and then look for additional opportunities to get 10 more minutes and then 10 more minutes. I often recommend this to my clients who are stuck behind a computer for way too many hours in the day. Because even that moment of getting up and instead of going in the kitchen to get a snack or going into the break room to get something to eat, instead of doing that, getting up and leaving the space and going for a walk as a substitute offers that same mental break. And gives us also a much better physical release from the stress then eating often does. Especially in the longterm. Also don't underestimate the power of adequate sleep and managing our stress and our blood sugar levels. There's research showing that even one night of disrupted sleep in healthy men, disrupts their body's ability to regulate blood sugar as effectively the following day. So it's a pretty instantaneous response. That the body has in struggling to maintain balance. If we lose out on sleep. You want to aim for seven to nine hours of quality sleep each night in order to support that optimal functioning on both a physical level and a mental level. And if you know, you're not sleeping well, it is important., perhaps one of the most important things that you can do. Address your sleep hygiene. Your sleep habits, right. And get on a sleep routine. And get on a consistent schedule to support healthy sleep. If you do get enough hours of sleep, but you wake up feeling unrested and you're still struggling with energy throughout the day, it may be worth getting a sleep study done to rule out apnea. And these days you can get an in-home sleep study and there are also companies that offer direct consumer options that you can look into. If you don't have a PCP to get a referral to a sleep study or the weight to get a sleep study is multiple months. And you want to address this sooner rather than later. Another important thing to do is to make time for activities that bring you joy and connection. And I don't know if it's all the pervasive self care memes on the internet in the last decade, but I often find suggestions like reduce your stress levels by self care. To feel like, put this other thing on your to-do list and it just kind of rubs me the wrong way. And again, maybe it's because the usual suggestions like yoga and meditation don't work well for me, but they work really well for my husband. And like flossing meditation feels like a chore that I am supposed to add into an already hectic day. So I most often utilize stress reduction by going to sleep early, by going for a walk and by my regular running and weightlifting routine. But even more gratifying than these, I schedule joy and connection that I include in my life on a regular basis. Rather than focusing on what is going to relax me. So. Mentally, it feels very different. I'm looking for joy. I'm planning, joy, I'm planning, connection with friends. Instead of put something, you know, This is how I perceive it. Right. Put something on the to-do list to relax, Amy. Um, it just feels more fun, I guess, to schedule that joy. And that can look like. Spending time with your loved ones. For instance, in our home, we have irregular Friday night, movie night, that is pretty standard and inflexible. We do everything we can to make that movie night. It's our family time together. And it's how we. End the week on a connecting note of joy. Also pursuing any hobbies that you have picking up hobbies that you've left off, maybe because of COVID or because of a change in your lifestyle, resurrecting those hobbies and making a recommitment to them is one way that you can pursue your joy. Or simply taking a leisurely walk outside, whatever activities that you can engage in that nourish your soul will help counteract the impact of stress in your life and promote. Just a better quality of life. If you're like me framing the addition of these stress busting activities as ones that give you joy and satisfaction instead of reducing stress. Might actually open your brain up to more possibilities than all those generic suggestions found on the internet and even the somewhat generic suggestions that I'm making here today. If you do struggle to make time for yourself. It's really important to remember, and I'm going to remind you, and I know you already know this. Self-care is not selfish. It's mandatory. You have got to preserve yourself and take care of yourself. If you are going to maintain the resilience and vitality that you need in the face of the challenges of your life. You want to be the one to choose when you recharge not be forced to do so because you have a health crisis and you're forced on medical leave. Don't let it get to that. Obviously being who I am. I can't end this episode without discussing a balanced diet. So you want to pay attention of course, to. Eating foods that support a balanced blood sugar, as well as pay attention to the timing of your meals. Focus on incorporating a variety of nutrient dense foods, prioritizing protein and produce. In addition to those healthy fats and carbohydrates to your personal tolerance level. Avoid skipping meals doing this can lead to those dips in blood sugar. That hypoglycemia that makes us irritable and less. Able to withstand the stressors of our day. And aim for consistent meals and snacks. If you need them to keep your blood sugar and energy levels steady. If your blood sugar tends to run high. Implementing a dietary plan to lower blood sugar is going to be crucial for you. In the show notes, you will find a link to blood sugar, balancing breakfast and lunch ideas that I've created to help you get your day off to a good start. And you can download those. No cost as a thank you for listening to blasphemous nutrition. I also want to discuss the role of social support in stress and blood sugar management. Our social support networks play. A pivotal role in both stress management and blood sugar control. And they serve as a cornerstone to our overall wellbeing. There are multitudes of studies out there highlighting the beneficial effect of social connections on reducing stress levels, improving blood sugar regulation and promoting longevity overall. While the dietary habits of those blue zone communities are believed contributors to longevity. There are more current opinions suggesting that the community of those blue zones, the meaningfulness that elders in those communities have in their lives are just as strong a predictor to them living to a hundred and beyond as what they're eating. When we feel supported and connected to other human beings, we're just better equipped to cope with the challenges of life. And are better able to navigate stressful situations more effectively. Emotional support from others helps buffer against the negative effects of those stress hormones on our blood sugar levels and contributes then to greater stability and balance on a mental plane as well as a physical plane. Conversely feelings of loneliness, as well as social isolation have been associated with increased levels and poor blood sugar management. I'm just going to say 2020. And leave it at that. Without a strong support system in place. Individuals may struggle to cope with stressors and that struggling to cope. Then promotes the dysregulation of blood sugar, right? The increased risk of metabolic disorders. And we saw an explosion. Of diabetes diagnoses during and after the pandemic. And yes, there was this lack of access to care, but I think also the social isolation, the loneliness, the stress of the pandemic itself. Was a significant contributor to this increased disease risk. There was a really interesting study. I found that was conducted in Japan that highlighted the profound impact of our emotions on our ability to regulate our blood sugar. In this study participants watched a funny movie before eating. And they exhibited up. Healthier insulin response compared to the control group that did not watch a funny movie. So this finding suggests that the emotional state in which we consume food. Might influence our bodies. Physiological response to glucose and its ability to utilize that glucose and put it into the cells. And that highlights the importance of managing stress and cultivating positive emotions, especially during mealtime. It's really a call to action to at the very least step away from the stressful computer screen, social media, right work. When you're eating your meals to allow your body to get into a more sympathetic, nervous system, calm, relaxed state while you're eating your lunch so that your body has a better ability to. Integrate that meal, and use the components of that meal. In service of your health. So. If you're like many people building and nurturing, supportive relationships feels like a big. Task and a little overwhelming, particularly if you've spent the last several years, very busy working, raising a family. Prioritizing those urgent tasks of adulthood, But it's never too late to rekindle former friendships and. Start to create some new ones. Make an effort to maintain regular contact with the people that you have found most supportive in your life. Whether that's through a phone call, a video chat or heaven forbid actually meeting in person. When you are with them. Do not end the call or the visit without scheduling another one. And this allows us to more consistently maintain those connections. I always do my best, never to end a meeting with a friend or a phone call with someone that I am in touch with, who lives far away from me without scheduling a follow-up because if I don't do that, Our lives are so busy. I may not see them or talk to them for a year or more. And that's just absurd. Especially if we live in the same town and they mean something to me. Right. So that's one of the things that I do to make the extra effort to stay in touch with people I care about. And when you see someone that you haven't seen for awhile, and you're genuinely excited to run into them. Don't do that trite, hollow, we should get together sometime, but take the extra step to ask them to pull out their calendar and schedule something so that it actually happens nearly all of us keep our calendar on our phone now. And so there's no reason not to take the extra two minutes to schedule a time. To actually. Make that connection again. And if one of you is extra busy, schedule a time. To talk to schedule a time to actually get together in person., you both will be so much happier for that. The other thing that you can do is join community groups or clubs with individuals who share something in common with you. Meetup is still a great option. If there is one in your area. And meeting up with individuals who. Say like to hike like you do, or like to crochet, like you do can foster, some connections and provide a sense of belonging, which of course is going to reduce our feelings of loneliness and isolation. You can also check with community bulletin boards at work or in your neighborhood coffee shops, as well as community centers for groups and clubs to join. If you are severely struggling with feelings of loneliness or isolation, and it just feels like too much to begin to break free. From that don't hesitate to reach out to a therapist or a counselor to get some support and guidance to get you to that next step where you can. Build and foster the community that you need. I hope some of the tips that I've shared today can help you take some proactive actions to manage the stress in your life more effectively and support you in maintaining stable blood sugar levels. As you can see. There is quite an intricate relationship between our stress and our blood sugar, and that's that two way street, right? Where they influence each other and the degree to which these things directly contribute to diabetes is still unknown, but we do see some suspicious signals in the research in multiple areas. I didn't go into any of the animal research because that, you know, is generally lower quality, but it's, there are strong signals there as well. And we do know that temporary stress, as well as chronic stress leads to fluctuations in our blood sugar levels from that release of hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline. And we know that unstable blood sugar levels can. Make our ability to handle stress more problematic. So. If you have a family history of diabetes, if you already are pre-diabetic or if you do have diabetes. It's even more important that you start to do what you can to mitigate the stress response. In your body and mitigate the stressors in your life that you can control. So that way you have a stronger, more resilient body. That's better able to stay healthy throughout the long run. It is easy to look at food as the answer alone. But the big takeaway from today's episode is that food is just one lever that we can pull. Boosting your sleep quality, getting social support. These things are equally important to managing our stress as well as promoting stable blood sugar levels. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of blasphemous nutrition, and I will see you again next week. Hey, if this episode reminded you of someone, you know, that is really stressed out and you're concerned about their health forward this episode to them, they'll probably appreciate it. If you've liked what you've been hearing, please, please leave a review and apple iTunes, or rate this podcast and Spotify or whatever podcast app you are using to listen. Thank you again so much for being a listener and I will talk at you next week.

38:21

Any and all information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not to be misconstrued as offering medical advice. Listening to this podcast does not constitute a provider client relationship. Note, I'm not a doctor nor a nurse, and it is imperative that you utilize your brain and your medical team to make the best decisions for your own health. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked to this podcast are at the user's own risk. No information nor resources provided are intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Be a smart human and do not disregard or postpone obtaining medical advice for any medical condition you may have. Seek the assistance of your healthcare team for any such conditions and always do so before making any changes to your medical, nutrition, or health plan. If you have found some Nuggets of Wisdom, make sure to subscribe, rate, and share Blasphemous Nutrition with those you care about. As you navigate the labyrinth of health advice out there, remember, health is a journey, not a dietary dictatorship. Stay skeptical, stay daring, and challenge the norms that no longer serve you. If you've got burning questions or want to share your own flavor of rebellion, slide into my DMs. Your stories fuel me, and I love hearing them. Thanks again for tuning in to Blasphemous Nutrition. Until next time, this is Amy signing off, reminding you that truth is nuanced, and any dish can be made better with a little bit of sass.