How Blood Sugar Affects Your Energy, Mood, and Hormones (and What to Do About It!)

Feeling exhausted, craving sugar, or dealing with mood swings? It’s NOT just you—it’s your blood sugar!

In this episode of Sweet Insights with Ali & Amy, we’re breaking down how blood sugar imbalances affect your energy, cravings, and hormones—and how small changes can make a HUGE difference in how you feel every day.

🎙 What we cover in this episode:
✅ Why blood sugar crashes leave you drained & moody
✅ How insulin, cortisol, and estrogen are connected
✅ The BIGGEST mistakes people make with sugar (and how to fix them!)
✅ The PFF Method – A simple way to balance blood sugar at every meal
✅ Real-life strategies to avoid the afternoon energy crash

PLUS: Ali shares how a simple shift in breakfast made all the difference, and Amy reveals the surprising way she retrained her taste buds to love real food again.

🎧 Tune in now & take control of your energy, hormones, and cravings!

🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe and share with a friend who NEEDS this info!

#BloodSugarBalance #SweetInsightsPodcast #EnergyBoost #CrushCravings #CortisolBalance

Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) All right. Hello, and welcome to Sweet Insights with Ali and Amy, where today we are talking all about the secrets to feeling energized. Last week, we talked about how the gut and health impacts our hormone balance, but one of the biggest ways the gut affects our health is energy, cravings, and mood is through our blood sugar balance. So today, whether you are in perimenopause, or anywhere in life, blood sugar, your blood sugar regulation matters. And it's not one of those things that just affects type two diabetics, but it also affects everyone. Yes, and thank you for that, that was wonderful. It's funny, so obviously as we get older, we hear more and more people having issues with blood sugars. And a friend of mine just found out that he has diabetes, and his sugars are spiked. And you know what the doctor does? They give them something that isn't necessarily gonna lower their blood sugar, as per the pharmacist. And then they're like, okay, now you gotta wait to get into a diabetes clinic. So sugars are a problem with so many people, and I feel like there are easier ways to obviously start managing your sugars. And what they had to do was research it on their own. The doctor didn't say, hey, your diet needs to consist of less sugars to keep your sugars low, or whatever it may be. And you probably will need insulin. I'm actually surprised how many clients have reached out to me, just knowing like both of my parents are type two diabetics, got diagnosed years ago. But again, they had no support. They were like, here, take metformin, or my mom takes a different medication because of her kidney. But didn't suggest diet change, didn't suggest lifestyle changes, suggested nothing. My poor father, when I said to him to eat protein, like you need to eat more protein, are you having protein at each meal? He looked at me and said, what is protein? Like he didn't know, and no one is providing him with this education. And I think it's one of the reasons why I decided to do this seven day challenge. I haven't done a challenge in years. And I thought, you know what, sugar is something that affects everybody. So if you don't know about that, it does start on March 3rd, and might be something that you're interested in doing. Absolutely, and I've already signed up for it. And just to go back to that conversation, what we eat matters. And one of the things you said, he didn't know what protein was. Well, when I was speaking about it, and again, we were just having a conversation, it's early in the morning, nobody had coffee yet at that point. And he's like, well, stay away from fruits and stuff. And I was like, well, wait, I said, because this is how I eat right now. And I said, I can have berries. I mean, I also have apples and oranges and grapefruit, but necessarily with the medication he's on, I wouldn't have said grapefruit anyway. And only because I know that from being a pharmacy tech at one point in my life. But I was like, you can have berries though. I said, like, they're low on the glycemic index. I was like, you can have those. And I said, they're not gonna spike your sugars. And I mean, again, I was like, I am not a doctor. I said, but if you have questions about the things that I eat, I said, you know, I stay away from pasta and things like that and the carbs anyway. And he had done enough research at that point that he had known, but like, people just don't realize that. Like, they think like, oh my goodness, fruits so full of sugar, you have to stay away from it. But like, again, unless your doctor specifically says you can't eat berries or you can't eat fruit, I feel like there's options out there. Absolutely. And you're missing out on all those micronutrients when you cut out fruit, right? Yeah. It's such an important thing that fuels you and gives you energy and also helps prevent your cravings for the sugary treats. My mom used to put two spoonfuls of sugar in her tea. And when we finally, and my mom is British, she drinks probably 20 cups of tea a day. So her sugar intake was quite high. And it was only after she started drinking her tea black that she all of a sudden started eating oranges. And she came to my house one day and she had packed a lunch because she was going to the dentist or whatever. And I was like, mom, my entire life, I've never seen you eat an orange. Like, what's going on with you? She said, do you know that I used to think that they tasted like lemons? Like, they were so sour to me. And now I can't believe how sweet they are. And it was because her sugar intake was so much. And she didn't realize it, right? She wasn't doing it intentionally. She was just having a cup of tea and not thinking about the fact that she took two spoonfuls in every cup that she has. And yes, does tea taste better with two spoonfuls of sugar in it? Of course. Of course it does. But then everything else doesn't taste good, right? So that's the other thing that comes down into sugar that like, if you're not enjoying an orange and not tasting the beautiful sweetness and succulentness of it, that could be a sign that you have a problem. Well, and it's funny you say that. I mean, obviously everything tastes better with sugar in my opinion. I go to a candy store. So, I mean, I can't say it doesn't. But I don't like to drink... Anytime I go through the process where I started like eating cleaner and detoxing from sugar, I can't go back and drink soda. Like, I can't drink Coke specifically is so sweet. And if I do, I have to have something super fatty to balance the sugars. Like, so it has to be like pizza or something with a lot of cheese to actually balance that sweetness out and the sugar. And I mean, not that one makes the other better, but I don't drink most of it anyway. Like I had a quick lunch yesterday. Yes, I actually, I had McDonald's, I splurged. I had a chicken and I chose chicken to be fair, which I never do. So I chose chicken. I only ate a bit of the bun because I knew that the gluten was gonna probably bother me a little. And I got fries and a Coca-Cola with it. And I ended up drinking not even a quarter, like I'd say an eighth of the soda and I dumped it out. I mean, which in theory, people are gonna say, well, you're wasting. But I mean, if I don't need it in my body and I don't want it, I'm not gonna drink it. And I don't wanna pay. It's cheaper to get a soda with your meal when you're coming home and could drink water from your tap versus getting a bottle of water with it. Although that is the healthier option. And if I was on the road, that's what I would have done. But yeah, so I mean- When you're choosing to have a healthier lifestyle, it doesn't mean you can never make an unhealthy choice. And that's the balance. And so it also comes into play. And so during COVID, my kids overheard me talking to clients on the phone all the time. And what became interesting to me is that Austin started reading food labels. And so he started to read on his box of cereal how much sugar was in it. And so I ended up giving them a demonstration of like, so five grams of sugar is the equivalent of a kitchen teaspoon of sugar and put it in a bowl. So like when we're looking at yogurt that has fruit in it already, or we're looking at a cereal, let's put that sugar into a bowl and say, okay, this is how much sugar this has. Now let's look at our chocolate bar and say, okay, this is how much sugar this has. And so if you eat all the things, you're now putting this massive thing of sugar into your body. But maybe what you need to do is say, okay, I know that each of these things has sugar in them, which is the thing I want more. And it's a great way to really simply reduce your sugars, but not cut everything out, right? So many diets and so many people feel like they've got, it's all or nothing, right? We're very much an all or nothing mentality, but what if we just reduced? What if we looked at, okay, here's my typical day, where am I having the sugars? Where am I having my energy drops and falls? And so, if we look at an example of like what I would say, like a bad blood sugar level day, we might be starting our day with a cup of coffee that's loaded with sugar. Maybe we're having a fancy Starbucks, somebody just said the caramel frappuccino crunch is leaving and it is decadent dessert yumminess. But if you're starting your day and that's what you're having, what's gonna happen? Right, absolutely. And I, I'm guilty. I missed what you said, I think you cut off. Oh, I said, I am guilty of having those yummy drinks. And yeah, like, I mean, again, by cutting out as much sugar as I have been able to, I feel when my sugar spikes. And so I do know what causes it to spike and what doesn't. So I can still have a yummy drink with less sugar or sugar-free option. And sometimes it means adding a little extra fat to it. So having like the cold foam versus the full whipped cream. But rather than, for this purpose of this exercise, rather than looking at, you know, what, like what other choices you can make, let's hypothetically say that a person chooses that succulent, yummy, high sugar drink. They've chosen not to eat breakfast. They're having that high sugar coffee. Let's say they have that, you know, eight, nine o'clock in the morning. At 10 o'clock, what's going to happen is they're gonna have a crash, right? They're gonna have that crash. And then what are they gonna do? They're gonna grab for a muffin or they're gonna grab for something else. And then what happens is around two o'clock, we're gonna feel sleepy and we're gonna be like, oh my gosh, I need another coffee or I need another sugary snack. Because what happens is, is that sugar causes an insulin spike, which causes that jolt of energy. And when we get that jolt of energy, we get that crash. And then, you know, what happens at five o'clock? Now we're hangry, we're irritable, we're, you know, not our best selves. And then again, the same thing happens at 8 p.m. And now we're having cravings and now we're diving into the chips or the glass of wine. And then what happens after that is now we're struggling to sleep. Yeah, now you're wide awake. So I love what you're saying is, is before I even demonstrate the bad day, the bad blood sugar level day, you're trying to tell me how to fix it. So why don't you, because I just wanna draw that picture for people because that's what they're doing. We wanna correlate that feeling with the actions that we're taking. Our body is so smart and it's gonna tell us, hey, I don't like that. I need you to fix that. I need you to do something different. But it's whether we're listening to those cues and we're changing something. And so if you're having that reach for a muffin at 10 o'clock, if you're having that two o'clock slump, if you're reaching for caffeine at two o'clock, if you're irritable at five o'clock when it's time to make dinner or you're on your drive home from work or you're having that eight o'clock, give me all the things, there is very likely sugar crashes happening throughout your day, which are causing those symptoms. And so, because Amy, you're so excited to tell us all the good choices that you're making, why don't you walk us through the difference between the bad day that I just described with how you could make that a more blood sugar balanced day? So, I mean, personally, if we're looking at what I would do to make this a better day, well, again, if we're having breakfast and things too, so I would grab my coffee, I would put, I would choose either a Stevia or a low sugar or sugar-free option in my coffee. I know that we prefer Stevia overall, but there are definitely times where you don't have Stevia, so still making a sugar-free. People get confused too, monk fruit is a great option, but anything like NutraSweet, Aspartame, those will spike your blood sugar levels, whereas Stevia and monk fruit do not. I drink my coffee black, it's taken years for me to convince how to do that. If someone's struggling to go black, I have lots of tips and tricks on how to do that. Yeah, so you do a coffee with your Stevia and what would you eat? And I know you intermittent fast sometimes, but if you were to eat breakfast, what would that look like? So probably eat some eggs. I personally would have a gluten-free toast option if I was doing it, but you could have like a whole grain toast, some avocado, something with a bit of fat in it, but I, or some berries with it. Or you- What I hear you saying is that you would do a protein, a fat and a fiber. Yes, more or less. So if you're looking at it that way, yes, I absolutely would. And I think that's important in the like, North America, our typical breakfast, we need to be mindful of, because our typical breakfast of a bagel and butter and a sugared coffee, like those, where's our protein, right? Like where is the protein in that? So keeping in mind that to help reduce a sugar crash, there needs to be protein there. Fiber is super important. So, and you know, our white toast isn't given as much fiber people. So, you know, we want to be mindful of that, choosing, you know, some more decadent type breads, if you can, or an oatmeal as a great option, maybe mixing protein powder into the oatmeal, adding berries, nuts, seeds. There's, there is lots of options, but you need to think outside of the typical North American breakfast. Right. Moving on with my day, if I had a snack, I would either do some cashews and some fruit again, like berries or apples and almond butter, or I do like a smoothie, protein smoothie bowl. That would be my option for a snack. Again, just something, not something overly huge, just keeping it light and low. And then lunch, I would have a protein and a salad and probably have a fad in there. That would be part of my salad. I'm curious, when you started changing up your diet to look more this balanced approach, what did you notice about your crashes and your hanger and things like that? So definitely not hangry. I mean, we know there's days that I have to fast longer than I should. So those days I'm definitely hangry, but if I'm having a more balanced approach, then I'm not hangry and I'm full longer. I don't even always have snacks because I'm drinking, I'm supposed to be drinking water. So to tell you I'm drinking water, I'm not drinking water, but I'm supposed to be drinking water. So I'm fuller longer anyway, but I feel better overall. I'm not tired in the afternoons. I'm not tired falling asleep in the evenings on the couch. There's definitely days that I am exhausted because I've had a long week, I've had a long day, I'm falling asleep on the couch. So it doesn't matter what my diet is. Like that's not gonna prevent that necessarily. If you're just exhausted, you're exhausted. Don't you think that if you were eating that old high sugar diet, high processed carbs, that you would feel worse? Oh, I absolutely would. And I mean, I'm one that I can't speak for other people, but like, I like to go to sleep on a full belly. So I'm really struggling with the snack, not snacking at night because I actually can fall asleep no matter what, anywhere. But I always sleep better with a full stomach and I am just a naughty. But I do feel different. I don't get tired in the afternoon. And that is different because if I was having a crappy lunch or like a really greasy, like fatty, sugary lunch, I would be falling asleep in the afternoon on the couch like, or wherever, like not driving. But I mean, I'd be exhausted. I'd be at appointments and I'd just be feeling sluggish and terrible. Right, right. So there definitely is a difference, right? And I mean, the thing that people also need to realize is that you're supposed to be tired at the end of the day, right? Like if you had a really busy day, like you should be tired, but it's those peaks and valleys that we want to avoid, right? We don't want to have to reach for coffee at two o'clock because we're just, you know, not functionable. And again, that really depends on, you know, what's going on. How did you sleep the night before? Like there's so many factors, but when we're just looking at balancing our blood sugar levels, having a more balanced approach is going to make you feel better overall. And that's a one size fits all. That applies to everyone, whether you're a type two diabetic, whether you're in perimenopause, it's just a good practice to take. And most often we see that the majority of people aren't eating enough. We're not eating enough protein. My brother-in-law recently started a diet. I don't know where he heard about it, but he decided he wanted to dive into this diet. And they, I guess, have never had a food scale. So I was at their house on the weekend. I stopped in to visit them and they had purchased a food scale. And in this program that he is doing, they're recommending he eats eight ounces of meat. And he had no idea how much eight ounces of meat was. And he ended up putting seven ounces on his plate and was like, there's no way I'm gonna eat this much chicken. Like that's so much chicken. And it was funny because we were having ham for dinner and he was having chicken on his little program. And I said, how much protein do you, like how many grams of protein do you think or ounces of protein do you think this piece of ham is? And they were like, oh, that's like eight ounces or that's like six ounces. And I'm like, it's probably two, maybe three. And they weighed it and it was two and a half. And so they're thinking that this one little piece of ham at two and a half ounces is enough protein. Like that was their dinner. And so like, that's where we really wanna look at and say, okay, like I need to have two of those pieces at a minimum, right? Instead of what I was having. And so that's always something that's been hard in my own personal life is that I prefer to eat two ounces of meat. But especially as I'm entering perimenopause and all the things, it's not enough protein. And so I'm at the point where even though I'm a health coach and I know all the things, I'm pulling out my scale. And last night we had salmon for dinner and I was like, we need to weigh it because I wanna make sure I'm getting a minimum of four ounces to make sure I'm getting enough protein because I do tend to be on the lower end of the scale. And so it's funny for me because if you give me four ounces of salmon or four ounces of steak, I'm happier but four ounces of chicken just feels too much for me. So it's about having that discipline and not lying to yourself about how much you are actually having. And a lot of times it's not enough and everyone thinks we're overeating and there are people who do, but we're maybe are overeating on the wrong things. It's funny you talk about the scale because obviously I'm more aware because I weigh all my food, not as much now because I know what four ounces looks like. So I'm a little bit more accustomed and easier to do things, but we play a game on our Nintendo, on our Switch and it's a Mario Party game and you have to section off so much of the supper, like the meat or whatever you're doing. And I always ended up getting mine bang on because I'm like, oh, I know how much this is. Like that looks about right proportion size. And it's just a game that you play, but like you play it with the kids. I have Mario Party, but I don't think I have a version that you get to play that game. I think it's the new Jamboree one, if I'm correct. Anyway, it is fun. And so anyway, there's all kinds of games and things that we play, but that was one of them and I always nailed it and everyone else was usually slightly off. And I was like, I've got this because I know what portion size like, or half. I know exactly what half is because I could tell even if it's a little thicker on this end, thinner on this end, this should be about right. So anyway, it's just funny that you say it, but kids really don't know how much protein they should have. So, and it's funny because like you said, chicken for me is also like, ugh, like that's too much chicken for me. And I don't love chicken all the time, but if my daughter's making a salad, she's picking off this smallest bit of chicken. And I'm like, I know that's not enough for her. I know she thinks that that's a lot and she's like building her wrap or her salad and like, that's fine. But like, they really don't know either. So often I try and portion it out for her. And then sometimes I just know I'm like, her chicken to pasta ratio, if she doesn't have enough pasta in there, that's gonna be way too much chicken. So she's gonna get a little less protein. So I'll be like, we'll have a smoothie with some protein in it, like just to supplement it. But it's hard because kids like also need so much protein and they're probably not getting as much as they should because we're also giving them the smaller portions and not really thinking about how much they need. Yeah, absolutely. So where are we for time? Let's see here. What, yeah, I think so we, I mean, we've really focused on the importance of protein and fiber and fat. Anytime, like you said, we're eating carbs. We wanna make sure that we're eating carbs with a protein. To help balance out and prevent those spikes. So thinking about things like toast and cereal, fruit smoothies, where is the protein in that? Where are we getting any fiber in there as well? Is there fat with that? Really to balance those macronutrients out, that'll prevent the crashes, the tiredness, the hunger, and it makes your satiety stay with you longer. The example you gave, like instead of eating an apple as a snack, pairing the apple with some almond butter or some peanut butter, that is a small amount of protein that helps level that out. So it's gonna stay with you longer. Creating, relying on sugary treats to give you a spike. So notice when you're having those cravings for sugary treats, are you looking for a jolt of energy? Like, is that what's actually going on? Over-exercising is something that we haven't addressed. But intense workouts cause your cortisol level to go up, which increases your blood sugar level. So there is a connection there. So if your body is already stressed, it can cause insulin resistance, it can cause weight gain. So really balancing out your high-intensity workouts with things like walking, yoga, strength training. There's a method to make it kind of simple for people that's called the PFF method, which is basically what we've just been talking about. Protein, fats, and fiber. And basically every meal, you should be having at least two of those. So I always say every meal should have a protein. So if you wanna have a protein and a fat or a protein and a fiber, or all three, so you've given some great examples of what that looks like. So I guess my tip that I would say for listeners, wherever you're listening from today, is before you eat, ask yourself, where is my protein, where is my fat, and where is my fiber? And so those are great questions to ask yourself. If you are like my dad and you're maybe just diagnosed with something or you're maybe looking to dive into this and you don't know what your fats, protein, and fiber are, reach out, we can set up a coaching call, I can walk you through all of that stuff, and really looking to change up those meals. And it's simple changes that don't make a big difference in how you cook it, but it's gonna make a big difference on how you feel. Yeah. I'm gonna throw in one more thing too. One of the things that you had said and just kind of as a takeaway is that if you are tired at night and you are feeling like I need to wake up and you're deciding to go snack, you're going to then end up digesting that late night snack all night, it's gonna make you warm, especially going through perimenopause, it's gonna start, you're gonna start digesting it through the night, so you're not gonna sleep as well, you're gonna have times where you're gonna need some air conditioning on, like the more you snack late at night, I'm just speaking from personal experience and not necessarily through perimenopause, just through this program, I do notice more, like if I'm eating late at night to keep myself awake, because that's what we do, that's why you crave snacks because your body wants to wake up, I end up feeling it through the night, I am more restless as much as I sleep well on a full stomach, like if I'm just snacking, I can feel it and I can feel my body starting to break down the foods in the middle of the night because my body starts getting warm because I'm digesting. So something just to throw in there, like if we're talking about sugars and things and you really wanna spike them, that's what's gonna happen at night. What I've even noticed when I've like experimented with myself, like we've gone and gotten like an ice cream treat with the kids or whatever late at night or those different things, I end up with what I call, Greg and I have identified it as a sugar hangover and it's almost worse than like an alcohol hangover, but like you didn't have alcohol and like you literally wake up the next morning and you've kind of got a headache, you feel extra drowsy and all those things and we found that just by like choosing to have a late night treat and that late night treat being some sugars and that's been a really great way for us to realize that like I'm an easier time saying no to sugar at night because I don't wanna feel like that the next day. Absolutely and I noticed sometimes if I eat too much, like a big meal late at night, like if I don't eat before eight or nine, depending on how long I'm gonna do for my fast the next day, I will be hungrier earlier in the morning and it is harder and I don't know if it's because I'm changing my fasting window so then my body is digesting differently through the night and so when I wake up, I feel hungry and it doesn't seem to do that if I stop eating earlier at night and so I don't know if that's part of it too, again, not a doctor, so I don't know, but something- It's a great observation and that's what we really wanna teach people to do is to observe their bodies, notice what feels good and what doesn't and maybe that's something that affects you and doesn't affect somebody else, right? But it's about learning to listen to our body and pay attention to what it's telling us and then act accordingly and change things up and feel like your best self because that's ultimately what we wanna do. Absolutely. Amy, as always, thank you. Thank you to our listeners for listening. If you are enjoying our episodes, please share them with a friend. Feel free to post them on your own pages or tag someone. We'd love for more people to be able to listen and get some good tips and tricks from us. As we've always said, neither of us are doctors. If you're looking to make big changes in your life, consult your primary care practitioner, but we are happy to support you on your journey. If your doctor has recommended certain things and you need support, accountability, that kind of thing, I am a certified health and life coach and I'm happy to help you any way I can. And if you are looking to dive into some sugars, definitely check out Amy's candy store. Absolutely. We can even find some low sugar candy for you. Awesome. Have a great day, everyone. Bye.