THE BLOOD SUGAR ROLLER COASTER- HOW SKIPPING MEALS HIJACKS YOUR HORMONES

In this episode, we explore the blood sugar–hormone connection and why skipping meals sets off a chain reaction that can impact your cycle, energy, mood, and fertility. Learn how insulin works, what destabilizes blood sugar, how sensitivity changes with age, and simple strategies to support hormonal harmony through stable glucose. Perfect for women navigating fertility, perimenopause, or just wanting to feel more balanced. 

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Transcript

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Welcome to Restore Fertility, the podcast where women's health meets holistic healing. Hosted by Stephanie McKay, fertility and hormone expert. With 20 plus years in alternative medicine, we dive into the root causes behind period problems, hormonal imbalances, and fertility struggles. Combining Eastern wisdom with modern functional medicine, whether you're trying to conceive. Navigating PCOS or simply Craving Hormone Harmony. This podcast is your space for support, education, and empowerment. Join us weekly for expert tips, fertility success, stories, and guidance from someone who truly gets it. Welcome back to the Flourish Fertility Podcast, where we blend the timeless wisdom of Chinese medicine with the science of functional medicine to help women feel empowered and informed and connected to their bodies. I'm Stephanie MacKay, and today we're diving into something that's honestly one of my favorite soap boxes, blood sugar regulation. Now, before you start thinking, this doesn't apply to me, I don't have diabetes, stick with me because what I'm about to share affects your hormones, your mood, your energy, your brain, and your fertility. More than you probably realized. I want you to imagine you're on a rollercoaster. You start slow, then there's a big climb up and suddenly you drop and your stomach lurches and you're gripping the sides that my friend is exactly what happens to your blood sugar when you skip meals. A lot of women tell me, I'm just not hungry in the morning, or I'm intermittent fasting. It's supposed to be good for me. Or honestly, I was just too busy and I get it, life happens, but physiologically, when you skip a meal, your body doesn't just sit there and shrug. It has a reaction. Here's the chain reaction. As your blood sugar starts to dip, your brain perceives that as a threat. Glucose is literally your brain's primary fuel. When it doesn't get enough, it flips on your stress response. Cortisol and adrenaline are released. Your liver starts pumping glucose back into the bloodstream by breaking down glycogen and if needed, your muscle tissue to stabilize things, you might feel fine at first. Maybe a little wired, but then a couple of hours later. That's when it hits the crash. The brain fog, the irritability, the frantic, slightly panicky. I need food now. Feeling maybe you grab something sweet, a coffee or eat quickly, and that sends your blood sugar spiking again. And here's the kicker. According to research from the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, it can take 24 to 48 hours for your blood sugar and insulin response to fully stabilize after just one skipped meal. So this isn't a quick blip. You've essentially set off a metabolic rollercoaster that your hormones now have to ride. Your hormonal system is beautifully sensitive. Insulin. The hormone that helps move sugar into your cells is like a key that unlocks the door. When your blood sugar spikes and crashes constantly, insulin is overproduced. It makes too many keys, and over time, your cells start to ignore the signal. This is called insulin resistance for women. This is a huge deal. High insulin levels can increase ovarian androgen production and disrupt ovulation. We see this in PCOS all the time, but even without PCOS, elevated insulin effects. Progesterone production, shortens luteal phases. Worsens PMS and contributes to irregular cycles. And because your liver is responsible for processing hormones, those spikes and crashes force your liver into a stress response. It's busy juggling blood sugar regulation instead of efficiently detoxifying estrogen over time. This can show up as bloating, breast tenderness, heavier periods, and mid cycle symptoms. I like to explain insulin like this. Imagine insulin is a key, and your cells are the doors. When everything's working well, the key slides in smoothly. The door opens, glucose walks in, and your body uses it for energy. But if the key is constantly jamming in the door, which happens with repeated spikes, eventually that lock gets sticky. That's insulin resistance. When this happens, your pancreas has to make more keys. Which is more insulin to get the job done. And chronically high insulin is inflammatory and messes with ovarian signaling increases cravings and promotes abdominal fat storage, which further worsens insulin sensitivity. It's not just about what you eat, it's also about how consistently you nourish yourself. I'll tell you a story. I had a patient recently who prided herself on not eating until noon because she wasn't hungry. She'd have coffee sometimes with collagen or a splash of cream, but nothing substantial. By mid-afternoon, she was craving sugar snapping at her partner and feeling exhausted. We did a simple experiment for one week. She ate a balanced breakfast with protein, fat, and fiber within an hour of her waking. By the end of that week, her 3:00 PM crash was gone. Her sleep was deeper and her luteal spotting had improved. She didn't change anything else. That's the power of stabilizing blood sugar. Another piece. People don't talk enough about. Your brain doesn't thrive on low blood sugar, it survives. Studies show that even mild hypoglycemia, which are blood sugar dips below 70, impair cognitive function, attention and mood. That's why you might feel foggy, anxious, or snappy when you skip meals. It's not you being dramatic, it's just biology. I'll be honest, I have, or shall I say, had a bad habit of working through lunch and eating a large meal after work, but before normal dinner time, and then having a snack size portion for dinner two nights a week. Due to my schedule. I wore a constant glucose monitor for a couple of weeks, and that dang alarm kept going off critical low. At first, I thought it wasn't calibrating properly, but then I paid attention. I was so busy working and going and going and going. I wasn't paying attention to how I was feeling in the moment the alarm went off. I was fine. I kept working and silenced the alarm, but then after some time had passed, I realized my cognitive function was slower. My word recall was off. Side note, I had a concussion from an incident that affected my frontal lobe and cognitive function, especially word recall. So that is super sensitive to me. What I noticed is that. It took more than just eating that missed meal with protein for my brain to return to normal. It took days or so after wearing the monitor. I pay so much more attention to the signals from my body and eating regularly to prevent the alarm bells going off. My energy is level and my brain function is sharper. In our twenties, our cells are generally more insulin sensitive, but as estrogen naturally starts to decline in our late thirties and forties, insulin sensitivity also drops. Estrogen actually has a protective effect on how your cells respond to insulin. So what might have worked for you at 25 like skipping breakfast without major symptoms may backfire at 40. That's why so many women notice more stubborn weight gain. Irregular cycles or PMS changes in perimenopause. It is not just aging. It's shifting physiology. Supporting your blood sugar now is setting the stage for a smoother hormonal transition later. Here are some easy ways to support blood sugar and hormone harmony. Eat breakfast with protein and fat within hour of waking. It's really good to move after meals. Even a 10 minute walk helps lower post-meal blood sugar spikes. You need to manage your stress and sleep. Both of them directly impact insulin sensitivity. You can consider supportive herbs or nutrients like cinnamon, acetol, or berberine. Of course, under guidance and these small shifts, tell your body you're safe, you've got plenty of fuel. It's okay to focus on repair, reproduction, and resilience. Blood sugar regulation isn't just a diet trend, it's the foundation of hormonal harmony. By nourishing your body consistently, you're giving your brain and your ovaries a stable, supportive environment. If you've been skipping meals, relying on caffeine or ignoring that rollercoaster, this is your invitation to step off the ride. Start with one meal, see how your energy and mood shift. And if this episode resonated with you, please share it with another woman who needs to hear that her symptoms aren't in her head, they're in her blood sugar. Until next time, take care of your beautiful body.