10 Signs that You Might Have High Blood Sugar

Unless you have diabetes, chances are you rarely, if ever, check your blood sugar. Even if you don’t have diabetes or lack a family history of diabetes, you should care about your diet and blood sugar. A high blood sugar causes health problems, and it can lead to death, even without diabetes.

Anyone can have a blood sugar spikes when consuming food. The danger comes when your blood sugar stays high for longer periods of time. It is important to know the early warning signs of high blood sugar so that you can get it under control before something dangerous happens to you!

What Causes High Blood Sugar?

Different factors contribute to high blood sugar, including:

• Medications
• Certain health conditions
• Stress: everyone has stress in their life, but frequent stress leads to blood sugar spikes.
• Poor diet: If your diet primarily consists of processed foods with a lot of calories, it might be an issue. These types of foods are digested quickly, leading to a blood sugar spike and bad cholesterol levels.
• Lack of regular exercise: Exercise does more than keeping your body strong. Exercise also helps keep your muscle cells sensitive to insulin. A lack of exercise means your muscles might become insulin resistant.

10 Warning Signs of High Blood Sugar

High blood sugar doesn’t always mean you have diabetes, but it is a symptom of diabetes. While your signs of high blood sugar may differ, here are some the most common symptoms.

Increased Thirst

Polyuria causes you to feel thirsty when you have high blood sugar because your kidneys cannot keep up. Your body cannot absorb the extra glucose, so your kidneys produce extra urine. In return, you become dehydrated easily and feel thirsty often.

Increased Appetite

Do you feel hungry all of the time? Increased eating habits might indicate high blood sugar. The glucose cannot enter the cells because of possible insulin resistance or lack of insulin. Your body can’t convert the food you eat into energy, so your body thinks it lacks energy. In return, your body feels increased hunger because it wants to produce additional glucose.

Dry and Itchy Skin

Dry skin is a sign that tells you that your blood sugar has been high for a long time. Nerves experience damage from long-term high blood sugar. Your body loses fluids rapidly if nerves are damaged, so your skin becomes increasingly high.

Tingling in Hands and Feet

As mentioned before, high blood sugar can cause nerve damage. One of the first signs of nerve damage is frequent numbness or tingling in your hands and feet. Nerve damage can lead to decreased feeling and sensitivity to pain in those areas. If you cut your hand, you might not notice immediately.

Excess Abdominal Fat or Weight Gain

You might be insulin resistant, which means your cells don’t respond to insulin. Your cells struggle to take glucose from your blood. Your blood sugar levels build up over time, leading to extra weight gain. That means you would experience excess abdominal fat.

Losing Weight Without Trying

On the flip side, high blood sugar might lead to a loss of weight without intention. Losing weight happens because your body flushes all of the excess glucose out through your urine. At the same time, your body is flushing out nutrients and calories your body needs!

Blurry Vision

The lenses of your eyes swell if your blood sugar is high. Swollen lenses lead directly to blurry vision. Luckily, this is typically temporary, but contact your doctor if it persists.

Daily Fatigue

Do you find yourself dozing off at work or feeling tired within hours of waking up each day? High blood sugar doesn’t mean you have increased energy. In fact, it could mean the total opposite! Your kidneys can’t absorb the glucose and create energy. If you don’t have energy, you will become weak and tired.

Frequent Urination

If you have increased thirst, you probably have frequent urination as well. Your kidneys are busy trying to handle the excess sugar, and your body has to get rid of it through urination. Going to the bathroom every hour is a sign of high blood sugar or other serious health issues. Don’t ignore this symptom. Head to the doctors instead!

Impotence

This sign is just for men. Erections require proper blood flow, which high blood sugar disrupts. It can even cause nerve and blood vessel damage.

Foods and Their Glycemic Index

All foods have a glycemic index number based on the carbohydrates and the extent that the food raises your blood sugar. Foods with higher levels will cause the most rapid rise in blood sugar. Lower GI foods help to reduce insulin levels. These foods also help with weight control by controlling appetite and delaying huger

If you find yourself with high blood sugar often, try to replace some of your higher GI foods with lower GI food.

High GI foods have levels 70 to 100+. They are rapidly digested, absorbed and metabolized, and they will increase your blood sugar dramatically. High Glycemic Index Foods:

• White Bread
• Fruit Rollup
• Watermelon
• Pretzels
• Popcorn
• Cereal
• Rice Cake
• Glazed Doughnut

The foods that fall between the high and low GI foods are rated between 55 and 70. You should limit your quantity, but they don’t increase your blood sugar as much as high GI foods. Medium Glycemic Index Foods:

• Brown Rice
• White Rice
• Oatmeal
• Honey
• Pita Bread

Low GI foods are rated 0 to 55 and produce a smaller fluctuation of insulin levels. You need to eat more low GI foods to help maintain your health and reduce the risks of diabetes and heart disease. Low Glycemic Index Foods:

• Peas
• Orange
• Banana
• Wheat pasta
• Corn on the Cob
• Eggs
• Hummus
• Broccoli
• Walnuts
• Yogurt
• Grapefruit
• Turkey Sausage
• Kidney Beans
• Apple
• Tomato Juice

Watching for Early Warning Signs

High blood sugar can be dangerous, but you can manage and monitor it with advice from your doctor. Diet is important in the regulation of high blood sugar, but you will need to consider other things. That’s why it is so important to speak to a health professional to develop a plan.