Stable Blood Sugar: One of the Most Potent Levers for Optimising Your Physical and Mental Health

Blood sugar supporting diet

Moderating sugar consumption is often framed as a willpower issue. Something to resist, restrict, or “be better with.” Sadly, from a kinesiology and nervous-system perspective, this framing misses the deeper issue entirely. 

Unstable sugar drives cravings, undermines willpower and sets up a negative feedback loop of: crash> suffering> craving> indulgence> Intense peak> release of insulin> intense crash> and so on.

Blood sugar instability doesn’t reflect a character flaw, so much as a system trying to balance when the swings (both high and low) are extreme.  The truth many health seekers are waking up to is that blood sugar dysregulation is one of the most powerful and under-recognised drivers of chronic stress, inflammation, hormonal imbalance, mood disturbance, fatigue, and long-term disease risk. Many people find they need support to break this cycle, and that;s ok.

In clinical practice, when blood sugar regulation improves, people often notice changes that feel surprisingly wide-ranging: clearer thinking, calmer emotions, better sleep, fewer cravings, steadier energy, greater ease in making healthy choices and improved resilience to stress, results worth sitting up and taking notice of.

Sugar and the Stress Response

Every time blood sugar rises rapidly and then drops, the body interprets this as a threat. To protect the brain, it releases stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol to bring glucose levels back up.

In other words, frequent sugar intake keeps the nervous system in a low-grade stress response, even when life itself isn’t particularly stressful.

Over time, this pattern can contribute to:

• Anxiety and nervousness

• Irritability and emotional reactivity

• Brain fog and poor concentration

• Sleep disturbance or waking overnight

• Fatigue that doesn’t resolve with rest

• Increased reliance on caffeine

• Strong cravings for quick energy

From a Total Body Modification (TBM) kinesiology perspective, this represents a body constantly compensating for instability rather than operating from balance.

When Blood Sugar Dysregulation Hides in Plain Sight

One of the most important and often overlooked aspects of blood sugar imbalance is how long it can exist below the radar.

Large metabolic studies show that insulin resistance can develop years, even decades, before standard blood tests identify a problem. During this time, the body compensates quietly, leaning on stress hormones to maintain function.

This helps explain a common experience in clinics: “All my tests are normal, but I don’t feel well.”

The system can be strained before labs confirm.

Sugar and Brain Health

One of the most widely referenced insights in functional medicine comes from Dr Mark Hyman, who has often stated:

“Alzheimer’s disease is increasingly being understood as Type 3 diabetes.”

This phrase reflects a growing body of research showing that insulin resistance in the brain plays a significant role in cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.

The brain is an energy-hungry organ. When glucose metabolism becomes impaired, brain cells struggle to function optimally long before memory loss or diagnosis occurs.

Sugar has been shown to decrease cerebral blood flow, and as Dr. Daniel Amen (brain expert) says sugar damages blood vessels and leads to reduced blood flow: “The number one brain-imaging predictor for Alzheimer's disease.”

This does not mean sugar alone “causes” Alzheimer’s. But it does highlight how deeply metabolic health and brain health are intertwined. 

Sugar, Dopamine, and Behaviour

Sugar strongly influences behaviour.

Neurologically, sugar activates dopamine pathways associated with motivation and reward-seeking. It’s not that pleasure is bad, so much as we can overload and fry our pleasure centres, feel diminishing return from the same amount of sugar, fueling more consumption and ultimately leading to an addictive pattern.

Frequent sugar intake creates:

• Rapid dopamine spikes

• Predictable crashes

• Increased seeking behaviour

• Reduced sensitivity over time

This is why cravings often intensify over time with continued exposure and why people can feel locked into cycles of wanting relief from sugar, rather than nourishment from whole foods.

In kinesiology sessions, it’s common to observe that (after an adjustment period) when blood sugar stabilises, behavioural rigidity softens naturally. People report feeling more choiceful, less reactive, and less driven by compulsion without needing to “try harder.” People often say they acclimate to the taste of reduced sugar options, also.

What Kinesiology Has Observed for Decades

In some kinesiology streams such as Total Body Modification, practitioners have long tracked the systemic effects of chronic sugar intake across the body.

Training manuals compile findings from dozens of studies showing that excessive sugar consumption is associated with:

• Suppressed immune response

• Increased inflammation and oxidative stress

• Disruption of mineral balance (including magnesium, chromium, and copper)

• Impaired protein metabolism and tissue repair

• Altered neurotransmitter function affecting mood and cognition

• Increased insulin resistance and reduced glucose tolerance

• Greater cardiovascular and metabolic strain

  
  

While sugar does not act in isolation, these patterns consistently emerge when the body is required to compensate for unstable blood sugar over long periods.

What’s striking is how closely these early kinesiology observations align with modern research into metabolic syndrome, hormonal imbalance, gut health, neurodegeneration, and chronic inflammatory disease.

Stabilising Blood Sugar as a Foundation, Not a Diet

Stabilising blood sugar does not mean eliminating all carbohydrates or never enjoying sweetness again. It means resetting and reducing extremes so the body no longer relies on stress hormones to function.

Supportive strategies include:

• Eating regular meals

• Prioritising protein and fibre

• Pairing carbohydrates with fats and protein

• Reducing highly processed sugars

• Staying well hydrated

• Reducing reliance on caffeine

Even short periods of stabilisation can have a profoundly calming effect on the nervous system.

Why this Matters to People Striving For Success

Before we optimise, we are well served to stabilise.

When blood sugar is steady, the body feels safe, motivation returns naturally and change becomes sustainable.

This is why, in my clinical work, blood sugar regulation is often addressed alongside emotional healing, breath retraining, and nervous-system repair, rather than as a standalone “diet.”

A Gentle Reframe

If you’ve been struggling with fatigue, anxiety, cravings, or feeling stuck in survival mode, it may be because your body is asking to be nourished differently. Consistent sugar regulation is about creating the stable conditions your body needs to heal, and for many people, that’s a huge hack and incredibly empowering for those seeking to improve health, longevity, aging, mood and cognition.

If like many other’s you find this information is shocking and maybe overwhealming, guidance with a trained practitioner can help assess if this information is suited to you, isolate your

challenges, help with compliance and outline a clear framework for regulating sugar. Make a Booking and remember, always check with your doctor. My Program Reset: Nourish includes an optional three week sugar reset, if suitable. You can read more about it here. under Premium Packages, or get in touch for a telehealth to discuss if this is suitable for you.

References & Further Reading

• Dr Mark Hyman The UltraMind Solution; The UltraWellness Center publications on insulin resistance and brain health.

• Dr Robert Lustig Fat Chance; Metabolical: research on sugar, insulin resistance, and metabolic disease.

• Dr Jason Fung The Obesity Code: insulin dysregulation and chronic disease progression.

• Dr Andrew Huberman Huberman Lab Podcast: blood sugar regulation, dopamine, cortisol, and nervous system health.

• Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Research on added sugar, cardiometabolic disease, and insulin resistance.

• World Health Organization Guidelines on free sugar intake and chronic disease risk.

  
  

All the best of health prosperity and wellness!

E xx

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