So, this is a bit of a departure for a blog that is usually concerned with your mental well being, but today I want to talk about the importance of being aware of your blood sugar levels, and other indicators of your health.

As you may know, my mother passed away at the age of 69 from complications of diabetes, and never got to see my kids grow up. Diabetes is a silent killer, much like hypertension – you don’t feel anything until things are seriously amiss. Thankfully, nowadays we have tools that can allow us to monitor ourselves and catch things before we are really ill.

Recently I had a bit of a scare – I tested my fasting blood sugar, and found levels that Dr. Google told me were in the prediabetic range. So I had my doctor test my HbA1C levels, a way of estimating average blood sugar for the past 3 months, and it was reassuring. It is likely that the fasting blood sugar levels have more to do with my low carb, high fat lifestyle than with insulin issues. So I appear to have dodged that bullet, for now at least.

Still, it really brought home to me how vulnerable so many of us are in the Western world, to dysregulating our hormones without even knowing it. Not only those that keep us from poisoning our cells with excess blood sugar, but also those that destroy cells that are proliferating out of control, those that control our reproductive cycles (for both women and men), our digestive systems, our immune systems, and many others. There are studies to suggest that hormonal issues are at the bottom of many of our chronic ailments, and they are a direct result of our sedentary, chronically stressed lifestyle.

So what to do?

It’s easy to say “eat less and move more”. Medical professionals have been saying this for over half a century, and things are only getting worse. There are complex emotional and economic factors to how most of us eat, and not everyone has access to safe places to exercise, especially now. 

Still, we can take more control of our lives than we might feel we have now. My little blood meter was not very expensive, and it allows me to do some quick surveillance now and then. I got it originally to keep track of my ketone levels, and now it does both ketones and glucose.

I pay attention to what I eat, and I get myself out of the house for at least a quick walk every day. It’s the small things that help me feel less like a piece of driftwood caught in the current, and more like someone with agency. 

I’d love to hear what you do to be aware of what is going on in your body. Do you track things like food and exercise (and blood sugar or ketones, or both?). Hit the comments and let me know!