5 Plants Similar to Insulin That Lower Your Blood Sugar

There is so much awareness surrounding the potential health repercussions of having high sugar levels in your bloodstream.

Having consistently high sugar levels within your bloodstream over extended periods can cause serious health problems if left untreated.

While most people associate high blood sugar levels with a diagnosis of Diabetes, however, Hyperglycemia can occur in anybody at any time, and often it is something that goes undetected until blood monitoring is carried out.

Monitoring the sugar levels in your blood is relatively simple. You can do it with either a professionally administered blood test, a self-test that includes pricking a finger with a small needle to extract blood and testing it with a BM monitor, or a breath test device.

A medical professional should always interpret any provided readings, and any potential diagnosis will originate from your healthcare practitioner.

You can control blood sugar levels via pharmaceutical interventions such as administering synthetic Insulin, metformin, or specific diet control. Still, these will only be prescribed if there is a diagnosis of Diabetes.

The rest of the population who are concerned about maintaining a low blood sugar level can look to nature to find naturally occurring substances that have been shown to have a positive impact on lowering blood sugar levels.

What Are The Risks Of Having High Blood Sugar

When you have high levels of sugar in the blood, your body can react in many ways to counteract the sugar with a substance called Insulin, a naturally produced hormone coming from the pancreas.

Insulin is produced to counteract the high levels of sugar in the blood by neutralizing the sugar content to enable the blood sugar levels to come down to a more normal level, which is as follows:

• Less than the reading of 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L) is a normal range.
• More than 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L) after two hours is indicative of DiabetesDiabetes.
• Between the readings of 140 and 199 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L and 11.0 mmol/L) is indicative of prediabetes.

Having consistently high levels of sugar in the blood can:

• Cause Damage the blood vessels that provide blood to the vital organs
• Increase the risk of heart disease
• Increase the instances of having a stroke
• Increase the chances of having kidney disease
• Cause loss of consciousness
• Cause problems with vision
• Provoke nerve problems

While high blood sugar levels have been known to cause no immediate health concerns in some individuals, it is something that everyone needs to be aware of as the longer high blood sugar levels are present in your blood, they can accumulate to some serious health concerns later in life, so prevention is definitely better than cure in this scenario!

What Natural Elements Can Help Lower My Blood Sugar Level?

Nature has some of the most amazing natural substances that have been shown to assist in naturally lowering blood sugar levels, so let’s look and see what they are and how they can help maintain a consistent lower blood sugar level for you.

Aloe Vera (Aloe barbadensis miller)

Aloe vera is a plant that is part of the cactus family and may help you if you are seeking a way to lower your blood sugar naturally.

Aloe vera can be found growing in the wild and can also be cultivated domestically. It is an incredibly robust plant with a tough green exterior, but inside the leaves, you will find a gel-like clear substance that is very sticky, and this part is where the magic is!

You can also find supplements or ready-made juices that are made from the leaves of the Aloe plant.

It has been shown that it can help to lower fasting blood sugar levels and reduce the A1C reading ( the baseline reading that is taken via a fasting blood test) and in those people with suspected prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.

It has been reported that aloe may stimulate insulin production within the pancreas; however, more studies are being undertaken to prove this effect officially.

Recommended Daily Dosages: The standard doses that have been tested in studies include 1,000 mg capsules or two tablespoons/30 ml of aloe juice daily. However, the actual dosage with attached efficiency is not known.

Contraindications: Aloe is a contraindicator with several medications, so always seek guidance from a health professional; however, you should never take aloe with Digoxin (heart medication)

Gymnema (Gymnema Sylvestre)

Gymnema is a natural herb used primarily as a treatment for DiabetesDiabetes in India as part of the Ayurvedic tradition. The Hindu name for the plant “Gurmar” directly translates to “sugar destroyer”.

You can find the power of this potent herb in the leaves of the plant, where ancient herbalists have historically used them to make tinctures and teas for consumption.

Reports on this her suggest that this herb may assist in lowering someones fasting blood sugar level and have a positive effect on the A1C results in those people with type 1 diabetes (those people who have no insulin production in the pancreas)

The Gymnema herb may reduce the amount of sugar that is absorbed in the gut and may also support and increase the amount of sugar your cells use from the sugar in the blood.

Recommended Daily Dosage: The suggested dose is 200 mg of Gymnema leaf extract, taken twice a day with your meals.

Contraindications: Gymnemna should only be used alongside professional medical guidance given its effectiveness with Type 1 Diabetics, so caution should be applied if you administer insulin injections.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum Verum)

Cinnamon is an incredibly common spice and can be found in friend and powdered formats all over the work.

The cinnamon formats that are used in cinnamon supplements can be made from either the whole cinnamon that is then powdered or a cinnamon extract.

It is said that cinnamon may help your body’s cells respond in a more effective way to Insulin. This means that the amount of sugar in your blood is more easily utilized by your cells for metabolization, which will effectively lower the levels of sugar that can be found in the blood.

Recommended Daily Dosages: The recommended dose of particularly cinnamon extract is 250 mg, which is to be taken twice a day before any meals you consume. This recommendation is different from a regular cinnamon supplement, which is then recommended to take 500 mg twice a day.

Contraindications: Common cinnamon contains higher levels of a compound called coumarin, which may cause harm to your liver when consumed in high amounts. The Ceylon variety of cinnamon, however, is lower in coumarin in comparison.

American Ginseng (Panax Quinquefolius)

American Ginseng can be found widely and has been shown to decrease blood sugar levels after meals in healthy individuals with no diagnosis of any form of Diabetes, but also in those with type 2 diabetes.

American Ginseng may help improve the rate at which your cells respond to sugar within the blood and may also increase insulin production within the pancreas.

Recommended Daily Dosage:  It is recommended to take 1 gram of American Ginseng within the preceding two hours before each main meal; however, any sooner than 2 hours may cause you to dip too low.

Contraindications: American Ginseng can negatively affect the process of the anti-coagulant Warfarin, so it is best to avoid this herb if you are on any warfarin treatment schedule.

It has also been shown that it may over-stimulate your immune system, which could harm the uptake of any immunosuppressant drug therapies.

Fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum-Graecum)

As we have seen previously, Fenugreek seeds are a great source of soluble fiber.

This is particularly helpful when lowering your blood sugar levels naturally, as the fiber helps slow down the digestive process and inhibit the rapid absorption of consumed carbohydrates.

This has a positive impact on lowering blood sugar levels and may effectively control Hyperglycemia in people with Diabetes.

Recommended Daily Dosage: There are different schools of thought over the most effective dosage of fenugreek for lowering blood sugar levels. The dosage may differ on whether the source is from the seeds or the leaves and indeed the delivery method.

There are no actual definitive figures available as to what dosages are optimum for controlling blood sugar levels.

Contraindications: Fenugreek could negatively impact blood sugar levels and cause Hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels) if not taken preceding a meal. It may also affect the effectiveness of any medications taken for the same element of lowering blood sugar levels, such as metformin or any other medicines prescribed to control blood sugar levels.

Conclusion

There are so very many herbs and plants that have been used to combat high blood sugar levels throughout history, and ancient herbalists have used everything in nature for many years to combat all sorts of diseases, including DiabetesDiabetes and those who present with Hyperglycaemia.

High blood sugars can be detrimental to health if left undiagnosed and untreated. While people who have high blood glucose levels may be blissfully unaware they have it, it can also, of course, present in some other people as they become increasingly poorly from the effects of having high blood sugar.

Naturopathic ingredients, such as the ones mentioned here, can be incredibly helpful in helping to naturally lower a person’s blood sugar levels by working on the different areas of the body that deal with insulin production and metabolization.

But always apply caution if you take any other medications, as there may be instances where the natural remedy may be incompatible with any pharmaceutical intervention.

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