Overview:

Glucose is your preferred fuel for energy. Your brain is picky. It only runs on glucose. Your body will create glucose for your brain to keep it happy.  

If you want to produce fast energy for movement – especially explosive energy, for example if you are pushing a stalled car from the roadway or evacuating a building, glucose stored in your muscle will get you out.  

There’s no time to burn fat – it takes time to burn fat for energy . And even when you do burn fat for energy it’s not explosive, it’s not fast. Fat doesn’t sprint upstairs or push cars.  Fat is fuel for the long haul for sustained activity.  

If you want to “get up and go” for 1 – 3 minutes, you better have glucose onboard, and your body’s glucose metabolism better be tuned up and that takes regular physical activity.  

Our body’s source for glucose is dietary carbohydrate. Since we need glucose for energy our body stores glucose, mostly in your skeletal muscle, then in the liver, and lastly in your blood.  

The more active and fit you are, the better your body stores glucose in the muscle. Unfit, glucose in the blood, builds up to unhealthy levels because your liver and muscle are less efficient taking up glucose and storing it for later. Also, if you don’t use glucose for energy then your storage can reach 100% capacity and that stops glucose from being taken up in the muscle and liver.  

When you’re eating carbohydrate, be sure to be active, and everything can work as intended. Glucose metabolism is trainable. Which means glucose metabolism can become untrained. Even sitting for hours decreases the efficiency of your body’s glucose metabolism. Even if you’re fit.  

Glucose that isn’t used for energy and isn’t stored in the muscles and liver is problematic.  Glucose left to build up in the blood can damage nerves, eyes, blood vessels, cause urinary tract infections and increase risk of sepsis during hospitalization. Excess blood glucose is a cause of obesity. 

Chronically high levels of blood glucose is called diabetes.  

If you’re not exercising, then you body has to regulate blood glucose by spilling the glucose from your blood into your urine. That’s only so effective.  

And in response to high levels of blood glucose your pancreas keeps producing insulin which results in conversion of glucose to fatty acids (triglycerides) in your liver. Your liver can become fatty with these triglycerides (fatty liver disease). The liver packages the fat converted from glucose into cholesterol which is released into the blood stream. Free-floating triglycerides released can be stored as body fat. This is for use to create energy later (see a pattern?). 

We have to get active and high blood glucose is a sign to get more active. If you don’t want to contribute to higher cholesterol levels, higher body fat levels, fatty liver disease then rev up your glucose metabolism with exercise. Regular exercise.  Physical activity many times per day. 

Exercise enough to lower the glucose stored in your muscle and liver, then the next time you eat carbohydrate, the glucose will be preferentially used to replenish the storage in the muscle and liver.  

Glucose Factor Action Items: 

• Watch the Glucose Factor introduction/overview video 

• Take the Pre-diabetes Risk Test found in the Glucose Factor resources 

• There are probably too many glucose factor resources for you to read so look at the plethora of resources gathered for you and read those of interest. And maybe read a few others too.  

• There will be a Glucose Factor Webinar and quiz. I promise. The webinars and quizzes are optional and endorse separately for WellPath points. These webinars will continue to be available on-demand for WellPathians not participating in the E8 Challenge.  

• Check you blood sugar and compare it to the norms you find in the Glucose Factor Resources and videos. Know Your Number is still going on and is one way for you measure your blood glucose if you haven’t had it measured recently.