The easiest way to lower blood sugar naturally with Type 2 Diabetes

If you have type 2 diabetes, chances are you have spent a lot of time learning how to lower your blood sugar levels. And thankfully, there are many natural ways to lower blood sugar with healthy eating and physical activity. For instance, research has found losing 10% of your body weight can lower A1C levels (a measurement of blood sugar averages over the last three months) by as much as 0.81%.

Although healthy eating and physical activity can be effective ways to naturally lower blood sugar without medication, they take time and a good deal of effort to pay off . What if there was an easier, scientifically proven way to lower blood sugar naturally that took less than a minute each day? Now there is, and it’s called Pendulum Glucose Control, the first and only medical probiotic created by Pendulum, a cutting-edge company dedicated to making people healthier through microbiome-targeted solutions.

Pendulum Glucose Control is a safe and natural solution that has been clinically proven to lower A1C levels (by 0.6 percent) and blood sugar spikes (by 33 percent).* Designed specifically for people with type 2 diabetes, Pendulum Glucose Control contains targeted strains of beneficial bacteria that help restore disrupted gut function, a key component to blood sugar control.

This post has been created in partnership with Pendulum. As always, all opinions are my own

How to lower A1C through your gut

When you think about managing diabetes, do you think about gut health? If not, you probably should. The gut plays a large role in the regulation of both insulin and glucose (sugar) in the body. Beneficial bacteria in the gut help to breakdown fiber and in the process produce the short-chain fatty acid butyrate. This fatty acid then helps support the body’s natural ability to signal insulin production and stabilize blood glucose levels. Which is one reason why high fiber diets are heavily promoted to people with diabetes.

As a diabetes educator and registered dietitian, I am always telling my clients to eat more fiber since, let’s face it, we can all benefit from more. The Institute of Medicine recommends we eat between 19 grams to 38 grams of fiber per day depending on age and gender, yet the majority of us fall exceedingly short of that goal. But even when meeting daily fiber goals, people with type 2 diabetes don’t always see an improvement in blood sugar levels, which can be frustrating.

When eating a high fiber diet, if you are lacking the specific gut microbes to metabolize that fiber, the ingested fiber will simply pass through the gut. When this happens, you miss out on the full health benefits. People with type 2 diabetes are often low or missing specific gut microbes that metabolize fiber into beneficial butyrate.

In the gut, butyrate binds to protein receptors to stimulate the release of a hormone that triggers the body to produce insulin. When the production of butyrate is reduced, this in turn can throw off the insulin and blood glucose regulation in the body making it harder to maintain healthy glucose control–even with a healthful diet.

What does this mean? Even if you increase your dietary fiber, if you are lacking the beneficial bacteria to break down that fiber, you are missing out on the health and blood glucose benefits that added dietary fiber provides. When you change your diet but don’t see results, that’s frustrating. As a diabetes healthcare professional, I can tell you that when you don’t see results from changing your diet, you will be unlikely to stick with those changes.

There is good news, though. Research on the gut microbiome has found that this reduced ability can actually be restored when the right strains of beneficial bacteria are replenished in the gut. Through DNA sequencing, Pendulum has identified unique, targeted strains of beneficial bacteria that help restore disrupted gut function in people with type 2 diabetes, and incorporated them into a patented formulation. By taking Pendulum Glucose Control twice daily, clinical research has found this medical probiotic can reduce A1C levels by as much as 0.6% and blood sugar spikes by 33%* in a 12-week period.

Lower your blood sugar naturally in just minutes

How amazing would it be to see an improvement in your blood glucose levels and A1C levels from doing something that only takes one minute each day? I know I was pretty excited about the idea! By taking Pendulum Glucose Control just twice daily, you can provide your gut with the beneficial bacteria that it may be lacking. And by replenishing these helpful bacteria strains, you can finally start to see the effects of your dietary efforts pay off.

To be clear, though, I am not recommending you take a probiotic and forget about changing your diet or never exercise again. Instead, Pendulum Glucose Control complements your lifestyle changes so they can be as effective as possible.

In the past, when someone was newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I’d give them a meal plan focused on increasing fiber, reducing refined carbohydrates, and spacing out slow digested carbs during the day. For some people, that change made a huge difference in blood glucose control. But for others, no matter what dietary changes they made, their blood glucose changed very little. And that was not only frustrating for the patient, but for me as the practitioner as well.

What made the difference? Why would some people see an improvement in blood glucose from making a few dietary changes, but others wouldn’t? Research now shows us the differences may lie in our own unique microbiomes. Through years of research, Pendulum was able to map out exactly what beneficial bacteria strains were lacking in people with type 2 diabetes. Through clinical research, they were able to develop a unique blend of probiotics and a prebiotic that would naturally lower blood sugar levels simply by reintroducing these strains to the gut of people with type 2 diabetes.

It is an amazing breakthrough and one I am incredibly excited about as a diabetes healthcare provider. And I don’t just want to tell you about it, I want you to try it for yourself to see the difference it can make in your own blood glucose control*. That’s why I have partnered with them so you can  receive 30% off your first bottle of Pendulum Glucose Control  using the code ERINNJ.

It is important to remember that Pendulum Glucose Control is a medical food  and can be taken on top of first line drug therapy such as metformin. It is intended for use only under physician supervision as part of a total diabetes management plan. So, share this information with your diabetes care team and see if Pendulum Glucose Control is right for you. If you do try it, come back and let me know the difference you see in your daily blood glucose levels as well as your A1C. I can’t wait to hear all about it!

If you like this post, check out What is Akkermansia Muciniphila and Should You Be Taking It and Berberine vs Metformin for Blood Sugar Control 101 as well.

**A nutrition study demonstrated a significant reduction in A1C and blood sugar spikes in people with type 2 diabetes. The study was randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, and across multiple sites in the U.S.

*Consult your physician as part of your total diabetes management plan. Results may vary from person to person.