How Eating Healthy Fat Helps Lower Blood Sugar and Boosts Weight Loss After 50
This too-often villainized macronutrient does more good for your glucose than you think
If you’re watching your blood glucose levels, you already know to keep an eye on carbohydrates to avoid overdoing it. But does fat raise your blood sugar too? It’s a surprisingly common question, and one that’s especially important for women over 50. Here we break down how the right type of fat can actually improve your blood sugar and ward off type 2 diabetes (it even helped one woman lose 100 pounds!), plus how much you need to eat to get the health benefits.
How dietary fats affect your blood sugar
When you consume carbohydrates, your body breaks them down into sugars that are absorbed into the bloodstream, explains Frank Dumont, MD, executive medical director at Virta Health, a nutrition-focused diabetes management platform.
If you have metabolic dysfunction or insulin resistance, the body ignores the insulin signal that tells it to take glucose out of the bloodstream, making blood sugar levels rise. The body releases even more insulin as a result, which results in more insulin resistance, and a vicious cycle of metabolism health issues.
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On the other hand, fats do not rely on insulin to be taken up by cells, so they don’t contribute to glucose elevations. “Even individuals with insulin resistance can use fat as a fuel without it contributing to higher sugars or worsening their insulin resistance,” says Dr. Durmont.
Menopause can raise diabetes risk
Knowing how macronutrients like fat affect your blood sugar is key, because the risk for diabetes increases over the years—especially for women. “As women age and progress through menopause, their hormones shift, and this affects their metabolism in ways which can increase the risk even further,” says Dr. Dumont.
Once estrogen levels dip during menopause, women start to accumulate more fat in their midsection. This is associated with a number of negative health effects, including insulin resistance.
How healthy fats lower blood sugar levels
While saturated fats and trans fats have a negative effect on blood sugar and even raise the risk of heart disease, not all fats are the enemy. Eating unprocessed, unsaturated fats can benefit your heart health and metabolic health in the long term. These are fats that have higher ratios of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids. Good sources of these beneficial fats include fatty fish, nuts, avocado and olive oil.
Healthy amounts of “good” fat slow down the digestive process, which results in a delayed rise in glucose levels, according to the Joslin Diabetes Center. In fact, people who ate more polyunsaturated fats had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in a study published in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN.
“Women focusing on increasing healthy fats in their diets and decreasing carbohydrates, particularly simple sugars and more processed carbohydrates, will no longer fuel the fire which leads to higher sugar levels and worsened insulin resistance,” says Dr. Dumont.
Preliminary data also suggests that a lower carbohydrate and higher fat nutritional approach might help to stabilize and improve our hormones, adds Dr. Dumont. This can make a notable difference in menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings and quality of sleep.
As a bonus perk, you may find that you simply enjoy foods with healthy fats more. They tend to be richer and more satisfying to the palate, which leads to fewer cravings.
How much healthy fat should you eat?
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans notes that total fat should make up 20 to 35 percent of your daily calories (about 700 calories, or 78 grams, if you’re on a 2,000-calorie diet). For saturated fat, that number drops to 10 percent or less of daily calories (200 calories or 22 grams, respectively).
Dr. Dumont recalls one woman who recently spoke at an all-company meeting about the positive metabolic effects she experienced from eating healthy fats. She had struggled with weight and multiple associated health issues for most of her adult life.
“When she increased her fat intake and got her carbohydrate intake right for her body, she lost over 100 pounds without having to feel hungry all of the time,” says Dr. Dumont. “She came off of her blood pressure medicines, which she no longer needed.”
In general, diabetes and high blood pressure are closely related. Those with diabetes are twice as likely to have high blood pressure, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Why views on dietary fat have shifted
Dr. Dumont says that he was taught fats were often the enemy in medical school. However, after over 25 years of practicing medicine, he shifted his thinking. “Foods which are high in healthy fats are not the problem,” says Dr. Dumont. “In fact, they can be one of our most powerful tools in combating the metabolic crisis which many of us are facing in this country.”
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