You can connect many minerals to blood sugar, but if I had to pick the most important to focus on, I’d choose these:

• Magnesium: helps the body use insulin properly and can improve insulin sensitivity. This means with adequate magnesium, our cells need less insulin to get the same amount of blood sugar inside the cell. Less insulin = more stable blood sugar levels and less fat storage.
  • Magnesium rich foods: Beans, lentils, cooked greens, salmon, dairy, avocado, cacao, coffee
• Potassium: helps shuttle glucose inside the cell. When potassium levels are deficient, it can make getting glucose inside our cells harder.
  • Potassium rich foods: Potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, apricots, citrus, squash, beets, cooked greens, coconut water, mango, aloe vera juice, beef, salmon, dairy
• Calcium: helps the cells in our pancreas make insulin. If we have low levels, this can make it difficult to produce enough insulin and lead to blood sugar swings.
  • Calcium rich foods: Dairy, cooked greens, sardines with bones, salmon, bone broth, egg shell powder
• Sodium: sodium helps nutrients pass through our cells. Low sodium levels can increase insulin resistance, which will lead to unstable blood sugar levels and negatively impact all types of hormones.
  • Sodium rich foods: Sea salt, mineral water, seaweed, kelp, dairy, fermented foods, adrenal cocktails, bone broth
• Iron: excess iron can lead to insulin resistance and make it very difficult to maintain stable blood sugar levels. This is typically related to PCOS, hemochromatosis, or excess iron supplementation.

Other minerals that can also impact blood sugar and insulin include: boron, zinc, selenium, chromium, and iodine. These are not macro minerals, which is why I don’t recommend focusing on them first.

Why We Can’t Just Focus On Food

Including mineral rich foods is an important step when it comes to replenishing our mineral levels, but it can’t be the only thing we focus on. Why? Stress has a huge impact on our mineral status. We live in a fast-paced world that doesn’t even slow down for meals anymore. We are expected to always be productive in some way and be available at all times. We are scrolling social media and taking in more information than our brains can handle, not to mention the comparison that also comes up for many people.

Unfortunately, a lot of women I work with have been dealing with stress from a young age and have been in chronic fight or flight most of their lives. This has left them depleted with very few mineral resources left and in hormonal and metabolic chaos. The way we live our lives does not support health or mineral balance. We use up more minerals in response to stress, which is why so many are struggling with improving their mineral status.

When the body experiences a stressor, the first mineral utilized is magnesium. Sodium quickly follows, which will also impact potassium levels. This stress cascade then leads to using up our precious mineral resources; if not replenished, we will end up with deficiencies. So, while prioritizing mineral-rich foods, as I listed above, is helpful, we must work hard to overcome a stressful lifestyle. We have to address how we live on a day-to-day basis and get honest with how we can slowly make changes.

If you enjoy learning and haven’t gone through my free resources, you can check them all out below:

• Not sure if minerals are a concern for you? Take our mineral quiz to get an idea.​
• Concerned with thyroid health? Check out this educational free training all about the thyroid.​
• Do you have concerns with your period? Learn all about your cycle with my free Healthy Period Starter Guide.​
• If you like to listen to podcasts, you can check out the Are You Menstrual? Podcast to learn about a wide variety of topics related to female health.
• Want to nerd out about minerals? Check out my mineral deep dive episodes:
  • ​Iodine​
  • ​Copper​
  • ​Calcium​
  • ​Magnesium​
  • ​Sodium​
  • ​Potassium​
  • ​Zinc​
  • ​Iron Part 1​
  • ​Iron Part 2​
  • ​Selenium

reminder: i’m currently taking on 1:1 clients. if you’d like to explore what it would be like to work together and if we are a good fit, fill out this form to get more details!​