Consistent energy without the afternoon crash, fewer cravings, better mood, and more regulated hormone health — balanced blood sugar is the key lever behind it all.
But how do you keep it in balance without getting bored, burnt out, or swept up by the lies of diet culture and boycotting it altogether?
With so many benefits to your overall health, I’ve teamed up with Karina Baloleanu, CFNC to help you navigate balancing your blood sugar without feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.
From the biggest roadblocks she navigates with patients who want to balance their blood sugar to easy solutions to combat the top frustrations, along with our go-to recipes, we’re here to help you support your health and longevity!
Plus, I’m sharing a little experiment I’ve started to showcase the impact of balanced blood sugar in real time.1
Struggle #1: “Eggs for breakfast every day will get old fast”
Protein at breakfast is one of the most impactful things you can do for blood sugar stability throughout the day. It slows digestion, blunts the glucose response, and keeps hunger hormones in check until lunch. The general target I (Karina) recommend is around 30g of protein at that first meal.
The problem is that most people default to eggs, and either eat 1 or 2 eggs and think it’s enough, or get tired of them within two weeks, and slowly go back to their usual carb-rich breakfast. Some even skip it altogether.
The solution is to have more protein-rich options, and with a bit of creativity, you’ll see a protein-forward breakfast is anything but boring.
Solution #1: Have a variety of protein-rich options to choose from
I(Grace) do love a good breakfast with eggs, but let’s be honest, some mornings you just want to open up your fridge and enjoy a ready-made breakfast.
This chocolate cherry chia pudding is a refreshing breakfast, perfect for summertime. It’s rich in protein, and the chia seeds offer an extra boost of fiber and healthy fats to support digestion and hormone health too.
I also love this blueberry banana bread overnight oats recipe, and a savory non-egg breakfast like this turkey meatball nourish bowl.
With a variety of nourishing, high-protein breakfasts to have on rotation, you’ll wake up every morning looking forward to breakfast and support balanced blood sugar too.
Struggle #2: “I want something sweet without the crash”
This is one of the first things clients bring up, usually with some guilt attached, as if wanting something sweet and eating a blood sugar-balancing diet don’t match.
The goal with blood sugar balance is never to eliminate sweets permanently.
It’s to understand what makes them spike you and what doesn’t. A few small changes can actually change your entire physiological response, including changes to:
The ingredients that make up your meals
The foods that you pair together with each meal (protein + fiber with every meal)
The timing in which you eat different foods (protein first)
Getting those three things right means you can still have something sweet and feel fine afterward.
Replacing all-purpose flours with almond and coconut flours and having sweets after a protein-packed meal rather than on an empty stomach can have a bigger impact than you might imagine. Now you can have your cake and eat it too!
Solution #2: Make sweets with nutrient-dense ingredients and enjoy them after a protein-packed meal
As a chocolate lover (Grace), my go-to sweet treat always has something to do with dark chocolate. This dark chocolate sea salt brownie bark is a no-bake option that’s both gluten-free and dairy-free.
With the extra boost of protein and healthy fats from both the almond flour and peanut butter, this sweet has a balanced macronutrient makeup that causes a more steady blood sugar response. Naturally sweetened with maple syrup and made with cacao powder, it is not only delicious but also adds an extra boost of antioxidants.
Now, you can enjoy nutrient-dense sweet treats without sacrificing blood sugar balance.
Struggle #3: “Will I never get to eat pizza, pasta, or my favorite foods again?”
This is probably the biggest mental barrier I (Karina) see. People come in already grieving food they haven’t even given up yet. The truth is that blood sugar balance is not about eliminating entire categories of food. It’s about understanding what happens in your body when you eat them, and making smarter choices around them rather than swearing them off entirely.
Most of my clients still eat pasta, pizza, or their other favorite meals. They just eat them a little differently, like:
Eating them occasionally versus routinely
Starting with veggies first
Stacking them with a walk post-meal
Tweaking a few ingredients with balanced blood sugar in mind
Solution #3: Be strategic about what you pair your meals with and the ingredients included
We all know pasta comes in a variety of shapes, but have you discovered how delicious pasta-alternative ingredients can be?!
Lentil pasta is one of my (Grace) favorites – it’s a fun & bright color, it tastes great, and it adds in extra protein to any meal you make.
My favorite way to enjoy red lentil pasta is with pan-seared chicken thighs, fresh zucchini, and a zesty chimichurri sauce that all comes together in less than 45 minutes!
Some of my other favorite pastas include chickpea pasta, edamame pasta, heart of palm pasta, and spaghetti squash for balanced, high-fiber options.
Struggle #4: “If I eat ‘clean’, will I have to eat the same thing every day?”
This one doesn’t get talked about enough. A lot of people start eating for their health and end up cycling through the same five meals on repeat — Chicken, broccoli, sweet potato. Repeat.
This matters beyond just boredom. Diversity in the diet directly supports the gut microbiome, and the gut microbiome plays a significant role in how well the body regulates blood sugar, among other things. Eating the same things day after day is quietly working against the very goal you’re trying to reach.
Solution #4: Get creative and enjoy an abundant variety of fresh produce and proteins
I’m (Grace) a huge fan of variety, especially when it comes to food!
Cabbage is one of those veggies that can be eaten a dozen different ways, depending on how you dress it up. It’s super high in antioxidants and fiber, making it an easy choice if you’re eating to support your health.
I love blistering cabbage wedges with a cast iron and decorating them up with a creamy lemon tahini sauce like in this Blistered cabbage steaks recipe
Cabbage also pairs beautifully in a balanced green salad, loaded with quinoa, edamame, cucumber and fresh herbs. This Cabbage crush quinoa salad is one of my favorites!
Sautéed cabbage tastes delicious in a one-pot stir fry, like this easy Ancestral beef & cabbage stir fry.
Come cook cabbage stir fry with me (virtually) this week!
When: Saturday, July 25th at 5 pm EST
Where: Substack (LIVE)
Click below to add the cooking event directly to your calendar. I’d love to have you there!
Struggle #5: “Will I have to eat less or be hungry all the time if I want to balance my blood sugar?”
This might be the most common misconception I (Karina) work through with women in particular.
Blood sugar balance is not a restriction protocol. It’s not about small portions or going hungry between meals. In fact, most of my clients need to eat more, specifically more protein, more fiber, and more fat, because under-eating is itself a blood sugar stressor. When you don’t eat enough, cortisol rises, and cortisol raises blood sugar.
The goal is enough food, built the right way.
Solution #5: Eat enough food, with meals built to support you well — full of protein, fiber, and healthy fats
I (Grace) love the emphasis on an abundant mindset, especially with the false narrative around restrictiveness and dieting when it comes to being ‘healthy.’ Once I started eating more protein and fiber in my diet, I felt so much better and so much more energized — it’s incredible what that one shift can do.
One of my go-to meals full of protein, fiber, and healthy fats is this Chimichurri steak bowl. It’s a reminder to me that nourishing food should be absolutely delicious too!
The sirloin steak is a solid protein source, the parsley chimichurri sauce offers healthy fats to support balanced blood sugar, and the cooked potatoes (with the skin on) and tomatoes offer a boost of fiber. I also layer it on a bed of greens for even more micronutrients.
An experiment: Does the food you eat really impact your blood sugar?
Over the next 2 weeks, I’ll be tracking every meal I make and how it impacts my blood sugar using the Stelo Glucose Biosensor, which connects directly with my Oura Ring. Stay tuned for what I learned, what surprised me most, and what I’ll change knowing what I know now.
Balanced blood sugar is the key to health and longevity
With blood sugar being the primary source of energy for the body's key processes, maintaining balanced levels is crucial to overall health.
Eating for blood sugar balance is not about doing everything perfectly or giving up the foods you love. It’s about strategically choosing and pairing ingredients that work better together.
Big thank you to Karina Baloleanu, CFNC for sharing her expertise and experiences today to give us a better understanding of the biggest struggles with balancing blood sugar and what to do about it. Be sure to go check out her page, where you’ll find more root-cause nutrition and approaches to support you well.
For more protein & fiber-packed whole food recipes, weekly meal plans, and practical wellness tips to help you eat well and feel well too, join the Grace & Greens community!
Before you go, we’d love to know — what resonated with you most from this week’s post?
Wishing you a nourishing & balanced week ahead,
Grace Barker & Karina Baloleanu, CFNC
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