A Texas-based clinical pharmacist says the key to steady blood sugar isn’t another pill — it’s the habits people already have the power to change: what they eat, how they move, how they sleep and how they handle stress.
Jim LaValle, a metabolic medicine expert based in Texas, told Fox News Digital that most people can learn a great deal about their own bodies simply by tracking how their blood sugar responds after meals, a measure known as postprandial glucose.
“Do I spike more from eating rice, or do I spike from eating quinoa? How much can I eat? I think that’s a foundational issue.”
LaValle explained that insulin resistance — when cells stop responding properly to insulin — is often driven by inflammation in the body. Normally, insulin shuttles glucose out of the bloodstream and into muscle cells, where it’s stored as glycogen for later use. When that process breaks down, blood sugar stays elevated.
He said he’s a “big believer” in a higher-protein breakfast rather than a carb-heavy one, noting that cortisol is naturally elevated in the morning and can compound blood sugar swings when paired with sugary or refined-carb meals.
“You’ve got to watch how many sugars are in food, how many refined carbohydrates you’re [eating].”
One of the simplest fixes, LaValle said, is a 10-minute walk after eating. Regular exercise helps too, though he acknowledged that’s easier said than done for people working long hours or raising kids alone.
“It’s easy to say, ‘eat better, exercise, sleep better,’ but then people are working 16-hour days or are single parents, they get home, they open up their pantry and destroy a bag of cookies because that’s the first thing they can eat and their blood sugar’s plummeted.”
Even small amounts of movement after a meal help, he said, especially in a modern world that has engineered physical activity out of daily life.
LaValle also pointed to stress management and sleep as central to glucose control. Poor sleep, he said, throws off the hormones that regulate blood sugar and appetite alike.
“When you don’t sleep and you don’t get enough rest to reset your body for the next day … all those hormones that are supposed to be getting released get skewed.”
He noted that sleep apnea is commonly linked to diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure and obesity — underscoring why sleep habits matter for metabolic health. Hyperarousal of the brain, he added, can also drive insomnia, especially in people who stay anxious and overcommitted around the clock.
Bad sleep, in turn, can push people toward eating more just to fuel the brain, creating a cycle that’s hard to break.
“So you eat more, you’re not efficient at packaging that fuel up, you’re moving less … and those are the things that you have control over.”
LaValle’s message is straightforward: the levers that matter most for blood sugar — food choices, movement, sleep and stress — remain in the hands of the individual, not a doctor’s office.
