Show Notes:
If you’re trying to keep your blood sugar steady—whether you’re managing a diagnosis or just want to feel better throughout the day—this episode is packed with practical advice you can actually use. Registered dietitian and certified personal trainer Ashley Sponsky breaks down how movement and food choices work together to support balanced blood sugar.
Ashley shares why strength training twice a week and brisk walking for about 21 minutes a day are a powerful combo. We also talk about how meal timing, fiber, and protein (100 grams a day is her goal!) can help you stay full, energized, and avoid those sugar crashes. From lifting heavier weights to starting meals with veggies, Ashley gives us real-world tips to make small changes that add up.
Top Three Things You Will Learn In This Episode:
- How strength training and brisk walking help regulate blood sugar — including how often to do them, how to challenge your muscles effectively, and why walking after meals makes a difference.
- The role of protein and fiber in stabilizing blood sugar — how much to aim for daily, why they keep you full and steady, and the best food sources to include.
- Simple meal strategies to prevent blood sugar spikes — like pairing carbs with protein and eating veggies first to slow digestion and improve glucose response.
Episode Notes and Resources:
Ashley Sponsky’s Website: https://fueledandfit.us/
- Connect with Ashley on Instagram and Facebook at @fueledandfitllc
Support Mama Needs a Moment! Become a patron through our Mama Needs a Moment Patreon.HER Circle – https://www.herhealthcollective.com/membership
Transcript:
Crissy
Today’s guest is Ashley Sponsky, a registered dietitian and certified personal trainer who’s all about ditching the Diet Rules and helping people build a healthy relationship with food and movement. Originally from the Philadelphia area, Ashley made her way to Raleigh over a decade ago to complete her dietetic internship and earn her master’s from Meredith College. She takes a no gimmicks, no fads, approach to health, helping clients cut through the noise and discover sustainable, nourishing habits that actually work. In today’s episode, we’re chatting with Ashley about how to eat and exercise for better blood sugar balance without the stress, shame or confusing regimens. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed trying to do it all right, this one’s for you, and I have to say, I am super excited about this topic. Blood Sugar has recently become, I don’t want to say, an obsession, because that’s bad, but it’s something I’m very excited to learn more about and dive into I have the continuous glucose monitor I’m following, and I’m seeing how food impacts my blood sugar levels. And it’s fascinating. The human body is fascinating, and I’m just really excited to dive into this topic. So Ashley, thank you for being with us today.
Ashley Sponsky
Thanks for having me. I’m so excited.
Cindi
I have to say, I’m very interested in this as well. And the first question that I want to talk to you about to begin our discussion is on the topic of exercise. We know that physical activity plays a really big role in blood sugar regulation, but as a former fitness instructor, Crissy was as well, we understand that not all exercise is created equal. So we’d love for you to share ways that the different kind of movements can be especially beneficial. So how often should we be doing them? What is the best movement that will help lower or stabilize our blood sugars?
Ashley Sponsky
Yeah, absolutely. And I could definitely talk all day about this topic. I love talking about exercise, but in specific how it would benefit our health, and especially our blood sugars. So I first just want to throw out there that all Exercise and Movement that you enjoy can be beneficial. So there’s no right or wrong exercise when it comes to blood sugar management. However, I’m going to mention two different types of exercise that I think would be most beneficial when balancing blood sugars. So the first is strength training. So strength training can be, technically, any exercise that is weight bearing and provides load to your muscles. So this could be body weight exercises. This could be resistance bands. It could be going to the gym and using the machines or using barbells and dumbbells. Kettlebells are popular now too. So there’s a variety of different ways you can get your strength training in, but strength training is really going to be one of your keys to blood sugar success. The general recommendation is to strength train about two times a week, and if you are strength training two times a week, we’re looking for full body movements. So using major muscle groups and incorporating major muscle groups throughout your entire body, you’re, of course, able and recommended to work out even more than two times a week, if you see that fit in your routine and your schedule, but if you only have limited time to exercise and you’re looking to lower those blood sugars, two times of a week of full body movements will do the trick.
Cindi
I actually have a question about the strength training piece of it. Is it still the case that when you select the weights that you’ll be using, that you select a weight where you struggle to finish your final repetition. So how many repetitions? How do you go about choosing the weight and perimenopause, they say to start lifting heavier. So can you guide us a little in those areas?
Ashley Sponsky
Yes, absolutely. So you’re right that the recommendations still are to what’s called reaching muscular failure when you’re doing your your sets and your reps. So a lot of times we as especially as females, we like to quote tone and pick lighter weights and do a lot of reps of those exercises. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re looking to build muscle mass, which is our overall goal with strength training, is to, you know, gain more lean body mass on our body. We want to be lifting a little heavier. So I generally recommend programming workouts where you’re doing eight to 12 reps that might be give or take a few reps, depending on what a person’s ultimate goals are, and, you know, their exercise history and things like that. But in general, I like to keep that eight to 12 rep mark because that’s still in, like, your technical strength zone, where you can accumulate weight over time and build up, you know, your weight status with dumbbells or barbells. But once you hit 12 reps, and that becomes too easy for you, you’re not really hitting that. A muscular failure, or it just becomes too, too easy for you to lift that weight. It’s time to bump that weight up and go back down to eight reps. And, you know, challenge yourself again. But if we keep using the same weights and the same reps over and over again, our bodies get very used to that, and we we miss out on that opportunity to really break down those muscle fibers and regrow the muscle.
Cindi
That’s great. And were there any other effective types of movements that you would recommend besides weight lifting?
Ashley Sponsky
Yes. So the other recommendation I have is brisk walking. So I love recommending walking because it’s relatively simple to do. You can do it anywhere, and I truly consider walking to be the best medicine, just because it’s universally, you know, everyone is capable of doing walking to a certain degree. So when you walk, and same applies to strength training, but when you walk, your muscles actually contract. And that uses glucose, which is the simplest form of carbohydrate in our body, we use that for energy. So when we are lifting weights or doing a walk, we allow that extra blood sugar or glucose that’s hanging out in our bloodstream to transport into the muscle, and we actually use it for energy and fuel versus when we’re sedentary, it just kind of hangs out in our bloodstream if we don’t have proper usage of insulin in our body. So walking can really help that insulin sensitivity in our body and bring that blood sugar into the muscle and provide energy usage that way. So the recommendation for walking in general is 150 minutes a week, which technically breaks down to about 21 minutes a day. And that’s relatively doable for most people to get in, you know, a 20 minute walk, or maybe a 30 minute walk a few times a week. So it’s a relatively simple tip to provide. And for those who have diabetes or pre diabetes, or even gestational diabetes, a pro tip is to go for a brisk walk right after your meals, because that will help lower your blood sugar and stabilize it after you eat a larger meal.
Crissy
Yeah, as you were talking, I was thinking about that because I’ve seen that firsthand with the continuous glucose monitor after a big meal, when that blood sugar does skyrocket, going for a quick 15 minute walk really does help bring it in line. Also, though, with the timing of workouts, something I’ve noticed and have been researching is that on the other side of it, if you haven’t eaten in a while and you go and do a workout, moving your body actually can raise your blood sugar. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just your body needs that to do the movement that you’re asking of it. But that was really interesting to see on the graph. As if I hadn’t eaten in a while, or if I was doing a workout before breakfast one morning, my blood sugar would go up because it was its way of making my body function. So it’s just, it’s fascinating to me the timing of everything and how it is involved in that. So we’ve talked a bit about exercise, and exercise is a great way to help manage blood sugar, and, you know, keep it in a healthy range. Let’s move over to food. Food is a very tricky area when it comes to this, and I’m realizing is different for everybody, because if I eat a potato, I have this kind of response, and, you know, my partner does not, so it’s an interesting kind of thing to be aware of. But when it comes to food, what are some simple, realistic dietary tips people can follow to help balance their blood sugars throughout the day? I’ve found that there’s a lot of overwhelming advice out there, especially online as usual, and we’d love to hear your take on just small, sustainable changes that actually make a difference without feeling restrictive or stressful.
Ashley Sponsky
Yes, absolutely. So food can be tricky, because, like you said, everyone is built a little differently. People have different metabolic profiles, different health history, so we really have to kind of customize the nutrition component per person.
But if I were to think of three main pillars to, you know, take into consideration with blood sugar management, the first would be protein. So I’m sure everyone has heard of protein to a certain extent. It’s a very hot topic for good reason right now in the nutrition industry, but protein is very important in our diet because it truly helps to stabilize our blood sugars.
So when we think of our macronutrients, we have carbs, we have proteins and we have fats, and carbohydrates are mainly responsible for elevating our blood sugars after we eat carbohydrates. However, protein and fat are more of our stabilizers, so we want to make sure that our diets not imbalanced in the sense that we have too many carbs and not enough protein, because protein is really there to help support our blood sugar responses. It also helps keep us fuller, which is, you know, very important for appetite management. And if we’re trying to, you know, manage our weight and manage our blood sugars, it’s super important to consider. And for those who are incorporating exercise, it does help repair and grow your lean body mass and your muscle tissue as well. So there’s a lot of importance to protein.
And my tip with that is, you know, there’s a recommended dietary allowance for protein, but I do find that it’s relatively low for females, especially as we get older. So I usually recommend about 100 grams of protein daily as a minimum. And of course, that can be customized per person, and start off your day with a protein rich breakfast. So we don’t want to, you know, consume too many, you know, cereals and breads and bagels and things like that. In the morning, we want to make sure that we’re getting some cottage cheese, some Greek yogurt, some eggs, in conjunction with those other foods, to help balance our blood sugar and set the tone for a good day.
The second recommendation I have is fiber. Fiber does help slow down your overall digestion, which in particular when you’re thinking of carbohydrates. If you eat something that’s very high in simple sugars, it’s going to spike your blood sugars very quickly. But if we consume something that has a good amount of fiber in it, it’s slowing down that digestion, and instead of having a very high blood sugar spike, it might be more even keel, like a bell shaped curve, which is a much healthier response. So sugars are released a lot more slowly into our bloodstream when we eat fibrous foods, and it also makes us feel fuller too. So eating a high fiber meal does help us with our appetite control as well. Recommendations for fiber are roughly 25 to 35 grams a day, and again, that varies per person depending on their digestive needs. And sources of that could include nuts and seeds, chia, flax, any sort of beans, whole grains or any sort of fruit or vegetable. So a lot of whole food sources have lots of fiber in them.
Last tip real quick, would just be combining two different types of macronutrients in your snacks and your meals. So I like to just call these combination foods or snack combos. So when you typically have a snack, a lot of times, we choose something that’s carbohydrate dense, pretzels, cookies, chips, crackers, for instance. But what we want to do to reduce that blood sugar spike is to consume a protein with those carbohydrates. So if you’re going to have crackers, maybe have a cheese stick with it. If you’re going to have a piece of fruit, maybe add Greek yogurt to it, or add peanut butter to your apple. And that’s going to help slow down that blood sugar spike and make you feel fuller and more sustained for a longer period of time.
Crissy
I love that. It was all very important, and all stuff that I’ve really seen firsthand recently, another thing that I realized, in light of the food and the blood sugar, that really struck me was the order that you eat your food in I have read this in a couple different places, and I experimented with it looking at my little graph. And if you start your meal with your vegetable and get that fiber in you first, and then you eat your protein, and then you eat your carbs and your sweets at the end of the meal, but still with the meal, it’s like the fiber and the vegetables just coat the lining or something. I’m not gonna have the technical terminology, but it coats the lining, we’ll say. And it’s true, your blood sugar, it just doesn’t spike up the same way if I eat the exact same meal, but in a different order, by like, eating the carbs first, I have a really crazy spike. And that was sorry, y’all. I’m just, I think this thing is so cool. I love my monitor.
Ashley Sponsky
I’m glad you get to use one. It’s so fun. Having a CGM is very, very useful data. I think it is.
Crissy
It really is.
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Cindi
I wonder if this is the same for everybody… you don’t ever have a problem with excess of carbs. And that’s where I’m going with my next question. Because carbs often get a bad rap, especially when we’re talking about blood sugar, but we just we’re talking about how they’re not the enemy when incorporated into your diet in a specific way, then it’s part of the overall programming of keeping you satiated and giving you energy and fuel for your brain. What are some examples of healthy carbohydrates, or I don’t want to demonize any good or bad, but more nutritious options for carbohydrates that we can enjoy in moderatio? I guess what I’m going for here is doing some myth busting that carbs can be satisfying and nutrient rich, and they can also support our blood sugar by keeping it steady. So can you give us some examples?
Thanks so much, Ashley, it’s been great. Yeah.
