Blood Sugar Balance

What the popular blood sugar advice leaves out

Independent reporting on blood sugar, A1C and the routines people try on their own. We read the studies, we say when the evidence is thin, and we tell you when a popular tip leaves something out.

• Blood Sugar Air Pollution and Blood Sugar: Can Bad Air Really Push Your Numbers Up? A 12-year study published in August tied traffic pollution to damage in the smallest blood vessels of people with diabetes. Why bad air may move your numbers, and the piece the usual advice leaves out.
• Blood Sugar High Blood Sugar in the Morning When You Haven't Eaten? What Your Body Does Between 4 and 8 a.m. The first number of the day is often the highest, even after skipping the bedtime snack. What happens before you wake, why fixing dinner rarely fixes it, and the morning piece most advice leaves out.
• Blood Sugar Tired After Eating? What the After-Lunch Crash Says About Your Blood Sugar The 2 p.m. wall is rarely about the size of the meal. What happens in the hour after you eat, why the usual fixes only half work, and the habit worth looking at first.
• Blood Sugar Ceylon or Cassia: How to Tell Which Cinnamon Is in Your Jar Two different plants are sold as cinnamon in American stores, and most labels never say which one is inside. How to tell them apart, and why the difference stops being trivia the moment it becomes a daily habit.
• Testing What an A1C Number Does Not Show You Two people with the same A1C can be having completely different days. What an average discards, the three things that move the number without your glucose changing, and what to ask at the next appointment.
• Sponsored feature The Real 30-Second Cinnamon Ritual A longer look at how a concentrated Ceylon extract is standardized, what a usable daily amount is, and the morning routine built around it. Contains advertising.