56. The Overlooked Hormone Behind Fasting Blood Sugar | Glucagon, Cortisol & Mitochondria (Part 3)

Why is your fasting blood sugar high even when you're eating clean, training consistently, cutting sugar, or even following a low-carb diet?

That's what I'm breaking down in Part 3 of this series.

I've dealt with this myself.

There was a period where I was eating low carb, doing intermittent fasting, training fasted, and still waking up with fasting glucose in the 90s and sometimes higher.

At first glance, that doesn't make much sense.

But once I started looking deeper into glucagon, cortisol, adrenaline, liver glucose production, and what happens when your cells aren't producing enough ATP, the picture changed.

Your fasting blood sugar isn't just about what you ate the night before.

Your liver is making glucose all night long, and hormones like glucagon, cortisol, and adrenaline help control how much gets released into the bloodstream.

In this episode, I break down:

Why low ATP can create a stress response How adrenaline raises blood sugar and free fatty acids How cortisol can keep gluconeogenesis running Why glucagon may be one of the most overlooked hormones in metabolic health How insulin and glucagon are supposed to regulate each other Why fasting glucose can stay elevated even on a low-carb diet How the Randle cycle can interfere with glucose oxidation Why simply cutting more carbs may lower the number without fixing the underlying issue The labs I look at beyond fasting glucose alone This connects directly back to Parts 1 and 2, where I explained how mitochondrial dysfunction can reduce ATP production even when enough calories are coming in.

When that energy deficit keeps happening, your body responds like there's an emergency.

And over time, that hormonal response can start showing up in your labs.