Kristi Whitley

Healthy Living

5 Ways to Control Blood Sugar:

Even Through the Holidays

 

 Controlling blood sugar levels is key to preventing the slow-burn of inflammation and slowing the aging process with or without a diagnosis of diabetes. The holidays are the worst time to try to keep blood sugar down. Hope this helps.

Complex vs. Simple: simply irrelevant

By a seriously complex metabolism our bodies break all carbohydrates including the main one, glucose, into energy for use by our cells. Carbohydrates are separated into complex and simple varieties. In the past, doctors preferred complex carbs like potatoes and bread over simple ones like table sugar. New research shows that both complex and simple carbohydrates can cause blood sugar imbalances. Recently, the Glycemic Index has been used to better describe the effect of a particular food on blood sugar levels. But the GI is not the last word on what foods to eat to keep blood sugar in check.

Sneaky Grains

Grains have a way of sneaking into the diet. Grains, of course, break down into glucose and raise our blood sugar. The finer they are ground, the faster the blood sugar rises but rise it does. We all need to watch out for excess grains. Corn, wheat, and rice flour can show up in any packaged food. Even potato chips can contain wheat flour. With all foods bought in a package (anything that doesn’t come from the produce aisle) reading the ingredients on the label is key. 

If you must consume some grains, watch portion size and eat them whole so the rise in blood sugar is slower. For example, limit oats to steel cut or thick rolled and only eat about a cup of cooked at once.  Also, be careful what you add to oatmeal. Honey, milk, and fruit all increase the sugar content of the meal.

Choose brown over white rice. Use quinoa and buckwheat in place of rice, oats or any other grain as much as possible as they both contain all essential amino acids making them complete proteins.

Carb-Counting Folly

The American Diabetic Association recommends counting grams of carbs to keep blood sugar levels low. But all carbs are not created equal. The fiber content and resistant starch content also have to be considered. Just counting carbs leaves a diabetic sorely nutrient and fiber deficient.

 Check the Glycemic Load

Using the Glycemic Load is a better way to judge the insulin response of a food. The GL takes into account both the glycemic index and the carbohydrate content of a typical portion size. Below is a sample list of foods and their carb content vs. their GL.  20 and above is considered high GL. 11-18 is medium and 10 and below is low. Notice the difference in processed foods vs. whole foods and the difference in grains and beans.

Food

Carbohydrates/Glycemic Load

White Potato (med, baked

30g/29

White Rice (1 cup, cooked)

47g/26

White Bread (1 bagel, 3.5 in.)

38g/24

Sweet Potato (med/lg)

35g/22

White pasta (1 cup, cooked)

43g/21

Chocolate cake (1/10 boxed mix + 2T frosting)

30g/20

Whole Wheat Bread (2 slices)

24g/18

Black Rice (1 cup cooked)

34g/14

Quinoa (1 cup cooked)

39g/13

Butternut Squash (1 cup cooked)

24g/8

Green Peas (1 cup cooked)

25g/8

Lentils (1 cup cooked)

39g/8

Black Beans (1 cup cooked)

41g/6


 This table is significant because it shows the ability of these foods to raise insulin levels despite the number of carbs per serving. If you are a diabetic following the American Diabetic Association’s guidelines on counting carbs you can see the folly in that exercise when you consider that a cup of black beans has 41g of carbohydrates vs. a medium-size baked potato which has 30g of carbs. Their advice would be to eat the potato, but check the chart above for the difference in the glycemic loads of these two foods. SHOCKER!

Beans are a Diabetic's Friend

Don’t like beans. Really? There are so many colors, shapes, varieties on the planet how can you dislike all of them? Anyhoo…beans are the perfect carbohydrate. Per the chart above they have a tiny glycemic load for the amount of carbs they carry. They are loaded with belly-filling fiber, minerals like iron, calcium and magnesium, B vitamins, and cancer-fighting polyphenols just to name a few.  Try some different beans from the ones you think you don’t like, i.e. Green peas, black-eyed, lentils, chickpeas, split peas, adzuki beans, white kidney, lima, refried, hummus, etc., etc.

Here is a super-healthy, comforting soup that you can sneak some beans into and not even notice they are there. Great for pre-eating before a party or re-eating after passing up a carb-heavy meal.

Xx,

K

Hearty Vegetable Soup

This is my own recipe so beware of the measurements. You may not like some of these ingredients by themselves, but trust me, the combination is delicious. If you really hate celery for example, mince it and it will disappear in the soup. The parsnip or turnip will seem like a potato but with much lower glycemic load. The smoke flavor from the tomatoes and smoked salt makes the soup much more comforting. You can use vegetable broth instead of water plus a little poultry seasoning if you can’t find “Not Chicken” bouillon. I haven’t tried it but I think these ingredients would work fine in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours.

2 T olive oil
2T coconut oil
½ large, sweet onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 parsnip or turnip, peeled and chopped
2 cups butternut squash or sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 28 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1 15 oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
¼ cup dry lentils, washed and picked thru
1 10oz bag frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, green beans, peas)
6 cups water, more if necessary
3 “Not Chicken” bouillon cubes
2 bay leaves
1 T dried oregano
2 t garlic powder
salt , pepper and hot sauce to taste

Optional: smoked salt instead of regular, two tablespoons of refried beans to thicken broth, any leftover vegetables or beans from the fridge.

Instructions:

In a large soup pot, sauté onion, carrots, and celery in the oils until the onions become translucent. Add parsnip/turnip and butternut squash/sweet potato and sauté about 5 minutes more. Add the remainder of the ingredients making sure everything is covered with water. Simmer covered for at least 30 minutes. Freeze leftovers.