Thursday, January 1, 2009

Eat This, Not That

Over several years, I gradually figured out what to eat to balance my blood sugar and what to avoid. Obviously, the #1 rule is no sugar. But many, many common foods are digested just like sugar. This filthy sucre lurks in the form of simple, refined carbohydrates. I'm not anti-carb at all, but picking carbs that don't make me feel crappy is really important...quality of life and all.

For most foods, it's an easy substitution:

  • corn tortillas, not flour tortillas
  • brown rice, not white rice
  • whole wheat bread/flour, not white bread/flour
  • whole wheat/multigrain pasta, not regular white pasta
  • an orange, not orange juice
  • etc.

Basically, carbs should come with fiber. If they don't have fiber “holding them down” (as I like to put it), the sugar from the carbs goes into my bloodstream way too quickly. Sourdough acts just like Snickers, Rice just like Reese's, and Penne just like Pie. Hypoglycemics and diabetics have bodies that overreact to these kinds of foods, but I don't think the refined carbs and sugar are good for anyone, really. But, as I said earlier, I'm not really trying to convert you. Maybe.

Fruit juice may have vitamins, but it doesn't have the fiber of the fruit itself. Also, it's less filling for the calories. Check the fiber content as well as the sugar content when you read labels at the store. You want your bread to have at least 2 grams per slice – the more, the better!

No comments:

Post a Comment