A complete list of dietary taboos for high blood sugar levels

Blindly eating high-glycemic/high-sugar-loaded foods, ignoring non-sweet hidden glycemic foods, and following folk remedies to overdo taboos lead to nutritional imbalances. The rest of the taboos are essentially an extension of these three points.

To be honest, I have seen too many people with diabetes make this kind of stupid mistake: usually counting the grains of white rice before eating it, but then letting go of the "sugar-free biscuits" and "sugar-free shaqima" promoted by the merchants. Last week, an aunt who has been on the sugar diet for 3 years came to me to complain, saying that she ate two boxes of sugar-free rice in half a month. Sugar biscuits, my fasting blood sugar soared from 6.8 to 9, I went to the hospital and was scolded by the doctor - look at the ingredient list, sugar-free just does not have sucrose added, wheat flour and maltodextrin are listed first, they are all carbohydrates, the sugar content is higher than that of white rice, isn't this just taking advantage of others?

Interestingly, the academic community has always had different opinions regarding the criteria for judging blood sugar levels. In the early ten years, everyone regarded GI (glycemic index) as the gold standard, and felt that foods with a GI over 70 should not be touched. Now more and more nutritionists recommend looking at GL (glycemic load). To put it bluntly, it is necessary to consider not only the speed of raising blood sugar, but also the total amount of sugar you eat. To take the most common example, watermelon has a GI of 72, which is a high-glycemic food. However, 100g of watermelon has only 5.5g of carbohydrates and a GL of only 3.9. If you nibble on one or two cloves between meals to satisfy your cravings, your blood sugar will not fluctuate significantly. Instead, if you eat two slices of healthy-looking whole wheat bread, your GL may jump directly to 20, which is much more glycemic than watermelon. I have an old sugar lover who has been controlling sugar for 10 years. He eats half a piece of watermelon every day in summer, and his blood sugar is very stable. On the contrary, he gave up fruits for half a year, and the corners of his mouth were rotten for half a month due to vitamin deficiency.

Don't think that only staple foods and fruits can raise sugar. More pitfalls are hidden in foods that you don't find sweet at all. I accompanied a friend to the endocrinology department for a follow-up consultation, and the doctor specifically mentioned a statistic: nearly 60% of patients whose blood sugar control is not up to standard suffer from "hidden glycemic foods." For example, the starch used to thicken the fish-flavored shredded pork and Kung Pao chicken that you often eat is all free carbohydrates. If you eat it wrapped in the soup, your blood sugar will rise faster than if you eat half a bowl of rice. ； There are also sticky white porridge and preserved egg and lean meat porridge. The starch has been completely gelatinized. After drinking it, your blood sugar will rise in 15 minutes. ； Even braised pork ribs and plum chicken wings that you think are healthy are made with a lot of sugar to make them fresher. Even if you can't taste the sweetness when you eat them, the amount of sugar has already exceeded the limit. There are also people who like to drink sugar-free milk tea and think that it is fine without adding sugar. Think about it, pearls and coconuts are all carbohydrates, and there are trans fatty acids in the creamer, which will delay blood sugar metabolism and push the blood sugar peak back for two to three hours. If you drink one cup after a meal, your blood sugar will not be lowered before going to bed.

Nowadays, there are many extreme sugar control methods on the Internet, which are very controversial. The most typical one is the ketogenic diet, which completely cuts out carbohydrates and only eats meat and vegetables. It is true that many young people with diabetes use this method to suppress blood sugar in the short term. However, more than 90% of the endocrinologists I have asked do not recommend long-term use for middle-aged and elderly people. Long-term insufficient intake of carbohydrates can easily induce ketoacidosis, and it also places a heavy burden on the liver and kidneys. If you are an elderly person with underlying kidney disease, trying it blindly will really cause problems. There are also those who say you can’t eat staple food at all, which is even more outrageous. You can replace one-third of the polished rice and white flour with oats, quinoa, and mixed beans. Don’t cook it too much when cooking. It will make you feel full and increase your sugar slowly, which is better than not eating any staple food at all and making you dizzy and numb in your hands and feet.

To be honest, there has never been a unified standard answer to the dietary taboos of high blood sugar. The Uncle Zhang I know has been on the sugary diet for 8 years, and now his blood sugar control is almost the same as that of normal people. His secret is not to check one by one according to the taboo list on the Internet, but every time he eats a new food, he tests his blood sugar 2 hours after the meal, and writes it down in a small book: Others eat glucose to raise blood sugar, but he eats half a string of glucose and his blood sugar is stable. ； It's okay for others to eat grapefruit, but his blood sugar will jump after eating two slices. Everyone's metabolic capacity is different, so how can there be any universal taboo?

If you really can't remember so many rules, just remember the simplest principle: eat two bites of vegetables first, then some protein, and lastly the staple food. If you eat two bowls of rice first, your post-meal blood sugar will be at least 1-2 points lower. When eating out, prepare a bowl of warm water, wash the dishes before eating, and use less thickening and braised dishes, which is better than anything else. If you are really unsure, go to the nutrition department of a regular hospital and spend tens of dollars to prescribe a personalized recipe. It is much more reliable than the various "fatal taboos" and "sugar-lowering magic foods" you have encountered.