Diet taboos for high blood lipids and blood sugar

Avoid foods with high glycemic load, high saturated/trans fatty acids, and high invisible sugar, salt, and oil. At the same time, strictly guard against the two cognitive misunderstandings of "going vegetarian can lower the target" and "eating less can be enough without counting the total calories." You don't need to make a strict fasting list, but it will be easier to stick to it for a long time.

Don’t think I’m being alarmist. Last month at a community free clinic, I met an Aunt Zhang who was in her sixties. She heard that she had to eat a vegetarian diet because of her high blood lipids and blood sugar. She hadn’t touched meat for three months and only had plain porridge with pickles. Occasionally when she was hungry, she would eat two pieces of “sucrose-free Sachima”. However, during the reexamination, her triglycerides increased by 0.8mmol/L, and her fasting blood sugar was stuck at 7.3. She cried in front of the test sheet.

Many people know to look at GI (Glycemic Index) to choose food, but in fact GL (Glycemic Load) is more practical. To put it bluntly, the speed of raising blood sugar and the total amount eaten should be calculated together. For example, watermelon has a high GI, but if you only eat 100g each time, the GL is only 4, which has a minimal impact on blood sugar. On the other hand, if you eat 300g of brown rice in one meal, the GL will soar to over 30, and the blood sugar will still rise quickly. There are now different views on the taboos of fruits in the industry: traditional endocrinologists recommend completely abstaining from high-sugar fruits when sugar control is unstable, but now clinical nutrition tends to be more flexible. As long as the glycated hemoglobin is stable below 7%, it is perfectly fine to eat a fist-sized apple and a dozen strawberries between meals, and there is no need to nibble on cherry tomatoes.

Let’s talk about the pitfalls related to blood lipids. Everyone knows that they should avoid fat meat and animal offal, but many people miss the invisible sources of fat. The kind of crispy bread that is so crispy that it falls apart, the hand cakes that are so fragrant when fried in the freezer, and the bubble milk tea that young people love to drink for more than ten yuan a cup. The trans fatty acids in them exceed the daily limit of 2g recommended by the WHO after just two bites, and have a greater impact on blood lipids than eating two pieces of fatty meat. There are also cane sugar-free peach cakes and whole-grain biscuits that the elderly love to buy. Although they are claimed to be healthy, they contain a lot of palm oil and butter. The fat intake of eating two pieces is higher than a whole plate of steamed fish. There is also controversy about saturated fat. The previous view was that it should be completely eliminated. Now the latest version of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" has made it clear that it is okay if the saturated fat intake accounts for less than 10% of the total calories. I have an old patient who eats braised pork sausages once a week, and only eats three to five pieces each time. His blood lipids have been very stable, and he is much better than before.

There are also many invisible minefields that are easy to ignore, such as the few spoonfuls of sugar that are thrown in when cooking braised vegetables or stewed vegetables at home. It may not seem like much, but eating a meal can contain 20 to 30 grams of hidden sugar, and the blood sugar will rise suddenly. There is also the Laohuo Jingtang that Cantonese people love to drink. After simmering it for three or four hours, the soup will be full of dissolved fat and purine. For people with high blood lipids who drink it for a week, the index will most likely rise. The debate about sugar substitutes has not stopped yet. Some studies believe that legally used sugar substitutes will not affect blood sugar and blood lipids, and are suitable for satisfying cravings during the period of sugar control. Other studies have found that long-term intake of large amounts of sugar substitutes will disturb the intestinal flora and reduce insulin sensitivity. My suggestion is that it is okay to drink a sugar-free Coke occasionally to relieve addiction. Don't just drink two or three bottles a day as water.

I once met a salesman who was socializing every day. His fasting blood sugar was 7.2 and his triglycerides were twice as high. He couldn't skip the meal. Later, he found a small way: every time he went out to eat, he would eat half a plate of cold vegetables, then two bites of protein dishes, and finally the staple food. He basically didn't drink white wine. If he really wanted to drink, he drank less dry red. He was not so strict that he couldn't eat anything. After three months, his indicators returned to the normal range.

To be honest, controlling blood lipids and blood sugar does not require you to be an ascetic at all. The core is to understand what eating too much will affect your indicators, adjust the combination and quantity, and occasionally eat a small cake or nibble on a sauced elbow if you are craving for it. As long as the total calories are not exceeded, there is no problem at all. Don’t let the dense list of taboos make eating no fun, but it is easy to give up halfway. If you are really unsure whether eating will cause blood sugar levels to rise, measuring your fingertip blood sugar after eating and checking your blood lipids regularly will be more effective than any online contraindication list.