Introduction
If you’re looking for ways to lower your blood sugar, you’ve come to the right place. Eating the right foods can help you manage your blood sugar levels and reduce your risk of developing diabetes. In this article, we’ll discuss some proven ways to lower your blood sugar, including what to eat and what to avoid. We’ll also provide some tips on how to make healthy food choices and how to incorporate them into your daily routine. By following these tips, you can help keep your blood sugar levels in check and reduce your risk of developing diabetes.
Proven Ways to Lower Your Blood Sugar — Eat This Not That
If you have diabetes, managing your blood sugar levels is essential for your health. Eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones can help you keep your blood sugar levels in check. Here are some of the best foods to eat and the worst foods to avoid if you want to lower your blood sugar.
Eat This
- Whole grains: Whole grains like oats, quinoa, and brown rice are high in fiber, which helps slow down the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream.
- Leafy greens: Leafy greens like spinach, kale, and Swiss chard are low in carbohydrates and high in fiber, which helps keep your blood sugar levels stable.
- Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, and chia seeds are high in healthy fats and fiber, which can help keep your blood sugar levels in check.
- Legumes: Legumes like beans, lentils, and chickpeas are high in fiber and protein, which can help keep your blood sugar levels stable.
- Fruits: Fruits like apples, oranges, and berries are high in fiber and antioxidants, which can help keep your blood sugar levels in check.
Not That
- Refined grains: Refined grains like white bread, white rice, and pasta are low in fiber and can cause your blood sugar levels to spike.
- Sugary drinks: Sugary drinks like soda, juice, and energy drinks are high in sugar and can cause your blood sugar levels to spike.
- Processed meats: Processed meats like bacon, sausage, and deli meats are high in saturated fat and can cause your blood sugar levels to spike.
- Fried foods: Fried foods like French fries, chicken nuggets, and onion rings are high in fat and can cause your blood sugar levels to spike.
- Sweets: Sweets like candy, cookies, and cake are high in sugar and can cause your blood sugar levels to spike.
By following these tips, you can help keep your blood sugar levels in check and stay healthy. Remember to talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about your blood sugar levels.
High blood sugar, also known as hyperglycemia, can become a dangerous health issue if left untreated, especially if you have diabetes because it can lead to serious problems like nerve damage, kidney damage, heart disease or heart attack, skin irritations and more. Blood sugar management is something everyone should practice and Eat This, Not That! Health spoke with Dr. Jagdish Khubchandani, MBBS, Ph.D., a professor of public health at New Mexico State University who explained how to get a normal blood sugar level. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.
Dr. Khubchandani shares, “Sugar is among the most popular ingredients present or added to foods. Based on average daily per capita consumption, Americans lead the ranks with more than 100 grams of consumption. It is recommended that less than 20% calories should be acquired through calories. Therefore, the best way to reduce blood sugar is to consume less sugar. This would mean that individuals need to have a sense of what their blood sugar levels are, get a periodic test done, and understand what their diet consists of.”
Dr. Khubchandani says, “Another way to reduce consumption would be to replace sugar rich items with alternate food items. For example, replacing cakes and pies with fruits or replacing soda and sweetened beverages with water should help cut down excess sugar consumption and maintain optimum level of blood sugar. Our recent research suggests that sweetened beverages could soon become the leading contributors of sugars to our diet and the global market is now exceeding $1 trillion in sales. Continuous sweetened beverage consumption increases the risk of heart disease related deaths by 10-30% (in part by disturbing metabolism and increasing the risk of diabetes).”
RELATED: Habits Secretly Increasing Your Pancreatic Cancer Risk, Say Physicians
According to Dr. Khubchandani, “One of the major public health problems today is a lack of adequate physical activity and exercise. Adequate exercise is key to burning calories and maintaining a healthy body weight. Exercise ensures that sugar is taken from blood and utilized by muscles and metabolism is well regulated. Exercise also increases our insulin sensitivity and hormonal functions that are key for diabetes prevention and blood sugar control.”
RELATED: Doing This After Age 60 is “Unhealthy,” Say Physicians
Dr. Khubchandani states, “The recent Stress in America studies show that stress in general has increased in our societies. Also, our recent study has shown that adult Americans have become increasingly sleep deprived in the past few decades. High stress and inadequate or poor quality sleep can cause high blood sugar via irregular eating habits, greater snacking on junk food, secretion of stress hormones, and reducing insulin sensitivity and secretion. Therefore, it is key to maintain a good sleep routine and manage stress to reduce the risk of high blood sugar.”
RELATED: Sure Signs You Have Atrial Fibrillation, Say Physicians
“Eating smaller amounts (limiting portion size) but more frequently and adding certain types of foods to daily meals have shown to be beneficial in reducing blood sugar and risk of diabetes,” says Dr. Khubchandani. “Timing, frequency, type of eating is key for sugar control. For specific food items, studies suggest that adding more fiber, probiotic foods, nuts, whole grain foods, beans and lentils, legumes and other non-starchy vegetables helps with sugar control and reduction of sugar spikes in the blood.”