FitSugar

Glycemic Index vs. Glycemic Load

FitSugar — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:00:00 -0700

Just when you started to get a handle on the glycemic index (GI) of foods, there's another value to grasp - glycemic load (GL). The GI ranks specific carbohydrates from zero to 100, based on the rate in which they affect your blood sugar levels. A GI of 1 to 55 is low, 56 to 69 is medium, and 70 to 100 is high - these high-ranking foods should be limited.

Glycemic load measures the blood-sugar-raising power per serving of food. Here's the lowdown on the equations used to figure the load. First you multiply the GI of a food by the amount of grams of carbohydrate in a specific serving, and then that number is divided by 100. A glycemic load of 10 or less is low, 11 to 19 is medium, 20 or more is high. If you add up the glycemic load amounts for your entire day, a total GL amount of 80 or less is considered low. Your daily GL shouldn't exceed 120.

Both measurements are useful. Glycemic load helps you select appropriate portion sizes, while glycemic index helps you differentiate between good and bad carbohydrate choices. The lower each number, the less it affects blood sugar levels.

Looking at some food's values may help you understand the two better. So read more.

If you don't see a specific food on this chart, then go to nutriondata.com, enter the name of a food, and it'll tell you the GL.

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You Asked: Why Do Hangovers Make Me Hungry?

FitSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:30:00 -0700

You're asking, and I'm answering.

Dear Fit,

I've noticed that on a day after a night of heavy drinking, whether I'm hungover or not, I tend to be ravenously hungry. I know that people joke about "hangover foods," but for me, it's not just craving greasy treats. I actually just feel insatiably hungry. Why is this?

- Hungry and Hungover

To see the answer, read more.

Ah, yes. As if the headache weren't bad enough, you also have to worry about a hangover interfering with your healthy eating habits. Before I started researching this answer, I assumed it had something to do with blood sugar, and indeed, blood sugar takes the blame for postparty hunger pangs.

Alcohol, as we know, is high in carbohydrates, and drinking heavily can temporarily decrease your blood-sugar levels. Basically, alcohol throws your blood sugar out of whack, and your body spends the next day trying to readjust, leading to increased hunger.

Here's what else I've been able to figure out from my research. When you drink, your liver is so busy metabolizing the alcohol that it neglects to produce glucose like it usually does. It's especially bad if you're drinking on an empty stomach, because then the drop in blood sugar is even more dramatic, resulting in ravenous hunger. In addition, drinking inhibits the production of a stimulant called glutamine, so the next day, when you've dropped drinking, your body churns out more glutamine than it needs. The resultant overstimulation may also contribute to increased hunger.

I'm no doctor, so that's about as much as I've been able to figure out, and it makes sense to me. Got your own knowledge of the subject? Share it below.

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Spice It Up: Cinnamon Helps Keep Blood Sugar Down

FitSugar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 03:00:00 -0700

Cinnamon may seem like the perfect spice for fall or winter, but new research once again demonstrated the spice's healthful effects on blood sugar. Recent findings indicate adding some cinnamon to your dessert may temper the blood sugar surge that follows a sweet treat. This new evidence, supports earlier findings that cinnamon contributes to controlling blood sugar levels in healthy adults.

Here's how the study worked:

14 healthy volunteers who had their blood sugar measured before and after eating a bowl of rice pudding; each volunteer was tested after eating plain rice pudding and after having a cinnamon-spiced version.

Post-pudding blood tests, which were taken repeatedly over 2 hours, showed that volunteers' blood sugar rose to a lesser degree when they had the cinnamon dessert.

One reason for this effect is that cinnamon slows the rate at which food passes from the stomach to the intestines, thereby decreasing the rate sugar enters the bloodstream. Cinnamon has been studied recently as a possible means of managing blood sugar for people with Type 2 diabetes, but further studies are required to learn more about the relationship of cinnamon and diabetes.

Fit's Tip: Add some cinnamon into your meals. Flavor your fresh fruit salads and yogurt with cinnamon, or try YumSugar's refreshing cucumber salad that is surprisingly spiced with cinnamon.

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How Do I Maintain Healthy Blood Sugar Levels?

FitSugar — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 03:00:00 -0700

High levels of blood sugar have been linked to cancer in women. Knowing the importance of keeping blood sugars in target range, The World Cancer Research Fund has come up with a few simple, but important, tips on maintaining a healthy blood sugar:

The most important thing is not to become overweight. If you are overweight, then you should lose weight. This can be done through having a general healthy diet and be regularly physically active.
Always go for the wholegrain option. Replace white rice with brown rice, and make sure your pasta is whole wheat.
Cut down or completely stop having sugary snacks like sugary fizzy drinks and cakes. Temptation can be hard to resist, but cutting these out of your diet is a great step towards maintaining healthy blood sugars.
Make sure you get as many vegetables into your diet as you can. It's particularly easy to get your vegetable quota by chopping vegetables up and putting them into sauces.
Be as physically active as possible - it doesn't have to be exercise at the gym, but even walking instead of driving, or taking the stairs instead of the ~~lift~~ elevator, can really help.

DrSugar Answers: Prediabetes and Blood Sugar Struggles

DrSugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:30:00 -0800

DrSugar is in the house and he's answering your health questions.

Dear DrSugar,
I was diagnosed last year with prediabetes. I'm 32, caucasian, and have a BMI of 22. I do a variety of exercise, including 30 to 60 minutes of running, climbing stairs, and weightlifting at least five days a week. I've had healthy eating habits (high fiber, low fat, low added sugar, whole grains, low glycemic index foods, etc.) for years. My only risk factor seems to be genetic.

My fasting blood glucose levels, however, are steadily creeping higher and are now in the middle of the "prediabetes" range at 112 mg/dL. My last HbA1c level was at six percent. I'm at a loss for what else I can do to help keep my blood sugar from rising further. My doctor just tells me to watch my carbs. Any advice? Thanks!
Blood Sugar Sweetie

To see DrSugar's advice and to learn more about prediabetes, read more.

Thanks for this question. Prediabetes is a very common problem estimated to affect around 57 million Americans. The condition is defined as a fasting blood sugar between 100 and 125, and according to your test you're clearly in the middle of that range. Diabetes is defined as any fasting blood sugar above 125. The HbA1c test, a measure your average blood sugar over about six weeks, is considered normal at under six percent - so you are just above normal. Prediabetes is an important health condition to recognize and take seriously because it suggests you are at risk for progression to diabetes and all of its complications. Common risk factors for developing prediabetes include being overweight, physical inactivity, age over 45, family history, and non-caucasian ethnicity. As you said, it sounds like your only risk factor is family history, which is unfortunately not modifiable. This is similar to having a family history of high cholesterol. Sometimes doing all the right things in terms of healthy living is not enough to overcome our genetic makeup.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things in terms of preventing the progression of prediabetes to diabetes. These interventions, as you’ve mentioned, include taking part in some form of aerobic activity almost every day and avoiding foods with a high glycemic index. Your BMI is also ideal, so I would not recommend trying to lose weight to help lower your blood sugar. If your BMI was over 25 this might be a different story. Sometimes doing all the right things is not enough. Some doctors treat prediabetes with low doses of diabetes medications such metformin, but this remains controversial. I think watching your carb intake is a good basic principle, but the glycemic index is better in terms judging a foods affect on blood sugar.

If your struggle with prediabetes continues, it might be useful to seek the help of an endocrinologist, a diabetes specialist. For more basic information, try the American Diabetes Association.

Have a question for DrSugar? Send it by private messaging me here, and I will forward it to the good doctor.

DrSugar's posts are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. Click here for more details.

DrSugar Answers: Carbs and Blood Sugar Levels

DrSugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:45:00 -0700

DrSugar is in the house and he has the answers. Since carb confusion is a common problem, his first response deals with the complex issue surrounding blood sugars and carbs.

Dear DrSugar,
I love eating fruits, but I worry about my sugar intake. Since I'm a vegetarian, I eat a lot of carbohydrates too, but the good kind. But will all these carbs make my glucose levels too high?
Thanks!
Concerned About Carbs

To see what DrSugar has to say about carbs, just read more.

I completely understand your confusion regarding carbohydrates. With all the fad diets out there, it is easy to be misled when it comes to nutrition. As your question suggests, there are good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates. Good carbohydrates include whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. They are considered good because they can be efficiently processed into energy and are often accompanied by other nutrients such as vitamins and fiber. Bad carbohydrates include processed sugars in soda, snack foods, candy, and refined flours. These bad carbohydrates are broken down quickly, cause insulin spikes, are converted easily to fat, and rarely contain other beneficial nutrients.

Your concern about high glucose levels is warranted given the epidemic of type 2 diabetes, a disease characterized by high glucose levels. However, high carbohydrate intake alone is not likely to cause diabetes, unless accompanied by other risk factors. Other risk factors include obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and genetic factors such as ethnicity and family history. As long as you live a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise, there is little need to worry about eating too many good carbohydrates. That being said, the ideal diet includes moderate amounts of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Symptoms of new onset diabetes include fatigue, weight loss, frequent urination, and increased thirst. If you have these symptoms or think you’re at risk, then talk to your doctor about simple blood tests for high blood sugar.

If you have a question for DrSugar, private message me here and I will pass it on to the doctor.

DrSugar's posts are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. Click here for more details.

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Alexa Fishback on Right Way to Snack

Guest Writer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:00:07 -0700

We are pleased to announce our first ever guest blogger, nutritionist Alexa Fishback. Since the Get Fit For 2010 challenge this week is all about healthy snacking, we asked Alexa for tips on maximizing the nutritional power of your snacks.

The good news? You should have two snacks every day, in addition to your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The bad news - you probably already do. But maybe one snack comes in the form of mindlessly grabbing a handful of M&M's off the reception desk in your office and the other grazing on some pretzels and a Snapple from the work fridge. At the end of the day, these options are highly caloric and not very satiating.

The solution - plan ahead for two snacks every day, one small snack (0-100 calories) and one more substantial snack (100-200 calories) - to keep your blood sugar levels stable between each meal, to give you the energy you need to get through the workday, and to prevent overeating at the next meal. If you can, plan to eat two of these three snack options in some form every day - fruit or veggies (raw, dried, or cooked), nuts or nut butters spread on whole wheat crackers, bread or fruit/veggies, and/or a cup of yogurt or cottage cheese.

Like what you're hearing? Then be sure to enter our Get Fit For 2010 community contest and challenge, by sharing your fave healthy snack in our Get Fit group. A year of personalized nutrition plans by Alexa is part of our fabulous grand prize.

Source: Flickr User gcfairch

High Blood Sugar Linked to Sedentary Lifestyle

FitSugar — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:30:00 -0700

Reuters is reporting that people who lead sedentary lives, characterized by sitting or remaining inactive for most of the day, have high levels of glucose in their blood, even though they may not be diabetic.

Furthermore, the investigators found that the more time women spent watching television, the higher were their blood glucose levels two hours after they took the glucose test-drink. Meaning that while you may be free of Type 2 Diabetes now, elevated glucose levels may mean that a sedentary lifestyle could change that down the line.

Being sedentary is not the only way you could be putting yourself at risk for diabetes, read my post on behaviors you may do that put you at risk for Type 2 Diabetes.

Fit's Tip: This is so motivational to me to get up and move...so please do.

5 Ways to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

FitSugar — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:57:53 -0700

As he aged, my grandfather developed type 2 diabetes, and since the disease can be hereditary, I've become especially aware of ways I can prevent it. The condition occurs when your pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin, or if your body doesn't recognize insulin and is unable to use it properly. If you're worried about developing type 2 diabetes, here are five things you can do to help prevent it.

Since obesity plays a big role in developing type 2 diabetes, maintain a healthy weight by eating appropriate portion sizes.
Get moving. Exercise not only prevents obesity, but it also improves your body's use of insulin.
Go for whole grains. Research shows that a diet rich in whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa, and oatmeal can reduce a person's risk for type 2 diabetes.

For the last two prevention techniques, keep on reading.

Nicole Richie Diagnosed with Hypoglycemia: What's That?

FitSugar — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:41:00 -0700

Nicole Richie has been having a tough time of late, especially with her health. While shooting episodes for the 5th Season of The Simple Life with her buddy Paris Hilton, she has been fainting and passing out. YIKES!!! The good news is she now knows the reason for her extreme dips in energy. It is being reported that Nicole has been diagnosed with hypoglycemia.

Ok, so what is hypoglycemia? The National Diabetes Information site explains it like this:

Hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar, occurs when your blood glucose (blood sugar) level drops too low to provide enough energy for your body's activities.

Although hypoglycemia is often associated with diabetes a wide variety of conditions, many of them rare, can cause low blood sugar in people without diabetes. Often, it is an indicator of a larger health problem. Which has me worried for Nicole.

Since your brain needs sugar to function, having low blood sugar can leave you confused, give you double vision or make speaking difficult. The most common symptoms, however, are: dizziness or light-headedness, hunger, nervousness and shakiness, perspiration, and sleepiness.

The best way to diagnose hypoglycemia is by a blood sample. Two types of hypoglycemia can occur in people who do not have diabetes: reactive (postprandial, or after meals) and fasting (postabsorptive). Reactive hypoglycemia is not usually related to any underlying disease; fasting hypoglycemia often is. People with hypoglycemia are usually advised to follow a healthy eating plan recommended by a registered dietitian. The glycemic index can be used as a tool for trying to understand how food affects blood sugar levels.

Nicole is "taking steps to manage" her hypoglycemia and hopefully this will help keep her on her feet and healthy. Some suggest eating a diet high in protein and low in carbs can help, so hopefully we will see her ordering a steak soon.

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