Meghna Dasgupta at The Hindu’s Business Line gives tips on food for breakfast that helps to keep the blood sugar level in check. In short, eat complex carbohydrates (whole grain items) with protein (soy milk, plain yogurt, nuts, seeds, lentils, and legumes) as it helps to slow sugar absorption. Some key takeaways for me are:
- Drink a large glass of hot water as soon as you get up to get the bowels moving and keep you hydrated.
- Drink herbal/fruit teas instead of regular/green tea or coffee as they are stimulants and raise sugar levels.
- Eat raw fruit instead of fruit juices as they lack fiber and raise sugar levels quickly.
- Eat plain unsweetened yogurt
- Drink soy milk
Read the article for recipes on cereals, eggs, a smoothie and others.
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Rebecca at Off-White writes a post about what sugar does to your body once you eat it that is worth reading. In short:
- When you put sugar in your mouth, the brain signals the stomach to prepare for digestion by producing insulin.
- Once in the stomach, sugar breaks down very quickly and enters the blood stream which can only handle a certain amount at a time.
- The excess sugar gives you a short-lived “high” by stressing your liver and pancreas and is then converted to fat for storage.
- The cycle happens every time you eat sugar and this repeated stressing of the liver and pancreas leads to serious health problems like diabetes later on.
The amazing thing is that one can get all the sugar the body needs via whole, natural, unprocessed foods.
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Though the 20th annual Alert Day took place 11 days ago on March 25, it is still important for people to be made aware about the seriousness of the disease whenever possible. 21 million adults and children in the US (about 7% of the population) have the disease but only about 14.5 million of them know that they have it. The American Diabetes Association has a short and quick test which tells you if you are at risk for having or developing type 2 diabetes. It told me I was at low to medium risk.
My recommendation: get an annual check-up which includes a blood test for glucose levels and talk to your doctor about your lifestyle and family background to get a better risk assessment.
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