Toni’s Healthy Tips: Tip #11: Top Ways to Steady Your Blood Sugar
Tip #11 | Top Ways to Steady Your Blood Sugar
Toni Julian, health advocate & author
During last week’s story, Eat Like a Diabetic, I shared some techniques to help you keep your blood sugar in check. Regulating your blood sugar has so many benefits, with the most important of all is to avoid overloading your pancreas, ability to produce insulin, potentially resulting in diabetes. We all have friends or family who deal with Type 2 and we can see how much it impacts their lives. It is hard to miss how avoidable it can be with an openness to learn adopt healthy behaviors.
My goal is to give you the inspiration, tools and ideas to spark that creative and curious side of you who simply wants to be a better version of yourself than you are now. I’m in on that journey as well, we can ALL do better together.
So, this week I’m going to give you some specific foods to incorporate into your diet.
We’ve all heard of a glycemic index (GI) and some of you may have heard of a glycemic load (GL). The GI refers to how quickly your blood sugar level rises after you eat a certain amount of food based on the carbohydrate make-up of that food. But because it doesn’t tell you how much carbohydrate there is in a typical serving a particular food you also need to look at the glycemic load (GL).
The GL of 20 or more is HIGH
The GL of 11-19 is MEDIUM
The GL of 10 or less is LOW
Top Foods with a Low Glycemic Load (under 10)
Vegetables
Asparagus
Bell peppers
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Cucumber
Eggplant
Green beans
Kale
Lettuce
Musrooms
Spinach
Tomatoes
Zucchini
Parnips
Sweet potato
Soybeans
Black beans
Fruits
Cherries
Apricots
Apples
Kiwi
Orange
Peach
Plums
Beets
Carrots
Corn
Oatmeal
Whole wheat toast
Yogurt
Foods that are mostly water, like apples and watermelon, are high in fiber like beets and carrots, or filled with air, like air popped corn, may have a high GI, but have a low glycemic load. The important thing to keep in mind is that the portion size must be reasonable.
Combining foods for a low glycemic load:
Even if a food has a moderate or high glycemic index, once combined with other foods will overall have a low glycemic load. For example, if you combine lean proteins, with complex carbohydrates and healthy fats, your body will metabolize these foods more slowly. An example would be two eggs, with two pieces of whole wheat toast and one quarter of an avocado.
If you’re interested in regulating your blood sugar, and don’t have time to cook up a balanced, low glycemic load meal, check out TONI’S Hot Protein Meals at Sigona’s. They are the perfect balance of lean protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats so you stay full and fueled for hours.
Please share this with your friends who are interested in how keep their blood sugar as smooooooth as a baby’s…. you get the picture!
From my heart to yours,
Toni Julian is a nationally renowned health advocate, nutrition adviser, fitness expert, and author of BITE ME! Change Your Life One Bite at a Time, as well as a 50-something mom of four! She is also the creator of TONI’S High Performance Meals, a complete and healthy hot protein meal that’s ready in minutes. Get yours at Sigona’s! Visit www.ToniJulian.com
