My trainer keeps telling me I need to keep my blood sugar levels steady through the day!
What does this mean?
The food that we eat is digested and broken down into essential nutrients that the body can use as fuel, including glucose. Insulin, produced by the pancreas, is a hormone that helps glucose enter the cells to be used as energy.
This all means basically that Blood glucose levels generally follow a curved, wave pattern throughout the day. The amount of glucose rises after a meal as the digestive system goes to work, and falls a few hours later before your next meal. The goal is to stop this massive wave effect from happening which will overwork our pancreas and insulin levels, symptoms like irregular heartbeat, fatigue, trouble concentration, sweating or even loss of consciousness are all common. While these can be corrected quickly with the ingestion of liquid glucose (in the case of low blood sugar) or medication like insulin (in the case of high levels), long term problems can occur if these episodes become frequent. Long-term high spikes in blood sugar can damage the vessels of the heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.
What to do we eat?
Essentially, anything that gets broken down into glucose. This includes grains, dairy, fruit and some vegetables. Fat does not affect blood glucose nor really does protein.
One way to compare how foods affect glucose levels is a system of measurement called the glycemic index hence the “low GI” craze.
The GI measures the effect that a food has on blood sugar levels, comparing the food to the same amount of sugar. The scale measures 0-100, with 100 being the effect that pure sugar has on the blood.
Foods with a low GI (less than 55) cause a slower, lower rise in blood sugar. These include wholegrain breads, high-fiber cereals, beans, most fresh fruit, and milk. Foods with a high GI (greater than 70) cause a faster and higher rise in blood sugar levels. These include white bread, white potatoes, sports drinks, refined cereals etc all the things your trainer will advise you to stay away from most of the time.
I suppose taking this into consideration it’s easy to see that all calories are not created equally.
What I mean by this is if you had 1500 calories from lean meats fruit and veg and had 1500 calories from refined carbs and sweets in your diet shouldn’t both diets lose the same amount of weight?
Unfortunately for the sugar lovers the answer is no, the cause of the intake of sugar will blunt fat loss due to the elevated glucose levels in the body hence it’s not always about calories in versus calories out the quality of calories plays the most important role.
Some dietary components can help slow digestion, which means that the glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream slowly and blood levels do not spike as high. These include fiber, protein and fat. For example, if a fruit is eaten in its whole form instead of juice, the added fiber of eating the whole food will help blunt the rise in blood sugar.
The timing of meals can also help avoid blood sugar dips and spikes. Make sure you eat breakfast, as your blood sugar will be lowest in the morning. Avoiding breakfast means that your blood sugar will continue to drop, potentially low enough to cause symptoms. Eat regular meals throughout the day, as going too long without food can also cause dips
The main points to take out of what we’ve talked about is really to give yourself the best chance to lose fat,
- Eat regular meals.
- Accompany carbohydrates with fats and protein eating well balanced meals at each sitting.
- Avoid refined carbohydrates as mentioned.
- Eat a diet with adequate fibre.
Even following these 4 points your pancreas and body will thank you in the long run!
Check out a glycemic index to see how your favourite foods affect your body.