Reducing Blood Glucose Levels

Tagged with fiber, glucose, health, hypertension, rice, sugar on September 18, 2024

I do a lot of research, mainly because I’m overweight, and I know I have to control my blood glucose levels. I’m in my 60s, so I need to constantly adjust my diet to get the most benefits from what I eat or drink.

If you can eat any kind of plant raw, more power to you. Some raw plants, including grains, contain resistant starches that won’t convert into glucose in the small intestine. Once you cook something with a resistant starch, the starch becomes nonresistant.

Bad Glucose Information

When I don’t have personal experience with certain types of food, I have to rely on secondhand information. Some of that secondhand information is plainly false. Such is the case with resistant starches. When I wrote about treating my hypertension, I was following the advice of a nurse practitioner. I had found online sources that backed it up.

I’m pretty sure that’s all bad information. While I was watching YouTube videos about ketogenic food recipes, I stumbled upon videos where potatoes, rice, pasta, and white bread were tested. The people doing the tests used glucometers and checked their glucose levels in increments.

Regardless of which one was tested, whether it was freshly cooked, cooked and cooled, or cooked, cooled, and reheated, glucose spikes always occurred. The only time glucose spikes didn’t occur, with rice, was when butter was added. The saturated fat in butter is what made the difference. I can only assume it would be the same with potatoes.

If I find myself eating any of these food items now, they have to be cooked in an oil containing unsaturated fats. The best oil for cooking is extra virgin olive oil. It’s also the most expensive. Why? I don’t know why, but it contains both mono and polyunsaturated fats, which are good for you.

My Dietary Changes

The last time I had a blood test, my glucose level was only slightly elevated. That’s because I had already sworn off sugar and foods containing sugar. When I eat oatmeal or drink coffee, I use Splenda (with sucralose) as my sweetener. I can’t consume either one without a sweetener of some kind.

My triglycerides were also slightly elevated. That’s because excess circulating glucose gets converted to triglycerides and stored in adipose tissue (body fat). Earlier this month, I decided to avoid high carbohydrate foods as much as possible.

I won’t eat white bread, including pandesal (a staple bread roll in the Philippines), at all. It has to be whole wheat bread, which has more fiber. Even then, I eat it sparingly, no more than once every other day or even longer. I haven’t had potatoes of any style in more than two weeks. I have hash browns in the freezer, and I may eat one or two slices before the month is over, cooked in olive oil.

Spaghetti and macaroni are on my do not eat list until I can find whole wheat noodles. I had less than a half a cup of rice, two days in a row, to go with spicy Jollibee chicken, but that was the only rice (cooked, cooled and reheated) that I had this month that wasn’t garlic fried rice (sinangág). I had garlic fried rice this morning, cooked in olive oil.

The Effect of Reducing My Glucose Levels

While glucose can cause inflammation in the joints, I don’t know if it affects me that way. I always have pain in my knees when going up the stairs to my bedroom, but never when walking on a level surface. The pain has decreased over the past couple of months, but I don’t know why.

Although I have a weight scale in the bathroom, I rarely stepped on it until a few days ago. I had gained weight from eating out with nieces who had graduated from high school. It turned out to be about five pounds. Since avoiding the foods I mentioned, I’ve lost exactly one pound a day.

I don’t think I’ll write a follow-up article regardless of what happens, but I’m going to continue eating the way I do now. If I continue to lose a pound a day, I’ll be back to my weight from 20 years ago in less than a month. I doubt it will happen, but I can be hopeful.

My diet consists of mainly animal meat and vegetables. I’ll eat fruit when it’s available, usually apples and bananas. I eat oatmeal every other day for the fiber. Although I don’t like eating chili with beans often, I’ll sometimes have a chili dog without the bun. I’ll sometimes eat a burger slice with only ketchup and mustard on it, without the bun.

Since I don’t know if I’m getting all the nutrients I need from my food, I take a multivitamin and fish oil capsule every day. The only other pill I take is the Losartan Potassium for my hypertension.

Image by Tesa Robbins from Pixabay