Understand Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load: 5 Key Principles for Better Blood Sugar Control

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Managing blood sugar levels is crucial for overall health, especially for those with diabetes or prediabetes. Two important concepts to understand to manage health and wellbeing when making food choices especially if you want to manage diabetes are the Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL). Here are five principles to help you make better food choices based on these concepts: 1. Prioritize Low Glycemic Index Foods The Glycemic Index (GI) measures how quickly a food raises blood sugar levels. Foods with a low GI cause a slower, more gradual rise in blood sugar, which is beneficial for maintaining stable energy levels and avoiding spikes. Examples of low GI foods include non-starchy vegetables, beans, and certain fruits like apples, pears, pomegranate and berries. 2. Consider Glycemic Load for a Comprehensive View Glycemic Load (GL) takes into account both the quality (GI) and quantity of carbohydrates in a food. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of a food’s impact on...

Good Nutrition for Everyone

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Good nutrition is not just intake of food in relation to body’s dietary needs but also regular physical activity. Poor nutrition that is unhealthy eating and physical inactivity, is the source of reduced immunity, afflicted physical and mental development.

In all practical terms, Good diet is aimed at emphasis on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, poultry, lean meats, and low-fat dairy foods to make sure the body has a steady and adequate supply of the nutrients it needs.

Healthy balance meal includes the following plan:-

  • PROTEINS:-  Fish, Egg, Beans and nuts; Occasional chicken; Limit red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and cheese, avoid bacon, cold cuts and processed meats.
  • WHOLE GRAINS:- Like whole-wheat bread, whole-grain pasta, and brown bread; Limit refined grains like white rice and white bread.
  • VEGETABLES:- Meal should be enriched with variety of veggies; Note potato and french fries don’t count.
  • FRUITS:- Fruits makes the eating plate complete; fruits of all color  are good and can be shuffled with each meal.
  • DRINK:- Water, tea, or coffee (With little or no sugar), Limit milk/dairy(1-2 serving/day) also Limit juice (1 small glass/day), Avoid sugary drinks.

good nutrition and diet

Meal preparation should be carried out with healthy oil (like olive and canola oil followed by sunflower oil and soybean oil) , Limit butter and avoid trans fat. Everything in moderation is good and its good to keep on switching between healthy vegetable oils so as to have benefits of all and eliminating excess of any.

Hygienically prepared lemon water is better than carbonated soft drinks, as they are loaded with sugar and contain a lot of calories and virtually no other nutrients.

Healthy diet is crucial and multivitamins are substitute for it but a daily standard multivitamin is an inexpensive nutrition insurance policy. One can try to take 1 every day.

Fatty fish (such as salmon and tuna), walnuts, and canola oil all provide omega-3 fatty acids, essential fats that our bodies cannot make. Omega-3 fats, especially those from fish, are very beneficial for the heart.

Sodium (salt) is needed for good health; however, too much can cause adverse health effects through its function of raising blood pressure. Our diets generally contain far more sodium than we need, due to the level of added salt in some packaged products. General recommendation is between (1500mg to 2300mg).

Regular physical activity helps the body function better – it keeps heart disease, diabetes, and a host of other diseases at bay, and is a key component for losing weight.

Adequate Sleep that is  (6-8 hours) is also needed for good health as lack of sleep disturbs body’s natural relaxation process as well also disrupts the balance of key hormones that control appetite, so sleep-deprived people may be hungrier than those who get enough rest each night.

References and Further reading:

  1. http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
  2. http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/healthy-eating/Pages/Healthyeating.aspx
  3. http://www.nutrition.gov/smart-nutrition-101/healthy-eating
  4. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/recipes.html