About Diabetes

Glycemic Index

So what is the Glycemic Index?

The glycemic index (or GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar (glucose) levels after eating, according to international leaders in the field at the University of Sydney.

Why is this important?

Low glycemic index foods’ carbohydrates break down slowly and release glucose gradually into the blood stream.

There are many that believe that adhering to lower GI foods can help with diabetes control, heart disease, Cholesterol control. It also can supposedly help with weight loss and sugar crashes among other things.

Glycemic Index Values

Low glycemic between 1 and 55
Medium glycemic between 56 and 69
High glycemic 70 and higher.

Diabetics need low glycemic foods, but how do you find out what a food’s glycemic index is?

The best way to remember is really just use low sugar/starch common sense.

Low GI: Green vegetables, most fruits, raw carrots, kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils and bran breakfast cereals. Stick to the vegetables for sure for weight loss and control. Only use fruits, starchy vegetables, beans and brans on weight maintenance.
Medium GI: Sweet corn, bananas, raw pineapple, raisins, oat breakfast cereals, and multigrain, oat bran or rye bread. Use in great moderation for diabetics and avoid entirely if metabolic.
High GI: White rice, white bread and potatoes. Stay away from these!

For sweeteners, GI is calculated knowing these three things:

The amount of carbohydrate present.
The type of carbohydrate present.
The presence of other substances (soluble fiber for example) that slow metabolism of carbohydrates.

You can see below that some sugars are better for us than others. I was kind of thrown off when I got a giant bag of Stevia sweetner… only to find out that it was cut with maltodextrin. While the stevia keeps the carbs low, the glycemic index is higher because of the maltodextrin. It is all confusing but explains a few things when my glucose readings are higher with no other explanation. Note to self: ALWAYS READ LABELS and get more informed about this stuff.

Sweetener	Type	Glycemic Index
Maltodextrin	Sugar	110
Maltose	Sugar	105
Dextrose	Sugar	100
Glucose	Sugar	100
Trehalose	Sugar	70
HFCS-42	Modified Sugar	68
Sucrose	Sugar	65
Caramel	Modified Sugar	60
Golden Syrup	Modified Sugar	60
Inverted Sugar	Modified Sugar	60
Refiners Syrup	Modified Sugar	60
HFCS-55	Modified Sugar	58
Blackstrap Molasses	Sugar Extract	55
Maple Syrup	Natural Sugar	54
Honey	Natural Sugar	50
Sorghum Syrup	Natural Sugar	50
Lactose	Sugar	45
Cane Juice	Sugar Extract	43
Barley Malt Syrup	Modified Sugar	42
HSH	Sugar Alcohol	35
Coconut Palm Sugar	Natural Sugar	35
Maltitol	Sugar Alcohol	35
HFCS-90	Modified Sugar	31
Brown Rice Syrup	Modified Sugar	25
Fructose	Sugar	25
Galactose	Sugar	25
Agave Syrup	Modified Sugar	15
Xylitol	Sugar Alcohol	12
Glycerol	Sugar Alcohol	5
Sorbitol	Sugar Alcohol	4
Lactitol	Sugar Alcohol	3
Isomalt	Sugar Alcohol	2
Mannitol	Sugar Alcohol	2
Erythritol	Sugar Alcohol	1
Yacon Syrup	Natural Sweetener	1
Oligofructose	Sugar Fiber	1
Inulin	Sugar Fiber	1
Brazzein	Natural Sweetener	0
Curculin	Natural Sweetener	0
Glycyrrhizin	Natural Sweetener	0
Luo Han Guo	Natural Sweetener	0
Miraculin	Natural Sweetener	0
Monellin	Natural Sweetener	0
Pentadin	Natural Sweetener	0
Stevia	Natural Sweetener	0
Thaumatin	Natural Sweetener	0
Acesulfame K	Artificial Sweetener	0
Alitame	Artificial Sweetener	0
Aspartame	Artificial Sweetener	0
Cyclamate	Artificial Sweetener	0
Neotame	Artificial Sweetener	0
Saccharin	Artificial Sweetener	0
Sucralose	Artificial Sweetener	0

Make sure to discuss your glycemic tolerance with a nutritionist or health care provider!

With thanks to the below sites! Please read more at:
Mayo Clinic – Glycemic Index
Sugar & Sweetener Guide
University of Sydney’s Searchable GI Database

Please follow and like us:

Diabetes Treatments & Complications

So what can YOU do?

First of all, talk to a nutritionist! My friends who were counseled did far better than I did at understanding what needed to be done!

You can immediately start to eat better. High fiber. Low Fat. LOW SUGAR. LOW CARBOHYDRATES. Generally, this should lead to lower calories too. Also, this leads to losing weight if done properly which can only help your body as it battles this disease!

Exercise! Move. Walk. Swim. Bike. Try for 30 minutes at least five days a week. Even if you have to start for 10 minutes a day. Try to build on that with 30 minutes as a goal.

Monitor your blood sugar. Using a meter that measures a drop of blood from your finger, you can get a fairly clear picture of how your body processes sugar. Of course WHAT you eat and drink can make this vary wildly, as can the time that you measure after a meal. Exercise, illness and stress can also affect your glucose readings. It may be necessary to take several readings a day or only once a morning.

Watch out for signs of trouble. If you have increased thirst or urination, dry mouth, blurred vision fatigue or nausea you might need to lower your sugar intake. Also signs like sweating, shaking, slurred speech, drowsiness and confusion might mean there is low sugar and you need to get some glucose quickly. There are still more signs like hallucinations, loss of appetite, weakness, fever, nausea, vomiting or sweet fruity breath that require immediate attention by your doctor or emergency care. If your blood glucose is above 400 call your doctor. If your blood glucose is above 600 get to an emergency room! KNOW WHAT THE SIGNS MEAN. Talk to your doctor about these signs and read the American Diabetes Association and the Mayo Clinic’s information on the signs carefully. It could mean a matter of life or death.

This is serious stuff! I’m not a doctor here and so make sure that you KNOW what the signs for low and high glucose are and don’t just take my word for it.

What can YOUR DOCTOR do?

He/she may put you on oral medication. Sometimes you have to try a couple of types to get the right combination.

Sometimes a pill isn’t enough and you need a weekly shot of medication to stimulate insulin production and stifle the livers’ glucose production.

Sometimes pill and shot medications aren’t enough and insulin is needed. It can either be injected (usually in the stomach) by you or for more difficult cases a pump can inject it. Soon there will be a monitor for your glucose levels that will also inject insulin. These injections may be rapid-acting, long-acting or a mix. Sometime several injections might be needed throughout the day.

In extreme cases, a pancreas transplant might be needed, but they do have risks of rejection and complications.

Too, there are all sorts of complications of diabetes.

Stroke. High blood pressure. Blindness. Amputation. There are more. Those are enough for me to get in line and get my life back on track to try to prevent!

Please ask your doctor not only about treatment options but also about diabetic worst and best outcomes. Also, read up on the subject. I provided some links below.

Follow these links for more information:
American Diabetes Association – Medications
American Diabetes Association – Complications
Mayo Clinic – Diabetes Complications & Treatments

Please follow and like us:

Insulin and Glucose

diabetes-528678_960_720 To understand diabetes, you must understand what insulin is and how glucose is normally processed in the body.

At least, this is how I understand it.

Insulin is a hormone.

Hormones are molecules in your body that are produced by glands that help regulate processes in the body. They regulate things like your heartbeat, growth, metabolism, mood, sleep, energy, reproduction and so much more.

The pancreas is a gland located a bit behind and then below your stomach that secretes insulin and dumps it into the bloodstream. In the bloodstream, insulin helps the sugar get to your cells. Insulin should therefore lower the sugar in your bloodstream. As your sugar is utilized, the insulin in your pancreas levels off or drops.

You eat and drink again and it starts all over. Also, exercise affects this process and sugar levels too.

Glucose is a sugar that your cells (which make up everything in your body) uses for energy. You get glucose from what you eat and drink and from your liver. You eat and sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream. Insulin helps cells receive the sugar which lowers sugar in the bloodstream. Your liver will also store and then make glucose if needed. When you haven’t eaten, your liver comes to the rescue to keep your sugar levels… well… level. When this chain reaction is broken and too much sugar is dumped into the bloodstream, this balance is upset. It’s when those insulin levels are out of whack and can’t compensate for the amount of sugar in the bloodstream that creates problems like diabetes.

Follow this link for more information:
Mayo Clinic – Insulin & Glucose

Please follow and like us:

Causes of Diabetes

diabetes-2058045_960_720 So how do you end up with a diagnosis of diabetes?

There are lots of reasons this can happen, but most of them are unknown. Here are a few known reasons:

Your genetics have a lot to do with it. In other words, it could have passed down to you from your mom and dad and their moms and dads, and so on. I know that was my case.
Your immune system could have something to do with it. Sometimes the things that fight off the bacteria and viruses turns on the body and attacks things it shouldn’t, like cells that produce insulin.
Environmental factors could have something to do with it. Where you live, work, play… the air, the soil and even buildings and other structures could be a factor.
What you eat and drink definitely has something to do with it. Eating and drinking a lot of sugary or high carbohydrate things could eventually wear down your system. Some folks’ systems wear down a little and others, like me, it wears down a lot. I definitely know that was my case. I mean I LOVE food! I love cookies, cakes, bread… every known carbohydrate!
Sometimes hormones have something to do with it. Some women get what is called “gestational diabetes”. The hormones can cause the cells to reject the insulin, the pancreas can’t compensate resulting in sugar being dumped into the bloodstream. It usually goes away after the baby is born, but then it may return with other babies or later in life. So if this happens to you, it is perhaps an early warning sign to watch your sugars and carbs.

Of course, my or your particular diabetes could be one or a combination of any of those reasons or something unknown.

You can be overweight or underweight for any of this to happen, but when you start gaining weight around your abdomen (between your belly button and lower rib cage especially) as opposed to other areas, it is strongly linked to diabetes. Again, that is often the case, but not always. I can verify that as soon as I started putting on fat in that area, that my sugar numbers started to climb.

Follow these links for more information:
American Diabetes Association – Genetics of Diabetes
American Diabetes Association – Tools to Know Your Risk
Mayo Clinic – Causes of Diabetes

Please follow and like us:

What is an A1C Test?

blood-collection-1949258_1280 So for many years I tried to hide the fact that I knew my blood sugar was elevated after fasting overnight. (In other words, after I wake up.) I’d eat no sugar the day before I had a physical at the doctor’s office where I knew they would draw blood and ask for a urine sample. I’d take cinnamon to hopefully make my numbers look better, although that is highly debated as to its affect on sugar. For years I felt I outsmarted being told I was diabetic. Ridiculous thinking, really. I’m not proud of it!

THEN a couple of years ago, the doctor ordered an A1C test. It basically gives a several month average of your sugar levels. It does this by measuring how the hemoglobin protein in your blood is coated with sugar. I couldn’t hide my high blood sugar any longer!

A1C levels are reflected as a percent usually from 5 to 14%. 5% being in the normal range. 6% in the pre-diabetic range. Anything above 5% … you need to work on! The higher your A1C percent, the higher the chance for diabetes complications.

It is a good gauge on how well the diabetes is being managed. And you can’t hide your numbers, so don’t try!

You can read more at these links:
American Diabetes Association – Diagnosis
Mayo Clinic – A1C Test

Please follow and like us:

1 2 Next →

About Diabetes

Glycemic Index

Diabetes Treatments & Complications

Insulin and Glucose

Causes of Diabetes

What is an A1C Test?

Translate

Follow Me

Recent Posts

Top Posts

Next Big Day

Meta