On a Monday Moanin' A calorie is not just a calorie

For those trying to control their type 2 diabetes, keep in mind that a calorie is not just a calorie.  While there is no official diabetic diet, some calories are better than others to control type 2 diabetes. The key is eat the foods that don't cause a big surge in glucose. Keep the surge low and you keep the weigh down and off and the type 2 diabetes under control. 

But first, as always:

The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  93 mg/dl.  
• Weight:  187 lbs.  Maybe a tad lower, but I am playing it safe or honest or whatever you want to call it.
• Exercise:  None.  Got to bed late, had an early meeting and just did not have time and I feel miserable. 
• Mood:  6.5.  The Charming Mrs. SWMBO back issues have not eased at all and this is playing havoc with both our schedules. 

 The Menu:

• Breakfast:  Morning fruit medley of a banana, an orange and blueberries, and a bagel, high on the glycemic index. 
• Lunch:  Red bean and brown rice and some red cherries
• Dinner:  It's Monday and that usually means fish taco and cole slaw, and that is what we are having.
• Snacks:  None, really.  Had a little bit of the cole slaw to tide me over until dinner.

A recent study compared three different types of diets at the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston’s Children’s Hospital.  The three were:

1. Low fat, which is recommended by the U. S. Government and the American Heart Association and it emphasized foods low in protean and fat and high in whole grains
2. A low glycemic index diet of minimally processed grains, vegetables, healthy fats, legumes and fruits.  It had more fat and protein and emphasized food that digest slowly
3. Low carbohydrate similar to the Adkins and Paleo diets.  Only ten percent of calories came from carbohydrates.  

Each diet plan offered the participants the same number of calories per day.

The winner at losing the weight and most importantly keeping the weight down and benefits of good health up was the low glycemic diet.  That is the key bit for people trying to control their diabetes or prevent it from happing.

People on it were the most with the foods offered, mostly because they did not have to really give up anything they like, just modify the selections a bit. 

Other bits from the study I found interesting, on the low fat diet, the participants metabolism went down, meaning they burned fewer calories.  Their lipids also went up, which is a precursor to heart disease.  For the low carbohydrate diet, while the metabolism went up, so did precursors for both heart disease and insulin resistance.

The low glycemic index approach reminds me a lot of  the DASH Diet and the Mediterranean diet, and that is what I try to follow. 


Plus, I can have pizza and if I get a whole wheat crust, so much the better.

Here is a good chart for low glycemic foods I use and there are many such to be found on the web.

Here is a good explanation of how to put low glycemic foods in your diet, courtesy of Isabel De Los Rios.  For the record, I do okay with wheat.

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