The 14-Day No Sugar Diet(6)

Carbohyrates are made up of sugars, starches and fiber. They are found in all kinds of healthy and unhealthy foods, from bread, pasta, and milk to fruits and vegetables, soda, and apple pie. Reducing your consumption of carbs can help you manage your blood sugar, but paying attention to carbohydrate quality is more important than carbohydrate quantity. Here’s why:

When you eat any kind of carbohydrate, digestion breaks the food down into glucose (blood sugar), the fuel that powers your body and brain. But unhealthy carbs enter the bloodstream very quickly, and that’s what causes unhealthy spikes in blood sugar.

Unhealthy, easily-digested carbohydrates are usually highly processed or refined foods like soda, white bread, pastries, fruit drinks, and sweeteners like table sugar, honey, maple syrup, and corn syrup. Those sweeteners are used in lots of baked goods and packaged foods, too.

Healthy carbohydrates include unprocessed or minimally processed whole grains, vegetables, beans, and fruits. We call these carbs the healthy ones because they are typically high in fiber content, they digest more slowly and, therefore, deliver a more gradual impact on your blood sugar. Plus, they contain lots of important vitamins and minerals that you don’t typically get from, say, a chocolate glazed donut.

Why is the speed that sugar enters the bloodstream so important? It has to do with what happens next. When your blood receives glucose, your pancreas notices and responds by secreting the hormone insulin into your bloodstream. If your blood gets a huge jolt of sugar because you just had two glasses of wine (or sweet tea) with your spaghetti dinner, your pancreas sends more insulin to deal with the overload of glucose.

Insulin acts like a key to unlock cells and allow glucose to enter and be used for energy. Insulin helps store excess sugar that doesn’t make it into the cells in the liver where it can be used when blood sugar levels dip. Insulin helps keep blood sugar balanced. Most of the time, that is.

If your diet is full of fast-absorbed sugars from sweets, sodas, juices, pasta, French fries, rice and baked goods, the wild swings in blood sugar eventually cause your cells to become numb or resistant to the insulin and they won’t take it in. Your pancreas responds by sending more insulin to balance your blood sugar. This is what’s known as insulin resistance.

Over time, your cells become so resistant to the insulin that too much sugar remains left in your bloodstream and your pancreas can’t pump out enough insulin to do the job. And your doctor may diagnose you as diabetic.





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WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Type 1 vs Type 2

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune condition that results in the pancreas producing little or no insulin. There is no cure.



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Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition caused by a combination of genetics and lifestyle factors that results in high blood sugar from insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes can be managed through weight loss, controlling carbohydrates, physical activity, and medication. It is possible to reverse symptoms to regain health.



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Now you are at risk for prolonged high blood sugar’s corrosive effects on blood vessels. In addition, all that ineffective insulin in your blood starts to tell your body to store fat around your belly area, setting you up for a myriad of health problems including stiffening of the arteries and high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and inflammation.

Sorry, if that all seems scary. There’s no way to sugarcoat the dangers of high blood sugar. However, by knowing how the foods you choose affect your diabetes risk, you can use your brain and body to protect yourself.

At the risk of sounding like a song on repeat, the good news is that type 2 diabetes can be prevented, even reversed. If you transform your body by eliminating added sugars, eating healthy whole foods, getting regular physical activity, and losing weight, you won’t need a doctor to treat diabetes. Because there will be no diabetes to treat.





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SELF-CHECK


Could You Have Prediabetes?

Prediabetes means your blood sugar is higher than normal, but not yet high enough to officially be type 2 diabetes. Find out your risk for prediabetes by taking this simple self-test.I



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Answer these seven questions. For each “yes” answer, record the number of points listed. “No” answers score 0 points.

1. Are you a woman who has had a baby weighing more than 9 pounds at birth?

YES (1)

NO (0)

2. Do you have a sister or brother with diabetes?

YES (1)

NO (0)

3. Do you have a parent with diabetes?

YES (1)

NO (0)

4. Find your height on the “At-Risk Weight Chart” at right. Do you weigh as much as or more than the weight listed for your height?

YES (5)

NO (0)

5. Are you younger than 65 and get little or no exercise in a typical day?

YES (5)

NO (0)

6. Are you between ages 45 and 64?

YES (5)

NO (0)

7. Are you age 65 or older?

YES (9)

NO (0)



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Add your score and check it against the score key.



3 TO 8 POINTS means…

Your risk is likely to be currently low for having prediabetes.