How to Prevent Blood Sugar and Triglyceride Spikes After Meals
“How to Prevent Blood Sugar and
Triglyceride Spikes after Meals” Standard American meals
rich in processed junk and meat and dairy lead
to exaggerated spikes in sugar and fat
in the blood. This generates free radicals,
and the oxidative stress triggers a biochemical cascade
throughout our circulation, damaging proteins in our body,
inducing inflammation, crippling our artery function,
thickening our blood, and causing a fight-or-flight
nerve response. This all happens within
just 1, 2, 3, or 4 hours after eating a meal. Worried about inflammation
within your body? One lousy breakfast could double
your C-reactive protein levels before it’s
even lunchtime. Repeat that 3 times a day, and you can
set yourself up for heart disease, though you may not even be
aware of how bad off you are, because your doctor is measuring
your blood sugar and fat levels in a fasting state, typically drawing
your blood before you’ve eaten.
But, what happens after a meal
may be a stronger predictor of heart attacks and strokes, which makes sense, since this is
where most of us live our lives, in a fed state. And, not just
in diabetics. If you follow non-diabetic
women with heart disease but normal fasting
blood sugar, how high their blood sugar spikes
after chugging some sugar water appears to determine how fast their
arteries continue to clog up. Perhaps, because the higher
the blood sugars spike, the more free radicals
are produced. So, what are some dietary strategies
to improve the situation? Thankfully, improvements
in diet exert profound and immediate favorable changes. What kind of improvements? Specifically, a diet high in antioxidant,
anti-inflammatory whole plant foods. Minimally processed, high-fiber,
plant-based foods, such as vegetables and fruits,
whole grains, beans, and nuts, will markedly blunt the
after-meal increases in sugar, fat,
and inflammation.
What if you wanted to eat
some Wonder Bread, though? In less than an hour, you’d
get a big spike in blood sugar. But, if you smeared it
with almond butter, what would happen? Adding about a third of a cup of almonds
to the same amount of Wonder Bread significantly blunts
the blood sugar spike. But wait, wouldn’t
any low-carb food help? Why add almond butter when
you can make a bologna sandwich? Well, first of all, plant-based
foods have the antioxidants to wipe out any
excess free radicals. So, not only can nuts
blunt blood sugar spikes, but oxidative damage as well—
and blunt insulin spikes too.
Adding nuts to a meal not
only calms blood sugar levels but also calms insulin levels. Now, you’re thinking, “Well, duh, less sugar
means less insulin”, but that’s not what happens
with low-carb animal foods. If you add some chicken to white rice–
steamed skinless chicken breast– you get a greater insulin spike
than just the white rice alone.
So, adding the low-carb
plant food made things better, but adding the low-carb
animal food made things worse. Same thing with adding chicken
breast to mashed potatoes— a higher insulin spike
with the added animal protein. Same thing with
animal fat. Add some butter to a meal
and get a dramatically higher insulin spike. If you add butter and
cheese to white bread, white potatoes, white
spaghetti, or white rice, you can sometimes even
double the insulin. Whereas, if you add half
an avocado to a meal, instead of worsening, the
insulin response improves, as it does with the main whole
plant food source of fat: nuts.
What if instead of nut
butter on your Wonder Bread, you used an all-fruit
strawberry jam? We’ll find out, next..
Long-Forgotten Costa Rican Tradition Helped Me Melt 167Lbs
ᴛɪʀᴇᴅ ᴏꜰ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴏᴠᴇʀᴡᴇɪɢʜᴛ
ʜᴏᴡ ᴀ ʟᴏɴɢ-ꜰᴏʀɢᴏᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴄᴏꜱᴛᴀ ʀɪᴄᴀɴ ᴛʀᴀᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ ʜᴇʟᴘᴇᴅ ᴍᴇ ᴍᴇʟᴛ 167ʟʙꜱ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴛᴜʙʙᴏʀɴ ꜰᴀᴛ ɪɴ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ 1 ʏᴇᴀʀ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴅɪᴇᴛ ᴏʀ ᴇxᴇʀᴄɪꜱᴇ!
ᵢ ᵍₒₜ ᶠᵣₒₘ ₂₉₁ ₚₒᵤₙᵈₛ ₐₙᵈ ₘᵢₛₑᵣₐᵦₗₑ, ₐₗʷₐʸₛ ₜᵢᵣₑᵈ ₐₙᵈ ₕₐᵣᵈₗʸ ₘₒᵥᵢₙᵍ…
ₜₒ ₁₂₄, ₛₗᵢₘ ₐₙᵈ ₗₒᵥᵢₙᵍ ₑᵥₑᵣʸ ₛₑᶜₒₙᵈ ₒᶠ ₘʸ ₗᵢᶠₑ!
