The Blood Glucose Health Crisis

Like most people, you’ve probably never given your blood glucose a second thought, unless you have diabetes. But doctors and researchers have recently discovered that whether or not you have diabetes, a diet loaded with foods that send blood glucose up high and down low on a roller-coaster ride can increase your risk of heart disease by damaging your blood vessels and raising your cholesterol. It may even chip away at your memory and increase the risk of certain cancers. You may not notice a problem, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. You may have started on a path that can shave years off your life.

This realisation is nothing short of a revolution in the way we understand diet and health. Fortunately, none of the damage happens overnight, and even modest changes in the foods you eat every day can start you on a healthier path and make you feel more alert, alive and energised immediately.

The lure of ‘fast-acting’ foods
When you need a quick pick-me-up, what do you reach for—lollies, a sugary doughnut, a gooey Danish or a packet of biscuits? These ‘fast-acting’ foods are handy (they are called convenience foods after all), and they take no time at all to dissolve in your stomach. Quick as light, they race into your bloodstream, flooding your body with blood glucose, and you’re raring to go! The trouble is, the surge doesn’t last long. In fact, it’s over just as quickly as it started, leaving you feeling worse off than before—and hungry again well before your next mealtime.

Without knowing it, you may even be starting your day with foods that fizzle out in a hurry, leaving you in a slump. Think back to the last time you tucked into a bowl of cornflakes for breakfast, or grabbed a piece of white toast with a dollop of jam. You probably felt fine at first, but later in the morning, you may have noticed your energy level beginning to sink. Maybe you started to get irritable. Once your energy hit bottom, you may have found yourself hungry again—no, starving! So naturally, you ate a big lunch and probably a fast-acting one to boot: maybe a filled white roll the size of a softball, with a large fizzy drink to wash it down and a jumbo-sized slice (or two) of sticky date pudding for dessert. And the cycle started all over again.

Unfortunately, our diets are chock-full of foods that send us for a wild ride on the blood glucose roller-coaster. It’s no wonder that most of us have less energy than we’d like and feel listless too often. It’s also no wonder that most of us weigh more than we want to. Yes, eating too much and exercising too little get the lion’s share of the blame, but the blood glucose roller-coaster contributes by setting in motion a chain of events that eventually sends you shopping for bigger jeans.

Sound bad? Low energy and weight gain are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what happens when your blood glucose swings high and low.