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People eat for a variety of reasons, commonly to satisfy hunger but it’s not always that black and white. Sometimes we eat socially, out of boredom, to freshen breath, cos your grandmother’s force-fed you and to fix a hypo. But can you eat to reduce high blood sugar? Some diabetics who are fanatical about their control will not eat when blood glucose exceeds 9.0 or some other self-appointed limit. When blood glucose is above this limit they may take some insulin to rectify the high and will not eat until the level has fallen below their limit (this is certainly a method I favour). Others will take their insulin and snack on carb free food as an appetizer before the main meal to give the insulin some extra time to reduce blood glucose levels. However there are foods you can eat that not only are carb free but also seem to have hypoglycaemic properties. I remember the first time I ate an entire artichoke which I’d bought fresh and boiled with some seasoning salts, within an hour of eating it I fell into severe hypo. When my bgl is in ideal range I find that I must eat at least one exchange of carbohydrate without insulin after eating artichoke or I will hypo. Alternatively, if I am high and don’t want to take anymore insulin I will just eat an artichoke and that will rectify the problem. The artichoke can be eaten fresh or boiled and I find the same results can be achieved with tinned artichokes, and drinking the juice in the can is equally beneficial. Standard artichoke (the leafy bulb you commonly buy in Australia) is the vegetable I’m referring to but it has also been found that Jerusalem artichoke has similar hypoglycaemic properties. Although not from Jerusalem and not at all like the common artichoke, the Jerusalem artichoke is also highly recommended to assist in lowering blood glucose levels. Toursi is a Greek appetizer which consists of any variety of vegetables marinated in vinegar. It is the vinegar of this product that is believed to be the cause of its hypoglycaemic quality. Commonly a mixture of cabbage, cauliflower and carrot, a small serve of this dish is useful for lowering blood glucose and like all these foods listed in this article are useful to be eaten in accompaniment to a high carb meal. Herbs and leaves such as Rocket, Fennel and Basil also have hypoglycaemic qualities and are great to put in salads or eaten alone. Onion also has this same quality. Finally
I find that grapefruit is also a marvelous aid to
lowering blood glucose levels. I discovered this when using the juice
to treat slightly low blood sugar only to soon find I was going even
more hypo. Of all these foods, grapefruit is the only one with a measured
amount of carb so the effect of this fruit on blood glucose (as with
all the foods mentioned in this article) may vary but you will have
to be particularly mindful of the carb content of this food. Basically
I would not advise taking this fruit to treat hypo but would recommend
it more so as a desert after a high carb meal or after a meal that’s
left your blood sugar high.
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