I suspect that I may be one of these folks. I developed the belly after my second child was born. I had a heart attack at age 36. I am now age 41. I could live on bread and chocolate alone. I have a long family history of heart attacks. As you can image, I take 7 pills a day. I know that carbs like breads and staches like potatoes do bad things to your blood sugar. Do carbs from vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes effect the blood sugar as well?
The "carbohydrates" in vegentables like lettuce, spinach, kale (and other green leafy vegetables) will NOT react the way that sugar does. The reason for this is simple, the carbs in these vegetables are mostly cellulose, which is linked together in such a way that the human body is INCAPABLE of breaking it down to use for energy. Tomatoes however will also have some other types of carbohydrate/sugar than can and will be absorbed. That being said, tomatoes should probably be okay unless you are on very particular medications or have very high triglycerides.
~MM
medical student
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I have been eating oatmeal every morning for at least 10 years. Despite what Dr. Davis said, in my opinion, oatmeal is one of the healthiest foods any person can eat when that person gets up early in the morning. It is the only food I found that lasts 5-6 hours before I get hungry again. Oatmeal does not have a lot of sugar. In one serving, it has 1 gram of sugar. What you mix with oatmeal makes the big difference. On different days, I mix it with water, soy milk, orange juice, or skim milk. I then add cut up banana with other things like blueberries and mango chunks. Lastly, studies have shown oatmeal to help reduce bad cholesteral in the body. This is the only time I have ever disagreed with Dr. Davis.
Have you tested your blood glucose levels after eating the oatmeal, etc.? It's not the sugar in the oatmeal but the amount of carbohydrates. What you describe is a high carbohydrate breakfast.
I can eat a small amount of oatmeal with a dash of milk and nuts without my blood glucose level going over 100 but if I eat a full cup then it does. It depends on how your body handles carbohydrates.
I guess you might be right. For me, genetically I get hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. So for people like me with this problem, it is a wonderful food. For people who are at the other end with too high blood sugar or diabetic, I agree the oatmeal recipes I mentioned would not be a good food for them. Thank you for making me respond to make this more understandable. Everyone needs to eat foods that go along with their own body.
As a diabetic 2, I certainly cannot eat whole oatmeal, made with water, without sugar (even though it's a whole complex grain), I've even tried it with walnuts or protein powder to slow the absorption down, hardly cooking it, but it will take my blood sugar from 125- to 285.
I started out with low blood sugar and it switched to high blood sugar. The low blood sugar you experience, shows you have issues with carbohydrates and simple sugars. Your body is overshooting the insulin to deal with it, creating low blood sugar. When the pancreas tires of this game, the body becomes resistant to insulin, and here come diabetes 2.
I did not know this. What causes the pancreas to change the way it has always been working?
I'm not a Dr. but it can be many things, like eating the standard American junk diet with all it's hidden sugars like HFCS in everything, fries, sodas, and MSG is everywhere in salad dressings and it is used to make mice fat and diabetic, so they can experiment on them. The pancreas was never meant to have to deal with this much sugar and starch in the diet, along with such large portions. So much food is available, people just get used to eating so much for a variety of reasons. After a while the pancreas just can't handle it all...I envision it locking the door, saying "You wore me out, I'm going on a permanent vacation!" Some say dairy, viruses, chemicals, fungus, metals, parasites, unhealthy fats like trans fats. Maybe there isn't just one answer...but we definitely have to look at all the sugars/grains we consume for sure!