December end 2016. My annual blood test came up with spiked fasting glucose levels. Never before in my life had I not been normal. My doctor was concerned and asked me to stop sugar and desserts and high glycemic load foods. OK I thought. I am an engineer. I can research foods and figure this out.
Next I went out and bought myself a good glucose meter. I planned to measure my fasting sugar every morning and analyze data over the next 6 months.
Found a great repository of information on foods and their glycemic index and (more important) glycemic load. https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load-for-100-foods
I went and purchased low glycemic index bread (you get it in Sprouts, WholeFoods) https://www.foodforlife.com/product/breads/ezekiel-49-sprouted-whole-grain-bread. I bought a high fiber wheat flour https://shop.communitygrains.com/products/hard-red-winter-wheat-flour and started making my own tortillas(Indian Rotis).
I stopped rice, sugar, sweets and desserts. And alcohol as well. I even reduced my coffee intake from 3 cups a day to 1 cup a day. The reason being caffeine brings up the blood sugar level ! Yes I have stats to prove that.
The first thing that happens over a couple of months when you stop sugar is you start losing weight. But there is something else that happens that is amazing. I used to take blood pressure pills and on one day I randomly measured my BP. It was showing pretty low like a 100ish/60ish ! I said no way, my BP meter is possibly broken. Went to my doctor and compared his readings with mine. Similar ! OK so here was the diagnosis. The low sugar resulted in lower body weight and lower body weight resulted in lower BP. Doc asked me to stop BP medicines ! I was like - Thank God !
Idlis and Dosas are usually made with parboiled that is a lower glycemic load than white rice like basmati. So in moderation is what I would recommend...Or substitute the dough. Instead of rice make the dough out of lentils.
Now its been 10 months since my modified no rice, sugar, sweets, desserts, alcohol lifestyle. I am back to eating everything else. But in moderation.
Next I went out and bought myself a good glucose meter. I planned to measure my fasting sugar every morning and analyze data over the next 6 months.
Found a great repository of information on foods and their glycemic index and (more important) glycemic load. https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load-for-100-foods
I went and purchased low glycemic index bread (you get it in Sprouts, WholeFoods) https://www.foodforlife.com/product/breads/ezekiel-49-sprouted-whole-grain-bread. I bought a high fiber wheat flour https://shop.communitygrains.com/products/hard-red-winter-wheat-flour and started making my own tortillas(Indian Rotis).
I stopped rice, sugar, sweets and desserts. And alcohol as well. I even reduced my coffee intake from 3 cups a day to 1 cup a day. The reason being caffeine brings up the blood sugar level ! Yes I have stats to prove that.
The first thing that happens over a couple of months when you stop sugar is you start losing weight. But there is something else that happens that is amazing. I used to take blood pressure pills and on one day I randomly measured my BP. It was showing pretty low like a 100ish/60ish ! I said no way, my BP meter is possibly broken. Went to my doctor and compared his readings with mine. Similar ! OK so here was the diagnosis. The low sugar resulted in lower body weight and lower body weight resulted in lower BP. Doc asked me to stop BP medicines ! I was like - Thank God !
Idlis and Dosas are usually made with parboiled that is a lower glycemic load than white rice like basmati. So in moderation is what I would recommend...Or substitute the dough. Instead of rice make the dough out of lentils.
Now its been 10 months since my modified no rice, sugar, sweets, desserts, alcohol lifestyle. I am back to eating everything else. But in moderation.
