How to Cook for High Blood Sugar

High blood sugar (hyperglycemia) commonly occurs in people with diabetes. When blood sugar levels rise, your body does not have enough insulin or is not utilizing insulin effectively to regulate blood sugar levels. If you suffer with high blood sugar, you may be able to make lifestyle and diet changes to regulate your blood glucose level naturally. By learning to cook for high blood sugar, you can prepare a variety of enjoyable foods that you can eat without making your condition worse.

Instructions

1

Prepare a variety of foods with a low glycemic index (GI). Many foods affect blood glucose levels, but some foods with a higher GI will raise blood sugar levels more than foods with a lower GI. When planning a meal, choose foods with medium or low GI to make up the majority of the meal. For example, 100 percent whole grain bread, non-starchy vegetables and many fruits have low GI.

2

Visit GlycemicIndex.com to search the GI database to find the GI of foods you wish to prepare and eat. Foods with a GI value of less than 55 have a low GI, foods with values between 56 and 69 have a medium GI and foods over 70 have a high GI. Consider the glycemic load (GL) of foods as you make dietary choices. The GL indicates carbohydrate levels in a standard food serving using GI. A GL under 10 is low, between 11 and 19 is medium and over 20 is high.

3

Prepare lean meats, poultry and fish as a source of protein. Include eggs, legumes and fat-free dairy in meals. Try to include a source of protein as 25 percent of each meal. Meats do not have a GI, so these foods will not have an impact on blood sugar levels.

4

Use polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats in cooking instead of saturated and trans fats. Vegetable oils including olive, safflower or sunflower are suitable cooking oils. People with high glucose levels often have a higher risk for heart disease, which means that limiting saturated fats to under 7 percent of total calories is prudent. Trans fats (such as margarine and shortening) are a common ingredient in processed foods and these fats will elevate blood cholesterol levels.

5

Add fruits and non-starchy vegetables to every meal. Strive for one fruit at each meal and about 50 percent of each meal being an assortment of non-starchy vegetables.

6

Serve up to 1 cup of a whole-grain food at each meal such as brown rice, wild rice, whole grain barley, whole grain bread, oatmeal or whole-wheat pasta.

7

Search the recipe database at the American Diabetes Association website to find suitable recipes that will not raise blood glucose levels.