Eat Carbs Last For Better Diabetes Control

Eating carbs last at mealtime could help people with diabetes control blood glucose levels, according to new research.

If you’re like many people with diabetes, you are probably saying, “I thought carbohydrates were bad for people with diabetes.” No, carbohydrates are not bad, but if you eat the wrong type or too many of them at a meal or snack, they will cause your blood glucose level to go up higher than you want after eating. Results of a new study suggest when you eat carbohydrate can also affect your blood glucose level.

When individuals in the study with type 2 diabetes ate protein and vegetables before eating bread and orange juice at mealtime their blood glucose levels were half as high as when they ate carbohydrate first, and 40% lower than when they ate protein, vegetables, and carbohydrate together.

Moreover, when the study participants ate carbohydrate last, their insulin levels were lower, and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) levels were higher. GLP-1 is a hormone that helps control your blood glucose and appetite; these changes in insulin and GLP-1 levels could provide the added benefit of weight loss.

What is Carbohydrate?

There are three main types of carbohydrates; sugar, starch, and fiber.

Sugar is called by many names; table sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, turbinado, demerara, maple syrup, molasses, honey, and high-fructose corn syrup. Fruit sugar (fructose) and milk sugar (lactose) are also sugars. The main difference is that the naturally occurring sugar in some foods comes with many nutritional benefits like the fiber in fruit, the calcium in milk, the iron in molasses. When you start adding sugar to foods though, you’re not increasing the nutritional value, just boosting calories.

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Eating carbs last at mealtime could help people with diabetes control blood glucose levels, according to new research.

If you’re like many people with diabetes, you are probably saying, “I thought carbohydrates were bad for people with diabetes.” No, carbohydrates are not bad, but if you eat the wrong type or too many of them at a meal or snack, they will cause your blood glucose level to go up higher than you want after eating. Results of a new study suggest when you eat carbohydrate can also affect your blood glucose level.

When individuals in the study with type 2 diabetes ate protein and vegetables before eating bread and orange juice at mealtime their blood glucose levels were half as high as when they ate carbohydrate first, and 40% lower than when they ate protein, vegetables, and carbohydrate together.

Moreover, when the study participants ate carbohydrate last, their insulin levels were lower, and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) levels were higher. GLP-1 is a hormone that helps control your blood glucose and appetite; these changes in insulin and GLP-1 levels could provide the added benefit of weight loss.

What is Carbohydrate?

There are three main types of carbohydrates; sugar, starch, and fiber.

Sugar is called by many names; table sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, turbinado, demerara, maple syrup, molasses, honey, and high-fructose corn syrup. Fruit sugar (fructose) and milk sugar (lactose) are also sugars. The main difference is that the naturally occurring sugar in some foods comes with many nutritional benefits like the fiber in fruit, the calcium in milk, the iron in molasses. When you start adding sugar to foods though, you’re not increasing the nutritional value, just boosting calories.

Continue Reading