EP.351/ How to build a blood sugar balancing plate
Okay so the past few weeks I’ve been talking about blood sugar and how to identify if blood sugar dysregulation is an issue for you.
This week, I want to give you the number one strategy for beginning to stabilise your blood sugar. Now, I have talked about this before in the context of other episodes, I’ve done some lives on the topic and put them out as episodes, and I’ve linked to articles I’ve written, but I don’t think I have ever done a solo episode on this key strategy, so I decided, so you didn’t have to hunt for it, just to do an episode dedicated to this one tool.
Now, of course there are other factors here, like how much sugar you’re eating between meals, but this strategy is key to building an approach to your daily meals that keeps blood sugar levels stable consistently, and as a result, that tends to reduce cravings and improve symptoms, which can allow you to start taking on bigger changes, like reducing sugary snacks for example.
So, let’s get to it.
My number one strategy for balancing blood sugar is building a blood sugar balancing plate.
To balance your blood sugar, meals should consist of protein, fibre (from veg/fruit), healthy fat and complex carbohydrates.
So, to start, you fill 50% or half of your plate with non-starchy veggies like leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, sprouts, bell peppers, etc.
These provide a huge amount of nutrients for lowering inflammation, but also provide fibre that helps to slow down the release of glucose to the blood. Fibre has been shown in the research to lower blood sugar levels, especially when combined with higher carb or starchy meals.
Next up is protein, we want 25% or a quarter of our plate to be protein.
Protein, like fibre, takes longer to digest than simple or starchy carbohydrates, which means that when we pair protein with carbs, we actually slow down their digestion too. Additionally, protein helps to fill us up, again helping to regulate blood sugar because it helps to curb cravings for sugary or starchy foods.
Finally, there are two options with the last 25% or quarter of our plate.
The first option is to fill that quarter with starchier but complex carbohydrates to provide us with fuel for energy, so that would include whole food sources of carbohydrates, such as whole grains, potatoes, beans and starchy veg like parsnips and butternut squash. Whole food carbohydrates are what we call complex carbohydrates, these are made up of long chains of glucose and fibre, which take longer to break down and digest. In contrast, simple or refined carbs are typically made up of just one or two glucose molecules, so the body doesn’t have to do much work before the glucose is ready to absorb, creating a quick and high blood sugar response.
We would then add to the plate as a whole, two heaped tablespoons of healthy fats, which could be two eggs, olive oil, half an avocado, etc. Fat helps to keep us full and satisfied, and slows down the release of glucose, again, keeping our blood sugar levels more stable.
Alternatively, you could opt for the last 25% or quarter to be split between healthy fats and some complex carbohydrates.
The first option is a more moderate carb version, which is typically better suited for cyclical bodies, as low carb diets can trigger the stress response and disrupt the menstrual cycle. If your blood sugar issues do not seem too extreme, or you find the idea of reducing your carb intake triggering or you’re literally just too hungry and find you’re not eating enough on the second version, then this version is fine. Additionally, if you live a very active lifestyle, this version is better.
The second version with a smaller amount of starchy carbohydrates is relatively low carb and is definitely going to give you less spikes. This version can be very helpful for a short period of time whilst you begin to stabilise your blood sugar levels, say a few to several weeks. Over time, as your blood sugar levels balance, the general aim is to be able to eat a moderate amount of starches without such significant blood sugar instability. However, for some people, this is the perfect amount of carbs for their body and fuel needs, whereas others require more, so just see what works for you. You may also find it depends on the type of carbohydrate, you could do well on a quarter of a plate of starchy veg, but find you crash after a quarter plate of grains, so you need to reduce the ratio with a meal like that.
Experiment - there’s no exact right answer, but what works for you.
One thing to note is that some foods cross a few categories, such as lentils (protein and complex carbs). If you have legumes as your protein source, you need to judge for yourself whether you want to and feel good on additional carbs. Research shows us that adding legumes to our starchier carbs can help to flatten out the blood sugar spike, so if you do want to have say, rice, as your starchier carb source, then having beans or lentils as your protein source could aid with preventing the spike that can often come with starchy carbs. Some beans and legumes are starchier or lower in fibre than others, so you might notice you react differently to those when combined with these other carbohydrates, so notice how you respond.
In the show notes, I have provided a list of foods that fall under these different categories, so you can see what counts as starchy veggies vs. low starchy veggies, for example.
Okay, that’s it! I’ll see you next week.
Show notes
Fibre
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18287346/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-009-0026-x
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9811965/
Protein
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2386677/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S104345262200033X
Final quarter
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5336455/
Healthy fats
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16537685/
Starchy vs. Non-starchy veg
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/starchy-vs-non-starchy-vegetables
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Produced by Chris Robson