Low carb lunches reduce sugar peaks in type 2 diabetics

Keto, low carbohydrate, low glycemic index, Mediterranean, DASH diet, low fat: there is a dizzying array of plans that claim to optimize health. Some are based on reliable scientific data and others do not.

For people with type 2 diabetes, a disease that affects about one in 12 people worldwide, determining what to eat can be even more confusing because their body has difficulty transforming sugars .

When they eat carbohydrates – the sugars and starchy foods that are found in many foods -, their blood sugar levels increase dramatically. Poor glycemic control by the body can damage organs, especially blood vessels, eyes and kidneys.

My research laboratory located on the Okanagan campus at the University of British Columbia aims to research diet and exercise interventions for diabetes treatment and prevention. type 2. We conduct human studies to determine the impact of different lifestyle strategies on glycemic control and other important health markers for management. of this disease.

What does our science say about some of these miracle diets? What are the simple strategies that people with type 2 diabetes can use to reduce hype and improve their health?

The first is probably the simplest and easiest to implement: restrict foods containing carbohydrates, such as oatmeal and toast, to breakfast.

Inverted circadian rhythm

I've been using continuous glucose monitoring for 10 years to study the influence of diet and exercise on controlling blood sugar. In studying hundreds of people with type 2 diabetes, I can say a constant: breakfast is the biggest glucose peak of the day.

I've always thought that this was due to the fact that typical Western foods for breakfast, such as cereals, toast, oatmeal and fruit, are high in carbohydrates.

However, it could also be that the circadian rhythm – the internal clock that governs our metabolism over 24 hours – is "reversed" in type 2 diabetes.

Instead of waking up and being very glucose-tolerant and insulin-sensitive early in the day, the circadian rhythm is disrupted in people with type 2 diabetes, so their body is still more uncomfortable when handling carbohydrates in the morning. If they eat a typical breakfast, they get a very pronounced glucose spike.

This led us to conduct our recent study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, who asked the simple question: "What would happen to the overall control of blood glucose if people with type 2 diabetes avoided carbohydrates at breakfast?"

Desire to sweeten foods

As expected, we completely eliminated the important breakfast glucose spike by offering a low carbohydrate breakfast with an egg, cheese and spinach omelette.

In addition, the peaks after lunch and dinner were the same regardless of breakfast. Thus, overall exposure to damaging glucose peaks has been improved and markers of glucose volatility have been improved by simply switching to a breakfast containing very little carbohydrate.

We also found that hunger before meals and the desire to eat sugary foods were less strong at dinner on a breakfast day with low carbohydrates.

This suggests that having a breakfast containing low carbohydrates could reduce energy intake and help reduce cravings cravings later in the day. A simple and powerful strategy, not only for type 2 diabetics, but for all those who wish to improve their diet.

It should be noted that the encouraging results are preliminary and that we do not know if all low carbohydrate breakfast foods would have the same effects.

You may also be wondering if peaks at breakfast are such a problem, so why did not you ask participants to just skip breakfast? Previous research has shown that skipping breakfast was probably not the best idea for a person with type 2 diabetes because it caused excessive blood sugar spikes at lunch and dinner, and could lead to metabolic compensation. later in the day.

Diabetes remission & # 39; with keto diet

The second strategy, especially for type 2 diabetics, is to follow a low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet.

Evidence of the benefits of a keto diet for type 2 diabetes is accumulating, and studies have shown that with proper medical support and advice, more than 50% of patients could be in able to make their state a "remission".

This means that their blood glucose control has returned to normal and they no longer need to take hypoglycemic agents. This is a staggering and life-changing result for many people who have become dependent on daily medications like insulin or metformin.

However, in the real world, restrictive diets are generally not respected. Some people may stick to it, but at least half of the participants at least fall off the wagon within six to twelve months of starting a new diet, whether it is low in carbohydrates or not .

One or two low carb meals

An approach based on a hardened ketogenic diet may also involve some risk. A recent study from my laboratory also warned that the occasional "cheat day" under a strict ketogenic diet could damage the blood vessels.

Going from one or two meals a day to a low carb diet could be a workable goal that maximizes benefits while minimizing potential risks for many people with type 2 diabetes.

At a time when pharmaceuticals are the norm for managing most diseases, I am encouraged to discover simple alternatives that can be tested in scientific research studies. It's not every day that, in the health field, we are seeing seemingly opposite diseases in our patients.

Since normal circadian rhythm indicates that humans are more tolerant of glucose in the morning, this strategy may not be optimal for a non-diabetic person. However, the slightest feeling of hunger later in the day, when a low-carb breakfast is consumed, could be appealing to many people trying to control their weight.

We hope to test some of these ideas in the years to come while continuing our research on optimizing lifestyle approaches for type 2 diabetes.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.