If you have glucose intolerance, a condition in which the body cannot maintain normal blood-glucose levels because it either produces too little insulin or doesn't respond well enough to insulin, adopting a healthful diet that reduces the amount of glucose in the blood is a good strategy. There are many approaches you can try that might help to improve your glucose levels.
Weight Loss
The American Dietetic Association recommends that those who are at risk of developing diabetes eat a healthy diet low in calories and fat to achieve moderate weight loss. Because excess weight often leads to glucose intolerance, any diet that causes weight loss will likely improve glucose levels, as well. Examples of weight-loss diets that focus on reducing calorie intake rather than altering intake of other nutrients include those that involve calorie counting, points systems, meal replacement bars or shakes and portion control.
Low Carb
Because carbohydrates increase blood-glucose levels, it is not surprising that many people with blood-sugar challenges might turn to low-carb diets. Low-carb diets typically require restricting carbohydrate intake to less than 20 percent of total calories, with protein and/or fat making up the remainder of calories consumed. Low-carb diets are at least as effective as low-fat diets in promoting weight loss, and some studies have found that they may also improve glycemic control better than high-carbohydrate diets. But these diets may be difficult to follow long term and often lack highly nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables.
Low-Glycemic Index
An alternative approach to limiting carbohydrates is to change the type of carbohydrates you eat. Carbohydrate-containing foods vary significantly in their effect on blood-glucose levels. The glycemic index, or GI, is a rating of the extent to which a food increases blood glucose on a scale of 1 to 100, with higher scores representing greater increases in glucose levels. Pure glucose has a GI of 100, whereas white bread, spaghetti and peanuts have GI scores of 73, 44, and 14, respectively. A low-GI diet only includes foods that have low scores. In one study, published in 2008 in the journal "Nutrition & Metabolism," a low-GI diet significantly decreased diabetics' fasting glucose levels after 24 weeks. But a low-carb diet decreased glucose to an even greater extent. Overall, low-GI diets are effective in improving glucose control and may be easier to stick to than a diet that limits all carbohydrates.
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean diet is another approach you could try to improve your glucose tolerance. This dietary pattern may prevent type 2 diabetes and lower blood glucose levels. The Mediterranean diet allows an abundance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and olive oil; moderate amounts of low-fat dairy, fish and poultry; and little red meat or sweets. The Mediterranean diet is not low in fat or carbohydrates, but those fats and carbohydrates are healthy.
References
- "Diabetes Care"; Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes--2010; American Diabetes Association; January 2011
- "Current Diabetes Reports"; Low-Carbohydrate Diets: An Update on Current Research; Judith Wylie-Rosett and Nichola J. Davis; 2009
- "Archives of Internal Medicine"; Effects of Low-Carbohydrate vs Low-Fat Diets on Weight Loss and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials; AJ Nordmann et al.; 2006
- "Nutrition & Metabolism"; The Effect of a Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet Versus a Low-Glycemic Index Diet on Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus; EC Westman et al.; 2008
- "Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews"; Low Glycaemic Index, or Low Glycaemic Load, Diets for Diabetes Mellitus; D. Thomas and E.J. Elliot; 2009
- Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load; Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University; Jane Higdon; 2005
