Evidence-Based Nutrition For Chronic Disease Prevention

Blog Posts

Blood Sugar Spikes Q&A

Blood Sugar Spikes – Q&A

In this blog post, I will respond to your most common questions about blood sugar spikes, and specifically our most recent blog post/video, in which I shared six strategies to lower blood sugar spikes without reducing carb intake.

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How to Avoid Blood Sugar Spikes (Without Reducing Carb Intake)

How to Avoid Blood Sugar Spikes (Without Reducing Carb Intake)

Blood sugar spikes are increases in blood sugar to 180 mg/dL (10 mmol/L) or higher after a meal that are very common in people with diabetes or prediabetes, but also occur in those without diabetes or prediabetes. In this blog post, I am discussing six evidence-based dietary strategies that lower the blood sugar response after a meal and help avoid blood sugar spikes, all without reducing total carbohydrate intake.

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Blood sugar spike on glucometer

Are Blood Sugar Spikes Normal in Healthy People?

This blog post explores the question of whether regular blood sugar spikes exceeding 200 mg/dL in people with otherwise normal glucose tolerance are a sign of early glucose intolerance not captured by standardized clinical testing, or whether such spikes are the normal result of eating highly glycemic foods even in the healthiest people.

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The Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of Foods

The Dietary Glycemic Index: Everything You Need to Know

Blood sugar levels rise after a meal rich in carbohydrates. However, not all carbs are created equal when it comes to the blood sugar response they trigger. These differences are captured in the glycemic index and the glycemic load, two measures that can help us avoid excessive blood sugar spikes after a meal. This blog post discusses what the glycemic index and the glycemic load are, how they are determined, and reviews the glycemic index and glycemic load values of many common foods.

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Regulation of Blood Sugar

More than 1 billion people are affected by diabetes mellitus worldwide, and that number is estimated to increase by another 50% in the next few decades. In this blog post, we are discussing how our bodies regulate blood sugar levels, what goes wrong in this process when we develop diabetes, and how diabetes is clinically diagnosed.

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Ultra-Processed Foods: The #1 Cause of Overeating and Weight Gain?

Ultra-Processed Foods: The #1 Cause of Overeating and Weight Gain?

In a recent blog post about the Global Nutrition Transition, we discussed that the transition towards ultra-processed foods is strongly and consistently associated with increased rates of obesity in populations all around the world. We are expanding on this discussion in this post by sharing evidence that ultra-processed foods are not just associated with higher calorie intake and body weight, but may actually cause overeating and weight gain. We are also discussing concrete steps – based on this research – that may prevent overeating and weight gain.

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New Study on Time-Restricted Eating and Weight Loss

A new randomized controlled clinical trial has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine that describes the impact of 8-hour time-restricted eating on weight loss in the context of a calorie-restricted diet. This blog post summarizes what time-restricted eating is, outlines the animal experiments that initially suggested that time-restricted eating could be a valuable tool for weight loss, and reviews the data from the new as well as older trials.

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The Global Nutrition Transition (Why Nutrition Matters, Part B)

In this blog post, we will take a close look at the emergence of what is often called the twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes. This twin epidemic has been taking place all over the world over the last 30-40 years, and it is still getting worse. We will examine the changes in diet that have occurred during this same time frame in several different affected populations. We will see some patterns emerge of specific changes in the diets of these populations that have almost certainly played a major role in the massive changes in body weights and metabolic health.

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