Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Nutritious Foods with Favorable Blood Sugar Effects

Would you rather have calcium with elevated blood glucose, or just calcium? You can work towards the former by regularly consuming calcium-fortified cereal with milk (both significant sources of sugar). You can choose the second option by regularly eating cheese, spinach, or fish.

Many foods provide high amounts of random vitamins and minerals. However, people are often concerned about the vitamins or minerals they may be missing when cutting out many of the common high carbohydrate foods. Below are some alternative options for achieving healthy post-meal blood glucose levels while eating nutritious foods.

Potassium

Bananas are synonymous with potassium. Bananas are also filled with carbohydrates. Tomatoes (and their various forms), halibut, tuna, clams, pork chops, cantaloupe, and honeydew all provide nearly the same amount of potassium (or more) without the sugar.

Magnesium

According to Nutrition for Dummies, men and women can get their recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of magnesium from four slices of whole wheat bread. That also comes with 40-60 grams of carbohydrates. The book also stated that only two tablespoons of nuts/seeds or two medium-sized artichokes a day also meets the RDA. Halibut, tuna, spinach, and almonds are all solid magnesium sources as well.

B Vitamins

Grains contain most (but not all) of the B vitamins. B vitamins work synergistically when all are consumed together. What foods contain all of them? According to WebMd: meat, eggs, and dairy products.


Vitamin E

Instead of opting for the wheat germ or cereal, go for sunflower seeds, almonds, organic peanut butter, shrimp, or peaches.

Vitamin A

Most people associate vitamin A with carrots. Oatmeal is another source. However, both are fairly high in carbohydrates (especially oatmeal). Solid vitamin A alternatives include cantaloupe and red peppers.


Zinc

Zinc is found in grain products like cereal and bread. However, real foods like beef, lamb, veal, chicken, oysters, and pumpkin seeds all provide the RDA in reasonable servings.

Copper

Now, no client has EVER brought up a concern to me about his or her copper intake. However, if your copper source is a bran or English muffin each day, go for crabmeat, lobster, oysters, shrimp, liver, almonds, nuts, or seeds.


Now, there are many vitamins and minerals I didn't address in this blog. There are many which are only attained through some meat, fruit, or vegetable. Regardless, if your nutritional lifestyle consists of meat, fish, chicken, eggs, vegetables and fruits, nuts, and seeds, your body should receive all of the vitamins and minerals necessary for optimal health...even copper.

6 comments:

Kelly said...

Just found your blog through Fred's site. Great information! I'm doing a fitness challenge this year which started just a few days ago and ends June 30 and Fred has given me some great tips.

Have anything you'd like to add to give me an advantage? I'm pretty much eating 20 grams or less during the challenge, lifting HIT style once per week with no cardio and doing higher fat, moderate protein, very low carb...

If you have any tips for me (I have 100 pounds to lose but the challenge is more about how much I've changed inside and out more than number of pounds lost, etc.), would you stop by my blog and comment? I'll check in to see what goodies you have on this blog as well.

Thanks!

Kelly in Ohio
www.thecardiofreezone.blogspot.com

Kelly said...

PS, just read through all your posts and your blog is one of the best I've read. Very clear, concise and interesting.

You're definitely on my favorites now for regular reading.

Kel

Anne said...

Hi Sean,

I just found your blog through Fred Hahn's blog :-) And then I found a link to your Super Slow Zone website. I live in the UK where there are no super slow gyms so I have to go super slow in a super fast gym ;-) Why I'm writing to you - those tee shirts that have Super Slow written on them in the photos of the gym - where can I get one ? I would love to have Super Slow written on my shirt at my gym, then maybe other people, and the trainers, would understand why I do my reps so slowly...and they might learn something too.

Anne

Dr. Sean Preuss said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dr. Sean Preuss said...

Kelly-I responded to your comments through a long comment to one of your blogs from yesterday. Thank you for reading!

Anne-reading Fred's blog is a very smart move on your part. I hope you have enjoyed the postings on my site as well! For SuperSlow shirts, check out the following link:

http://www.superslow.com/systems/materials.html

The great part about these shirts is what they say about aerobics. Anyway, if you don't reach anyone at the facility, leave your name, credit card info, and address on their answering machine and everything should be taken care of. I've done it before and all worked out fine.
Anne, way to be proud of your training style and let everyone else know what you do!

Anne said...

Thanks for the link to the shirt Sean !

I've been following Fred's Super Slow technique for 18 months now, first at home using his book Slow Burn and DVDs and then at the gym. They don't have all the right machines at the gym like Fred has in his book so I do a combination of the home and the gym Slow Burn at my gym. I've got a diagnosis of osteoporosis and that's why I decided to do this, to help increase my bone density, but although I'm skinny and 55 years old I already lift weights heavier than many of the men at my gym ! I'm sure that is to do with using the super slow technique because my trainer once told me to do faster reps and I could tell after a couple of weeks that that way was no good at all !

I'm adding your blog to my bookmarks !

all the best,
Anne