“I’ve been working hard, but my diet isn’t going well.” “I’m tired! I want to stop dieting.” In such a case, would you like to switch to “blood sugar diet”? I will explain along with the reason why it is easier to gain weight after menopause.
Table of contents
- Why diets don’t work
- Introducing a stress-free blood sugar diet
- It is important to control blood sugar levels as you age.
- Full of charm! Delicious anti-sugar products are increasing year by year
Why diets don’t work
Even if you start a diet with all your heart, you may feel stressed and frustrated if you don’t get the results you want. What are the reasons why diets don’t work?
First of all, finding out the cause is the first step to a successful diet. Review your current diet and find a way that fits the cause.
Is it because of the age that can be considered as a reason?
One of the reasons why dieting does not work well may be the influence of age, such as “basal metabolism is lower than when you were young, making it harder to lose weight.”
The daily basal metabolic rate of Japanese women is the highest at 1410 kcal at the age of 12 to 14, which is the peak of the growth period, and gradually decreases to less than 1100 kcal at the age of 50 and over. Therefore, even if you follow the same diet method as when you were young, it won’t work.
Not only metabolism, but also the function of various organs such as the stomach and intestines and liver weakens as we age.
Invisible stress may be a big reason/cause!?
During a diet, it is easy to get caught up in my rules such as “I can’t do that, I can’t do this” and a sense of obligation such as “I have to do XX”.
In particular, people with the following tendencies should be careful.
- Even if you temporarily succeed in dieting, you will rebound due to stress such as work, and you will soon return.
- I keep being told I can’t do it, and I’m stressed, and I can’t stand it, and I’m frustrated and failed.
The reason why your diet is not going well may be that you are accumulating stress without even realizing it.
Introducing a stress-free blood sugar diet
There is more than one way to lose weight. Among the many diet methods, we will introduce a low-stress blood sugar diet.
A blood sugar diet is a “diet method to control the sugar content of food and drink”. To lose weight, it is important to know your blood sugar levels.
Relationship between blood sugar level and insulin
First of all, I will explain the relationship between blood sugar level and insulin, which is the key to the blood sugar diet.
- carbohydrates to glucose. Insulin is released when blood sugar rises
The sugars and carbohydrates in the foods we eat are digested into glucose and enter the blood. When blood glucose levels rise, the pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin. Insulin has the property that glucose is used as energy for muscles, and it works to lower blood sugar levels. Insulin is the mechanism that regulates blood sugar levels.
- What happens when sugar enters the body at once?
Consuming foods containing a lot of carbohydrates at once on an empty stomach will exceed the allowable amount of insulin action, resulting in a sudden rise in blood sugar levels. Since the supply of insulin cannot keep up, excess glucose becomes fat and is stored in the liver, muscle, and fat cells. This is what makes you fat.
- “Blood sugar diet” to devise ways to take carbohydrates
The blood sugar diet is a meal method that takes care of how to take carbohydrates so that blood sugar levels do not rise rapidly. However, it’s not a strict “don’t take any sweets or carbohydrates”. This is because sugars such as carbohydrates are necessary and important nutrients for the body.
- What to watch out for on a blood sugar diet
In the blood sugar diet, it is necessary to pay attention to the amount and how to take carbohydrates and sugars. Avoid eating carbs or sugars on an empty stomach.
Also, the following methods are effective to prevent blood sugar levels from rising suddenly and to support digestion.
- Pay attention to the order in which you eat.
- If you try to increase the number of times you chew foods such as brown rice, millet rice, whole grain bread, and 100% buckwheat noodles that are low in sugar and have a chewy texture, your blood sugar will rise slowly, making it easier to feel full and overeating. also prevent.
- Review the timing and content of meals, such as eating dinner earlier and adjusting the amount of meals.
Check out how to identify foods with a lot of sugar!
The blood sugar diet is a method of paying attention to the amount of sugar intake and how it is taken, and basically does not require detailed calorie calculations.
The reason for this is that foods with a high sugar content are easy to judge by taste and sight, and blood sugar levels can be controlled simply by devising ways to eat them.
For example, carbohydrate-rich foods are staple foods such as white rice, udon, and bread. Foods with a lot of sugar can be imagined as sweet snacks and fruits.
In addition to these tastes, there is also a way to judge visually. Sugar-rich menus are characterized by white ones such as sugar, udon noodles, and white sauces, as well as thicker ones such as ankake made with potato starch and coastal starch. It is also easy to recognize deep-fried foods that use wheat flour for the batter.
Vegetables are something to watch out for. Some vegetables, especially potatoes, are high in carbohydrates, as shown below.
[Product name & sugar content per 100g]
- Potato (1)・・・16.3g
- Sweet potato (1/2 medium)・・・30.6g
- Satoimo (2 pieces)・・・10.8g
- Burdock (1/2)・・・9.8g
- Corn (2/3)・・・13.8g
The sugar content per 100g of cucumber is 1.9g, but 100g of sweet potato is 30.6g, which is 15 times more sugar. In addition, there are vegetables such as lotus root, bamboo shoots, and tomatoes that are difficult to intuitively know that they are high in sugar, so be careful.
Seasonings such as ketchup, sauces, dressings, ponzu sauce, grilled meat and natto sauces, honey, mentsuyu, cooking sake, and soy sauce, which uses flour, are actually ingredients that contain a lot of sugar.
Also, be careful with vegetable juices, supplements, and energy drinks. There are many products that adjust the taste by adding sugars or coating them with sugar.
Even products that are full of healthy nutrients may contain a lot of sugar, so please take this opportunity to check it out.
It is important to control blood sugar levels as you age.
As you get older, the function of the pancreas that secretes insulin slows down, so the function of lowering blood sugar levels also weakens.
In addition, around the age of 50, estrogen, a female hormone that helps burn fat, drops sharply due to menopause, making it difficult for fat to be metabolized.
You may gain weight without realizing it, so it’s a good idea to check and record your blood sugar levels yourself. Self-monitoring blood glucose meters are readily available online.
When I measured my blood sugar level with a self-monitoring device, I was told, “Even if you eat the same menu, it’s easier to rise after dinner than after lunch, so let’s be especially careful about dinner.” If you change it, the numbers will change so much.” You will understand the relationship between the time and content of meals and how blood sugar levels rise.
It is good to collect data and consider countermeasures.
Full of charm! Delicious anti-sugar products are increasing year by year
“I want to start a blood sugar diet, but it’s difficult to put up with carbohydrates and sweets all of a sudden.”
In the past, anti-sugar products could only be purchased at nutritional food specialty stores or only found in some manufacturers, but in the past few years, the range of stores and products that handle them has expanded significantly.
Sugar-free bread, side dishes, lunch boxes, and frozen foods such as sugar-free beer and juice are becoming more common. Let’s incorporate sugar countermeasure products into your diet well and proceed with your diet without difficulty.
