My wife and I decided to try a restaurant that serves a fusion of Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern foods.
We ordered a Maza Trio with Baba ganoush (finely chopped roasted eggplant, olive oil, lemon juice), pickled vegetables, rice stuffed in grape leaves, and pita bread.
The photo below is from Wikipedia. I was not planning on making an article about my lunch and did not photograph my food.
Vinegar and pickles delay the digestion of carbohydrates by inhibiting the action of amylase, the enzyme for carbohydrate digestion. — The Blood Sugar Lowering and Metabolic Effects of Vinegar
The main dish is lamb kofta on rice with lentils and an extra order of tzatziki. Lamb kofta is minced lamb cooked on a skewer.
Below is a tabrizi from Iran—a version of kofta.
We ate accordingly with the vegetables first, meat, and then the pickled veggies with the rice. We had the pita bread last and put the Baba ghanoush or the tzatziki on it. No alcohol or soda. It was a delicious meal.
Veggies Meat Carbohydrate Sequence Prevents After Meal Sugar Spike
Right after eating, I started having a mild headache on my forehead. We had to do some shopping so the walking after a meal, if you can call it that, was done inside a department store.
We missed the one-hour blood sugar, so I had to settle for the two-hour post-prandial or after-meal blood sugar, and mine was 184 mg/dL. Way higher than the target of 140 mg/dL (7.8mmol/L).
A two-hour blood sugar of more than 140 mg/dL always makes a person more likely to have cardiovascular disease like a heart attack or a stroke. I discussed that in — After-meal high blood sugar predicts Atherosclerosis better than Fasting blood sugar and HbA1c.
However, the one-hour post-prandial blood sugar is more predictive than a two-hour and should be less than 155 mg/dL (8.6 mmmol/L).
People with values higher than 155 mg/dL tend to develop type 2 diabetes, kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, and higher all-cause mortality.
I wrote about that in — A High One-hour After-Meal Blood Sugar Test Can Lead to Several Deadly Conditions.
So why is my blood sugar still high if I used vinegar and ate the vegetables first, followed by the protein and carbs?
I think it is the amount of carbohydrates. I only had about one and a quarter of pita bread and a half cup of rice. It could also be that the amount of carbs was more than the vegetables I ate.
The American heart Association recommends a Mediterranean-style diet and considers them heart-healthy. The following is from their website:
Does the AHA recommend a Mediterranean-style diet?
Yes. A Mediterranean-style diet can help you achieve the American Heart Association’s recommendations for a healthy dietary pattern that:
- emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and legumes;
- includes low-fat or fat-free dairy products, fish, poultry, non-tropical vegetable oils and nuts; and
- limits added sugars, sugary beverages, sodium, highly processed foods, refined carbohydrates, saturated fats, and fatty or processed meats.
This style of eating can play a big role in preventing heart disease and stroke and reducing risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
There is some evidence that a Mediterranean diet rich in virgin olive oil may help the body remove excess cholesterol from arteries and keep blood vessels open.
I’m not contradicting the AHA. When they say Mediterranean-style diet, it means a habit and not just one meal.
My experience shows that foods from Mediterranean restaurants are not necessarily heart-healthy. In my case, it made my blood sugar go sky-high.
How your body processes carbohydrates differs from mine, and your one-hour or two-hour blood sugar may differ. The only way to find out is to check the blood sugar using a glucometer.
I use the Care Touch glucometer from Amazon with 100 lancets, 100 test strips, and a lancing device. I think every household should have one.
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Related:
- A Tool Box of Strategies to Prevent Blood Sugar Spikes When Eating High Glycemic Index Foods
- Passing and Failing the One-Hour After-Meal Blood Sugar
- Low One-Hour Post-Prandial Blood Sugar after One Cup of Rice
- A High One hour After-Meal Blood Sugar Test can Lead to Several Deadly Conditions
- The Blood Sugar Lowering and Metabolic Effects of Vinegar
- Ways to Lower After-Meal Blood Sugar when Eating White Bread
- A High-Protein Breakfast Can Lower Blood Sugar the Whole Day
- Eating rather than skipping breakfast results in lower blood sugars the whole day
- Pistachios improve insulin resistance and inflammatory markers
- Pistachios decrease after-meal blood sugar
- A surprising reason why people get heart attacks
- After-meal high blood sugar predicts Atherosclerosis better than Fasting blood sugar and HbA1c
- How often do you do the post-prandial sugar test?
- Blood Glucose Spike and its Prevention
- Testing Post Prandial Glucose Level after a Feast
- After-meal blood sugar spikes as a cause of vascular failure
- Veggies Meat Carbohydrate Sequence Prevents After Meal Sugar Spike
- A Healthy Lifestyle is as effective as Voglibose and Nateglinide in Lowering 10-year Cardiac Mortality
- Intermittent fasting Reverses Endothelial Dysfunction
- Walk After Meals to Prevent Sky High Blood Sugars
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