How does food affect my blood sugar?

The food you eat consists of carbohydrates, proteins and fat.
In this film, I will tell you how the food you eat affects your blood sugar.

When we talk about what affects blood sugar, it is the carbohydrates that are of the greatest importance.
Carbohydrates perform several functions in your body.
They energize your muscles and brain and contribute to a healthy intestinal flora.

Foods with carbohydrates are also a source of vitamins and minerals.
In addition, carbohydrates are stored as energy deposits in your liver and are released if your blood sugar becomes too low.

We can divide carbohydrates into three types: sugars, starch and dietary fibre.
Our food intake often consists of a mixture of the various carbohydrates.

For example, there are both sugars and dietary fibres in apples,
just as there are both starch and dietary fibres in whole grain products such as dark rye bread and oatmeal.

It doesn't matter what type of carbohydrate you eat.
The carbohydrates are metabolised to different degrees and therefore at different rates in the intestine.
And it is precisely the degree and rate by which they are metabolised that matters in relation to how quickly your blood sugar increases.

Sugars, such as those found in juice, honey and sugar are metabolised and absorbed quickly into the intestine.
This means that your blood sugar will go up quickly.
It is the amount of sugar that determines how much it will go up.

Starch such as you will find in potatoes, pasta and bread is not metabolised as quickly.
In this case, your blood sugar will go up slightly slower and the values will be lower.

Dietary fibre is found in rough vegetables such as cabbage, root vegetables and in whole grain cereals.
Dietary fibre is hardly metabolised in the intestine and will therefore not affect your blood sugar.

Fibrous foods mean that your blood sugar will go up slower and the values will be lower.
The more carbohydrates in the form of sugars and starch you eat, the more your blood sugar will go up.

It is therefore a good idea to be aware of how much of these you eat,
and try to spread them out across all the meals of the day.

In addition to carbohydrates, our food also contains fat and proteins.
When you eat fat and protein, your stomach will empty itself slower.
This means carbohydrates move more slowly into your bloodstream,
and so your blood sugar will also increase more slowly.

Therefore, it may be appropriate to eat fat and protein in all your meals.
When choosing fat, we recommend that you choose healthy fat.
Healthy fat is found in plant-based foods and in fish.

Therefore, it is a good idea to choose fat from avocado, nuts, olive oil and rapeseed oil
as well as fish like herring, mackerel and salmon.

Proteins are found in meat, fish, eggs and dairy products.
Here we recommend that you choose low-fat meat and dairy products.
Proteins are also found in legumes like lentils and beans.

If you have any questions about your diet, you can talk to your caregiver or a clinical dietician.