Healthy eating starts with breakfast
Member of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association Diabetes Prevention and Control Professional Committee
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical UniversitySu Benli
“Clothing, food, housing and transportation” are closely related to human health, and “food” is one of these elements.
The high prevalence of diabetes today is closely related to the living conditions of Chinese people, especially the improved diet. Poor eating habits can lead to weight gain, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, blood sugar disturbances, and ultimately lead to increased coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
Scientific diet is very important for diabetic patients. Through scientific diet, diabetic patients can lose weight, stabilize blood sugar, and improve cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease risk factors.
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Diabetics need a balanced diet
Currently, there is a ketogenic diet for dieting and weight loss, and a Mediterranean diet for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, for people with diabetes, the academic community recommends a balanced diet. The so-called balanced diet means that 50% to 60% of the daily caloric intake comes from carbohydrates, 15% to 20% comes from protein, and 15% to 30% comes from fat.
A balanced diet for diabetics is not to limit the intake of a certain type of food, but to limit the total daily calorie intake to achieve a weight loss of 10% to 15%. Three meals a day is a habit formed by human beings for thousands of years and is closely related to human daily life.
Of course, these habits and activities may affect eating habits. Some people hardly eat breakfast; some work night shifts all the year round;
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Breakfast will help control sugar
So, do these eating habits affect individual health and blood sugar control in people with diabetes? Three meals a day, especially breakfast-based meals, are the eating habits that are most in line with human biological rhythms. Studies have shown that the eating habits of breakfast as the main meal are more beneficial to the weight loss of non-diabetic individuals under the same calorie condition compared with the eating habits of dinner as the main meal. In addition to the higher blood glucose after breakfast, the blood glucose after lunch and dinner were lower, and the overall postprandial blood glucose level throughout the day was lower in individuals who had breakfast as the main meal. The same is true for diabetics, who consume less insulin throughout the day and feel less hungry.
It is also three meals a day. The higher the calorie ratio of breakfast to the whole day, the higher the individual’s insulin sensitivity; and the higher the calorie ratio of dinner, the worse the insulin sensitivity. Breakfast calorie ratio of 25% to 50% is the best for improving insulin sensitivity. The type of food eaten at breakfast also made a difference in blood sugar control throughout the day. Studies have shown that high carbohydrate intake (accounting for 25% to 30% of total calories in the whole day, and 50% of carbohydrates) and low carbohydrates (accounting for 15% to 20% of total calories in the whole day, and 10% of carbohydrates) In comparison, blood glucose was higher after breakfast, but lower on average throughout the day, and lower in fasting blood glucose the next day.
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It’s best to stick to a high-protein, low-carb diet for dinner
So what’s for dinner?
The researchers observed the effect of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet at dinner on fasting blood sugar and blood sugar throughout the day, and found that postprandial blood sugar was more stable after a high-protein diet. The researchers compared the effects of skipping breakfast and three meals a day on individual blood sugar, and found that for those who skipped breakfast, although blood sugar did not rise during the period after breakfast, blood sugar fluctuations were more significant after lunch and dinner, and insulin secretion was worse. This further suggests that eating breakfast is conducive to insulin secretion throughout the day, and blood sugar is more stable.
Finally, I would like to remind you that, in addition to three meals a day, with breakfast as the mainstay, the order of eating also significantly affects postprandial blood sugar fluctuations. The observation of the same calorie intake showed that eating in the order of vegetables-meat-coarse grains or eating both vegetables and meat-coarse grains resulted in more stable postprandial blood sugar and less insulin secretion than eating staple food or sandwiches first. Even changing the order of meals in pre-diabetic patients can significantly avoid the occurrence of hypoglycemia before the next meal.
Obese and diabetic patients, even those with hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperuricemia, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and tumors should eat regular meals throughout the day. Breakfast is indispensable and should even contain calories. As the saying goes, breakfast is like an emperor, lunch is like a commoner, and dinner is like a beggar. It is better to eat less carbohydrates when eating out for dinner.
The pictures in the text are from the Internet
Editor || Dong Chao Wan Tao
Director on duty || Fan Hongbo