Featured VideoBlood sugar levels can be affected by stress, sleep and a lack of exercise. But what role does food play when it comes to blood glucose? This week on The Dose, registered dietitian Anar Allidina talks about the role diet plays, how eating certain foods can help regulate your blood sugar and when to know it’s time to see a doctor. For transcripts of The Dose, please visit: lnk.to/dose-transcripts. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta wants to set the record straight on blood sugar levels.
The professor of medicine at McGill University says people often think high blood sugar levels are from eating too much sugar.
That could be to blame for high blood sugar levels, but most of the time, she says excess weight and lack of physical activity are the causes.
“People think they’re just going to get rid of or reduce sugar in their diet,” said Dasgupta, who is also the director of the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.
Instead of focusing on sugar alone, dietitians say people should focus on eating foods that don’t cause high spikes in blood sugars, like fibre and protein.
“If you’re someone who is struggling later on in the day, you want to really look at your meals to make sure that they’re giving you enough nutrients so that your blood sugar is balanced so you’re able to be your best,” Toronto-based registered dietitian Anar Allidina told CBC’s The Dose podcast host Dr. Brian Goldman.
Diabetes is a major health issue in Canada, with one in three Canadians living with diabetes or prediabetes, according to the charity Diabetes Canada.
Diabetes can be caused by a range of factors depending on the type of diabetes, according to the charity’s website. However, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are largely preventable.
For those with diabetes, high blood sugar can lead to health problems like kidney disease and vision loss, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Here’s what Dasgupta and dietitians recommend to those wanting to better regulate their blood sugars.
How do I know if I have high blood sugar?
Blood glucose, or blood sugar, is the main sugar found in your blood. High blood sugar usually happens in people who have diabetes that isn’t well-controlled, and symptoms can range from mild to severe, according to MyHealthAlberta‘s website.
Mild symptoms include fatigue, anxiety, thirst and increased urination.
Diabetes is a major health issue in Canada, with one in three Canadians living with diabetes or prediabetes, according to the charity Diabetes Canada. (Shutterstock)
More severe symptoms include blurred vision, flushed skin and trouble waking up.
For people with diabetes, keeping your blood glucose in the healthy range should be the target, according to Diabetes Canada‘s website, which has a list of the target ranges for certain age groups.
Glucometers are the common tool of choice for many with diabetes to test blood sugars at home.
Some factors increase a person’s risk for diabetes, say CDC officials.
To assess their risk, Dasgupta recommends that those who haven’t been diagosed with prediabetes or diabetes start with the Public Health Agency of Canada’s diabetes risk questionnaire.
If someone’s risk is calculated as moderate to high, she says “that might be a moment to go to a drop-in clinic and get your blood sugar measured.”
She says most people should get their first blood sugar test done at or around the age of 40.
“If it all looks good, you can wait up to five years before having another blood test,” she said.
In general, foods with higher glycemic indexes are going to raise your blood sugar levels higher and faster than those with a lower rating, according to Diabetes Canada.
Allidina says that eating fibre-rich foods and protein can be great ways to stabilize blood sugars throughout the day.
If you experience cravings in the afternoon, try consuming more fibre at lunch.
“So if you are having a sandwich, opting for a whole grain or rye sourdough that’s going to give you that fibre is going to slow down how your food is digested,” she said.
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Toronto-based registered dietitian Andy De Santis also recommends people incorporate more fibre into their diets. Specifically, he’ll encourage clients to eat more legumes — a food group he says is the most underrated.�
“These foods have incredible amounts of fibre. They have almost no effect on blood sugar levels,” he said.
De Santis also advises people to eat consistently throughout the day and on a predictable schedule to keep blood sugars from hitting those peaks and valleys.
Should I cut out sugar?
Allidina and De Santis agree that people should never cut out sugar completely from their diet.
But according to De Santis, it’s important to remember that not all sugar is created equal and that fruits and vegetables are generally made up of glucose that will release more slowly into the bloodstream compared to processed sugar.
“An orange has more sugar than a cup of white rice, but a cup of white rice will cause a much bigger spike in blood sugar levels,” De Santis says.
Registered dietitian Andy De Santis recommends people turn to legumes and other sources of fibre because they help people feel full and have almost no effect on blood sugar. (Julie Van Rosendaal/CBC)
Instead of cutting out sugar, Allidina says to look at how you can add more nutrient-dense foods to your diet to replace foods filled with processed sugar.
“It’s just being strategic and figuring out what you can add to whatever you enjoy that’s going to give you the nutrients like healthy fats, fibre and protein, which is going to slow down the way those sugars are absorbed in your body,” she said.
They said 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week typically recommended for adults is a good benchmark.
They said breaking up down time with smaller bouts of exercise each hour — like taking 250 steps per hour — or being active a few times throughout the day may also work well for blood sugar management.
Experts say exercise can help to lower blood glucose levels. (Shutterstock)
For those who don’t know where to start, Dasgupta usually recommends people turn to walking to increase their physical activity.
Most people should aim for 7,000 steps at least per day, she says.
Resistance training can further lower our blood sugars and reduce our risk for type 2 diabetes, she added.
Other factors
A lack of sleep and stress can also both have an effect on blood sugar levels, Dasgupta says.
CDC officials say getting less than seven hours of sleep per night regularly can make diabetes harder to manage, with less sleep creating an increase in insulin resistance for example. Insulin is a hormone that helps blood sugar enter cells to be used for energy. Insulin resistance is when your body can’t use insulin right away so sugar doesn’t move into your cells and stays in your blood instead, according to HealthLinkBC’s website.
Dasgupta says the younger we are when we improve our diets, sleep and exercise habits, the more it will pay off later in life by delaying or lowering the risk for type 2 diabetes.
She compares it to saving money for retirement.
“If you’re walking a bit more from the beginning, if you’re exercising a bit more from the beginning, if your diet is just a bit better, then over time that is going to have a favourable impact.”
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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