Acu-Care Health Centers

Blood Sugar Regulation Program

1. Never skip meals.
2. Eat every 3 hours--snacks should be mostly a combination of protein, fat and/or vegetables. Examples are:
   1. String Cheese
   2. Avocado
   3. Handful of Nuts
   4. Hard Boiled Egg
   5. Celery with Nut Butter (almond, macadamia, sunflower seed, cashew, etc.)
   6. Full Fat Yogurt, such as Greek Yogurt
3. Eat plenty of protein about 60-90 grams a day for women and 80-110 grams for men. As much as possible, eat organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy.
   
   Note: If you are a vegetarian, follow food combining practices to improve protein availability. The best book on this is Diet for a small planet, by Francis Moore Lappe.
4. Keep carbohydrates to 60 grams per day. You may eat all the vegetables you want, including beets and carrots. The only ones with higher carb content that need to be counted are corn, potatoes and yams.

What is a Carb?

+ You must read labels. All prepared foods have the amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates listed on the label.

Important: use the website www.myfitnesspal.com or www.sparkpeople.com to measure your carb intake.

* Do not use sugar substitutes. Although they may have no carbs listed, the chemicals do affect blood sugar. The only sweeteners that should be used are honey, xylitol (made from birch trees--can be found at Whole Foods or online) and Stevia (best brand is Sweet Leaf, found at Whole Foods or online).

++ When you do eat carbohydrates, make them high quality or healthy carbs.

What is a Healthy Carb?

• Whole grains (oats, quinoa, amaranth, brown rice, millet, etc.)
• Whole grain breads/products (such as ezekial bread, tortillas, etc. These can be found at Henry's, Trade Joe's, Whole Foods)
• Beans/Legumes
• Fruit
• All vegetables

When eating vegetables, always add some type of fat/oil as it helps the minerals absorb better. Example: broccoli with butter, salad with olive oil, stir-fry with coconut oil, etc.

Have healthy fat with every meal and snack. Do not use low or no fat products. Fat is not what makes people overweight, too many carbohydrates is the problem. Our body needs healthy fat for our hormones, proper brain function, etc. Over 60% of our brain is made up of fat cells.

What is a Healthy Fat?

• Nuts and nut butters/seeds and seed butters
• Organic butter
• Full fat dairy products
• High quality fish oils and fish (i.e., salmon, sardines, etc.)
• Organic/grass fed meats
• Virgin olive oil (do not heat--this causes it to become rancid quickly. A rancid oil becomes a free radical, which causes cell damage.)
• Flax seed oil, black currant seed oil borage oil
• Coconut oil (handles heat well--imparts a sweet flavor)
• Refined coconut oil (handles heat well--no flavor)
• Palm and palm kernel oil (handles heat well)
• Sesame oil (handles het well)
• Cold pressed peanut oil

DO NOT USE: margarine, corn oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, soy oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil.

Exercise regularly. There are many benefits, but the main purpose here is to help regulate blood sugar by burning excess.

Make a 3-day food journal, counting only carbs. This program is not concerned with calories, only carbohydrates.

For a very clear explanation about blood sugar, carbs and insulin, you may view the following: www.youtube.com/merrittwellness

The following supplements may be used/needed: Purification Program, Diaplex, Cataplex B, Gymnema, Cataplex GTF, Cruciferous Complete, Tuna Omega 3 Oil.

Read our other articles in this series: