High blood sugar, high blood pressure, dietary taboos

High-sugar and high-GI (glycemic index) foods, high-sodium and high-salt foods, high-fat and high-purine foods, but there is no absolute fasting. The specific restriction level should be adjusted flexibly based on personal indicator control and daily activity level. You don’t need to be overly harsh on yourself to control indicators. Instead, you are prone to malnutrition and poor compliance.

I met Uncle Zhang in the community a while ago and found out that his fasting blood sugar was 7.3 and his blood pressure was 148/92. I heard that eating oatmeal is healthy, so I made a large bowl of instant oats every morning and added a spoonful of honey to "moisten the intestines". As a result, my blood sugar soared to 7.9 when I checked again half a month later, and my blood pressure did not drop. In fact, what he stepped into was the invisible high-sugar pit that many people ignore - the kind of instant oatmeal with dextrin and maltodextrin added, which has a higher GI than white rice. Adding a spoonful of honey is equivalent to drinking less than half a bowl of sugar water on an empty stomach in the morning. It would be surprising if the index dropped. There are currently two mainstream views on sugar intake. One group believes that refined sugar should be completely eliminated and even fruits should be eaten with the lowest sugar content. The other group believes that as long as the glycosylated hemoglobin is stabilized below 6.5% and the total calories are controlled, it is okay to eat about 50g of cream cake during holidays and occasionally eat two bites of watermelon. Most of the endocrinologists I have contacted prefer the latter. After all, a diet plan that can be adhered to for a long time is useful. If you push yourself too hard, you will easily eat in revenge. There are also invisible sugars that many people don’t think of, such as rock sugar in braised pork, Thousand Island dressing in salads, and maltitol in so-called “sugar-free biscuits” sold in supermarkets. These must be included in the total amount of sugar when eating them. There used to be a little girl who ate light salads every day, with two tablespoons of Thousand Island dressing every time. Her blood sugar did not drop in half a month and she gained 2 pounds, because the sugar and fat in the sauce were not taken into account.

After talking about the pitfalls of sugar control, let’s talk about the embarrassing thing that many people with high blood pressure are prone to make - they always feel that "they have no energy without eating salt", especially the elders who do physical work. Aunt Li, who was followed up before, had her blood pressure stuck at 150/90 and couldn't lower it. Even more antihypertensive medicine was of no use. When I came to see her, I found out that she couldn't bear to throw away the marinade for pickling radish. When cooking, she always scooped a spoonful of it to enhance the flavor. The amount of salt she eats every day is almost 15g, which is more than three times the recommended amount. The current general guideline recommends that patients with high blood pressure should consume no more than 5g of salt per day, which is about the amount of a beer bottle cap, but it is not a strict standard. If you often work outdoors in the summer and sweat a lot, it is okay to relax to 6-7g. Otherwise, you will be prone to low sodium, fatigue, dizziness and panic. In addition to visible salt, invisible sodium is the hardest hit area. For example, the sodium content of noodles, soda crackers, chicken essence, bean paste sold in supermarkets, and even a bowl of ordinary Lanzhou ramen is close to the recommended daily amount. If you like to eat takeout or eat out, your basic sodium intake will exceed the standard, and your blood pressure will naturally be unstable.

In fact, there is another type of food that disrupts blood sugar and blood pressure at the same time. Many people don’t take it seriously, and they are high-fat and high-purine foods. I met a 28-year-old programmer in the clinic before. His fasting blood sugar was 7.2, his blood pressure was 145/95, he was 175cm tall and weighed almost 180kg. After asking him, I found out that he drank a cup of iced milk tea as water every day, and ate takeout braised pork and braised meat every day. He gave up milk tea and takeout heavy oil and salt for a month. He didn't take any medicine. Both indicators returned to the normal range. Do you think it's an exaggeration? There are also many controversies about this type of food. For example, some people say that deep-sea fish is high in fat and purine, so they must not be eaten. Others say that the Omega 3 of deep-sea fish is good for blood vessels, so you should eat more of it. In fact, the compromise plan is: if the uric acid level is normal, eat steamed deep-sea fish twice a week, about 100g each time, which is good for controlling blood sugar and protecting blood vessels. ； If you have high uric acid, you can switch to freshwater fish such as steamed seabass and crucian carp. You don’t have to follow the trend and eat deep-sea fish.

I have been dealing with patients with this type of chronic disease for almost 10 years, and I have found that the most common misunderstanding is overcorrection. As soon as the index is found to be high, I am so scared that I don’t dare to eat or touch that. I eat boiled vegetables every day. As a result, I become anemic and fatigued within two months. My blood pressure goes up and down, and my blood sugar is not stable. In fact, there is really nothing that you absolutely cannot eat. For example, if you really want to eat peaches today, then eat less than half a bowl of rice at noon, eat half a medium-sized peach, and test your post-meal blood sugar as long as it does not exceed 10, you will be fine. ； If you want to eat some salty pickles, then add half the salt when cooking the vegetables that day. As long as the total sodium content is under control, you'll be fine.

To put it bluntly, diet control is not about shackles on oneself, but about finding the best way to eat within a safe range. Everyone's metabolism is different. The general standards on the Internet can only be used as a reference. Every time you eat something new, measure your blood sugar and blood pressure, and slowly figure out your own tolerance. This is better than any strict taboo list.