Well, folks—the old A1C has done its number on me again, reaching 6.3. If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time you know all about my struggles to keep that insidious number at a level below what is considered full-blown diabetes, 6.5. The A1C number is the percentage of your red blood cells that have glucose molecules attached to them. People with diabetic tendencies have higher blood-sugar levels than normal due to a condition known as insulin resistance. You may remember my striking analogy using the idea of a key (insulin) and a lock (on the door to the cell). A person with insulin resistance has cell locks that are hard to turn, needing a good strong key. (Hmmm. This analogy is already going off the rails.) In other words, more insulin than normal is needed to get the glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells where it can be broken down (“burned”) for energy. Since excess sugar in the bloodstream is toxic, the best thing a diabetes-prone person can do is to avoid much in the way of sugar and other refined carbs in his or her diet. If blood sugar levels are kept stable and relatively low, the pancreas doesn’t get called upon to produce big surges of insulin to deal with the glucose spikes typically caused by ingestion of such foods.
Healthy Eating and Weight Control
Read “Just Eat” and Learn Lots about Good Food Choices
My husband listens to a podcast called “The Art of Manliness” and occasionally tells me about an especially-interesting episode. Recently he told me about an interview with Barry Estabrook, a journalist with wide experience in the food world, who has written this book. I love it, love it, love it–because, as I’ve said before about other authors I love, HE AGREES WITH ME. In fact, his book is going to join my small stable of books about eating and weight control that I plan to promote in a future podcast episode of my own.
Honestly, the book is quite short and very entertaining. I can’t recommend it highly enough. If you do decide to purchase it, follow this link to use my Amazon affiliate link, which will give me a small commission at no additional expense to you.
I Re-Visit the Food Choices Pyramid in Podcast Episode #2
It’s up on the podcast page on this site and on major platforms. Be sure to subscribe! I wrote a short post about the food choices pyramid back awhile ago and this material greatly expands on those ideas. Episode #1 and this one are introductory episodes that you’ll want to listen to in order to have a clear perspective on my foundational ideas. After that you can certainly pick and choose according to your interests. (All of them will be fascinating, of course.)