The Taiwanese Association of Educators on Friday published a low-glycemic diet cookbook, which nutritionists say can not only help people with diabetes control their blood sugar levels, but can also help people reach and maintain a healthy weight.
Association president Tu Shih-te (杜思德) said food is what mainly affects the amount of sugar in the blood after a meal, but health education clinics have discovered that younger people and older people have different diet preferences, leading to different ways of controlling blood sugar levels.
However, across the different generations, a common problem is a lack of understanding about low glycemic index (GI) diets, Tu said.
According to the American Diabetes Association, “the GI measures how a carbohydrate-containing food increases blood glucose. Foods are ranked based on how they compare with a reference food — either glucose or white bread” and “a food with a high GI increases blood glucose more than a food with a medium or low GI.”
Tu said that many people with diabetes measure their fasting blood sugar levels every day, but do not monitor the amount of sugar in their blood after a meal, which is a risk factor in the development of cardiovascular disease, so choosing the right food — low GI — can help maintain more stable blood sugar levels.
Many young people cannot resist the temptation to eat cakes, sweet beverages such as bubble milk tea, or fruit high in sugar, but these are all high GI foods that can cause a rapid rise in blood sugar after eating, he said, adding that some young people with diabetes believe that they can eat whatever they want as long as they inject insulin regularly.
Association deputy secretary-general Chen Wen-hui (陳紋慧), who is a nutritionist, said some older people have difficulty in chewing, so they prefer to eat soft food such as salty rice porridge, pottage or thick soup (羹), but these foods made with starch gelatinization often have a high GI, and might also be high in fat, salt and sugar.
Some older people with diabetes also like drinking juice rather than eating fresh fruit, but juice does not contain dietary fiber and can be digested faster, so it can cause the blood sugar levels to increase more rapidly, she said.
Association vice president and nutritionist Hsu Pi-hui (許碧惠) said that in order to help people with diabetes establish correct dietary knowledge, the association published the low-GI foods cookbook that includes both Western and Chinese food, and also balanced diets from rich and diverse ingredients.
The association also urged people with diabetes to get regular health checkups, and actively control their blood sugar levels after a meal by choosing the right food, as well as taking prescription medication.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS