What we should know:vinegar and diabetics

[irembright]

Vinegar in the daily diabetic menu does help diabetics keep blood sugars lower by effectively lowering the glycemic index of foods (slowing the rate at which carbohydrates are converted to glucose), and here's how it works:

Most diabetics are aware of the glycemic index as an explanation of high blood sugar spikes. The higher the glycemic index, the faster the glucose released by digestion is absorbed.

Vinegar essentially overrides the glycemic index. Vinegar, or a vinegar and oil salad dressing, "soaks up" bicarbonate in the lower digestive tract. Without this bicarbonate, the sugars released by digestion are absorbed much more slowly.

When sugars are absorbed slower, blood glucose levels go up less. In type II diabetic patients, sometimes the pancreas can't make enough insulin for a sudden "dump" of glucose into the bloodstream, but it can keep up with slowly released sugars.

Vinegar, in effect, lowers the glycemic index of food. Vinegar won't affect your blood sugars if you aren't eating carbs, but if you aren't eating carbs, your blood sugars are going more slowly, anyway. Moreover, eating starchy foods and vinegar at the same time reduces the release of insulin, and indirectly slows the storage of fat. (The less insulin there is in circulation, the less insulin there is to move fatty acids into fat cells.)

Sourdough breads have a similar benefit, as does yogurt. They reduce both blood sugar levels and insulin release. There's another potential benefit from vinegar for type II diabetic patients. As the glycemic index of food goes up, appetite and drive to eat go down. Consuming vinegar at every meal, whatever other effects it may have, reduces appetite and makes it easier to eat less.

[Babbs]

Hi: I am new to the Forum. I am having trouble with my food and vinegar seems like an easy sollution to some of my food difficulties. In a sense having the vinegar every meal actually would change the food to an acid in a sense, or is that too simple of an understanding?
Babbs

[Shanny]

Welcome Babbs. All you can do is try it, test and see. But don't be misled - vinegar is not going to permit you to continue eating bread, potatoes, rice, pasta or any other fast-acting carbohydrates. It might help some when you've gotten your levels down and are in control (I've used it occasionally for dawn phenomenon) - and there are vinegar tablets you can get if you have trouble getting enough of the fluid product.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by irembright

Sourdough breads have a similar benefit, as does yogurt. They reduce both blood sugar levels and insulin release.

First, hmmm. Try eating an ounce of sourdough. Test your blood sugar before you eat, then test every 15 minutes for two hours and record the results. Later in the day eat an ounce of whole wheat. Repeat the test. I'm pretty certain you'll see nearly identical results. Report back.

Second, why are you diabetic and eating starchy foods? There are plenty of lower carb choices you can make. Promoting the idea that one can control blood sugar and prevent weight gain by using vinegar seems a little "snake oily" to me. Maybe I'm not understanding your message. Please educate me.

Jen

[Babbs]

Hi Everyone & Jen in particular: I saw on the group forum someone suggesting that vinegar would help in lowering our count in our blood if taken each meal. I do not beleive that is an excuse to continue eating improper food for a diabetic new or otherwise. I meant that my whole life I have eaten starches such as bread, and now to completely change my eating habits is a bit hard to do. Necessary but hard to do. My mindset I need to change as well as what I eat. Perhaps I need to do it in slow but methodical effort. It is a bit overwhelming because on the serfice it would seem I can not eat anything because every thing has the potential to raise my count and reck havock with my health. Then intilect kicks in and reason but it is still overwhelming. Others have said until my levels in my blood get regulated to a steady level then I need to watch what I eat closely. And of course continue even after my count is at a better level, and of course lose the weight that has an influence on my health. I thought someone on line would maybe have their experience of how they changed their meal dependancy on starches, and could share their experience of how they delt with the situation when they were diagnosed. My words must have been mis-understood by you Jen and maybe others. I regret that. Thank you for your comments. Babbs

[ThoseBackPages]

ive not heard this. can anyone talk about their experiences trying this?

[Shanny]

Okay Babbs - here's my story:
When I was first diagnosed, my doc put me on metformin and told me to keep my carbs under 100g per day. And that's what I did. Knowing that 140 is sorta the cutoff level for sustaining damage from high BG, I tried for several weeks to get a reading of 140 or less, all while diligently counting out 100g of carbs each day but continuing to include my usual favorites; corn, potatoes, bread. Sorta like quitting smoking by cutting down - doesn't work. And I wasn't getting the low readings I wanted either. But those were doc's instructions so what was I doing wrong? Turns out, nothing - except using somebody else's guideline for my own personal management.

After a few weeks of this total aggravation, I was beginning to hear voices online saying "eat to your meter". That's when I started testing at 1-hour and 2-hour postprandial intervals. Whichever foods sent me past 140 (even at 1 hour) were deleted from my menus, and the first ones to go were bread, potatoes, corn, etc. And don't think I wasn't just as big a carb lover as you are, Babbs . . . nobody loves bread/potatoes/pasta/corn/rice more than I do.

So when you asked about vinegar helping you taper off carbs, I told you to try it, test & see what works for you. I'm pretty sure I didn't misunderstand, but I didn't give you a specific answer, because there ARE no blanket rules for us. Yes we know that carbs do us in, but each of us has to find exactly WHICH carbs hurt us the most. There are a few people who have found they can eat small amounts of potatoes or brown rice or certain low-carb breads - some can even enjoy fruit . . . and it's wonderful that they can. But because they can doesn't mean I can. I had to do my own tests to see what I can tolerate.

Everybody here loves their carbs . . . Jen is a bread baker from way back, so now she still bakes her bread and gives it all away. I'm a bread baker from way back too, but I can't handle having it in the house, even long enough to carry it to a neighbor, so I stopped baking because I CANNOT eat it and stay under 140. Not even one slice.

When I was a youngster, I hated doing dishes. If I would fiddle around long enough, sometimes Mom would finish cleaning up what I didn't do. And when the guilt niggled me, I'd rationalize that Mom "liked" doing dishes, so it didn't bother her as much as it did me. Yeah riiiight. A lot of new diabetics kinda think well - those guys just don't understand - they don't love bread/potatoes/pasta as much as I love it! And that is SO not true! We all love it - and some of us have had to sacrifice it to gain good health and lower the risks of complications. I decided that protecting my vision was more important than eating bread, and it really wasn't such a hard decision after all.

[Sabrina]

I routinely have a salad with my meals, adding oil and vinegar dressing. This has seemed to allow me to have better carb tolerances, but it in no way allows me to have a lot of bread or pasta.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by Babbs

My words must have been mis-understood by you Jen and maybe others. I regret that. Thank you for your comments. Babbs

Babbs - my comment was NOT directed at you at all. It was meant for the original poster. There is nothing wrong with using vinegar - I'm the Queen of Vinaigrette. But promulgating the idea that a diabetic will control blood sugar with vinegar just seems irresponsible. I also think there's nothing wrong with including bread in your diet - I do, occasionally, and will not sacrifice it. I was trying to point out to the OP that regardless of the levening method, eating bread will increase your blood sugar...your body will treat the grain in that bread pretty much the same, whether it's sourdough, yeasted, or raised with baking soda / powder.

In the end, it's up to the individual to determine which carbs work for them and which don't. You can use rules of thumb (avoid the "whites", include more lower carb veggies and fruits, etc.) as a starting point, and then fine tune it all by eating and testing, eating and testing....

So sorry to have upset you. Please accept my apology.

jen

So.. my question is: when I Googled the word "Vinegar", I found there were as many as 40 or so different kinds. Does one work any better than the others.. and if so, which one(s)?

I know. Why am I always the one who comes up with these oddball questions? I guess it's the "engineering/analytical" mind that pops up every so often.

Breeze 2 User