Type 2 Diabetes and Mashed Potatoes: How to Make a Favorite Comfort Food More Diabetes-friendly!
There is no single food that causes more problems in controlling diabetes than mashed potatoes. Potatoes. A high-glycemic form of carbohydrate is said to increase insulin resistance and the risk of type 2 diabetes. A favorite side dish of the American Thanksgiving holiday, potatoes of all fashions cause blood sugar levels to drop. blood will spike, but there are three things you can do to minimize, or even eliminate, the damage.
1. Just say no instantly: When nutritional researchers measured the glycemic index of instant mashed potatoes, they found that instant mashers made blood sugar levels rise faster even than consuming glucose tablets. That seems a bit unlikely, until you consider what is actually in instant potatoes.
There are all kinds of additives, flavorings, and stabilizers designed to keep the flakes from getting mixed up in the box. When these chemical additives enter your system, you have an immediate reaction.
Without getting into the chemistry, this can be a “fast” allergic reaction or a slower immune sensitivity reaction, but both cause the adrenal glands to release cortisol, which in turn causes blood sugar levels to spike. Simply peeling, boiling, and mashing potatoes makes their impact on glucose control much easier to manage. Instant has a glycemic index of approximately 110. Boiled Red Russets have a glycemic index of approximately 78.
2. Don’t eat them too hot: Another overlooked factor when choosing foods to keep blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible is heat. Hot foods … but not boiling hot foods … digest more quickly than hot or room temperature foods. If you let food cool before eating it, your body will digest it more slowly and your pancreas will have more time to release the insulin needed to transport the digested sugars where they need to go. You can still make your blood sugar levels skyrocket out of control by eating too many cold carbohydrate foods, but all things being equal, hot or cold foods are better for diabetics than very hot foods.
3. Taste the cauliflower: If you trim the greens before boiling, the boiled cauliflower has the same color as the boiled potatoes. If you put a shelled walnut in the water with the cauliflower while it is boiling, the walnut absorbs the “cabbage” flavor and the result tastes like potatoes. If we drain the cauliflower well in a colander before mashing it, removing every last drop of the cooking liquid, then it will have the same consistency as mashed potatoes. But it will have 80 percent less carbohydrates.
