If you are trying to control your blood sugar and ultimately shed pounds, new research shows you should pass the bread basket at the end of the meal-not before.
It has been a tough battle, but 52-year-old Michael Vetter is finally winning at losing.
“I’ve lost 50 pounds and I’ve been able to keep that off,” Vetter told Ivanhoe.
From a high of 275 pounds, to a much trimmer 225, Mike didn’t completely cut carbs, but he ate his food out of traditional order.
Vetter explained, “You would have your protein and your vegetables first, and then you would have your carbs afterwards.”
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have found that eating your entrée first, before carbs, leads to significantly lower blood sugar and insulin levels.
They tested food order on 11 diabetic patients- having them eat a medium-sized roll, followed 15 minutes later by chicken and vegetables.
Louis Aronne MD, Director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York told Ivanhoe, “On the day when they had the bread first, their blood sugar peaked in one hour at 200.”
On another day, researchers had the same patients eat the same meal except they saved the bread for last. This time, blood sugar peaked at 140, nearly normal after a meal.
“The differences that we saw occurred in every single patient,” Dr. Aronne explained.
Changing up food order could also help patients — diabetic, or not, lose weight.
Rekha Kumar, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York said, “People are less hungry when their insulin levels are lower.”
For Mike, more time on his feet and leaving bread for last have been the recipe for success.
Dr. Aronne says the next step will be a larger trial on people with pre-diabetes to see if those patients can reduce the risk of developing full-blown diabetes. The results of the trial were published in the July issue of the journal Diabetes Care.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Supervising Producer and Field Producer; Cortni Spearman, Assistant Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer and Brent Sucher, Editor.