The amount of carbohydrates in your diet, and the type of carbohydrates, are the most significant dietary factors that cause blood sugar fluctuations. Remember, carbohydrate includes starches and sugars. So, any food that is starchy (breads, cereals, potatoes, rice, beans, and noodles, for example) or sweet (fruits, juices, syrups, candy, soft drinks, and ice cream, for example) will contribute to your blood sugar level after they're eaten.
Natural sugar foods
Some foods may not taste particularly sweet but contain significant amounts of natural sugar. They include milk, carrots, tomatoes, ketchup, and some tart fruit juices such as grapefruit and even lemon juice. These are very healthful foods and should be included in your diet if you wish. The goal isn't to eliminate them, just budget them. The popularity of smoothies and juiced vegetable-fruit blends presents a challenge to managing dietary carbohydrates. I like to say, "If you can't put them down, you've got to tally them up." Those carbohydrates do count. A 12 oz. smoothie with fruit pieces, milk, yogurt, or protein powder may have as much as 50 grams of carbohydrate. Also, take a close look at canned meal replacements like Slimfast. Even if it's all you eat at a meal, build the carbohydrate into your budget. Depending on your activity level and medication regimen, you might actually need more carbohydrate to prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
Artificially sweetened foods
Artificially sweetened foods and beverages are sometimes blessings and sometimes not. Don't be surprised if one day, after a trip to the movies, your blood sugar shoots up. It could be that the "diet" soda you bought was the real thing. This error happens more times than you'd think. It's a delight to get a "no sugar added" yogurt or ice cream. But read carefully: there is carbohydrate (usually milk sugar, lactose) in that food. One major brand of no-sugar-added yogurt recently replaced some of the aspartame with fructose. Although it won't spike your blood sugar, it's best to count that fructose into your total carbohydrate (at least it still tastes yummy).
"Light" foods
Look out also for some "light" foods that have removed some of the original caloric sweetener (such as sucrose, corn syrup solids, or high fructose corn syrup) and replaced it with a very low calorie sweetener (such as aspartame or asulfame-potassium). There is usually still quite a bit of sugar in that food or beverage. Logic tells us that even if a sweet and tasty food is advertised as: "no sugar added", it must have something going on. If "sugar" is defined only as "sucrose" (table sugar), then food producers can sweeten it with honey, apple sauce, fruit juice concentrate, rice syrup or any of a host of other carbohydrate-rich products that can still affect your blood sugar. Try to look at the label or product information before dining on those. Sugar alcohols (sugar-like molecules such as sorbitol) will have a negligible effect on your blood sugar but they are quite high in calories. I suppose our eyes see "sugar free" and we want that to mean no sugar, no carbohydrate, no calories and scrumptious taste. Well, maybe one day it will, but not yet.
Proteins
About half of the protein molecules in your food can be turned into glucose in your liver. This means that a 12 oz. portion of chicken or fish at dinner containing about 84 grams of protein (remember the exchange list? 1 oz. of meat has 7 grams of protein) will turn into about 42 grams of glucose by morning. Cut the protein serving in half (6 oz.) and enjoy 2-3 carbohydrate exchanges. Your kidneys may thank you someday.
The glycemic index
Thanks to studies on the "glycemic index" (the power of a food to raise your blood sugar) of foods, it is now known that some high carbohydrate foods, even pure table sugar (sucrose), have surprisingly little effect on blood sugars. Fortunately these are also filling and nutrient-rich foods. Enjoy an occasional splurge on these: all beans and peas, most vegetables, and nuts. Just remember that these are still carbohydrates, and need to be balanced with exercise or insulin.
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