Healthy Whole Grains, Just as Healthy as Pepsi--One Reader Reports

As readers of this blog know, there's nothing I like better than data, and there's no data I like better than the blood sugar meter test results that tell an individual what foods they can eat without raising their blood sugar over the level that causes complications (which is roughly 140 mg/dl or 7.7 mmol/L).

So I was intrigued when a Richard Smith, a friend of the blog, sent me the following report on his personal study as to how what dietitians like to call "healthy whole grains" affected his blood sugar, using as a control a 12 ounce glass of regular Pepsi.

Richard gave me permission to share his data, so here it is:

The New Pepsi Challenge results (Pepsi vs. whole grains)

Food	Net carbs	BG before eating	BG at 1 hour	BG at 90 minutes	BG at 2 hours
12oz Pepsi	42g	89	156	127	101
Oatmeal and milk	40g	113	163	N/A	92
Whole wheat bread	48g	93	141	142	107
Whole wheat toast & milk	36g	103	173	143	94

Testing was done with a NovaMax meter over a two day period.

He adds: It is no surprise that meals with whole grain starches have about the same effect on my blood sugar as drinking a 12oz Pepsi.

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This was his brilliant counter-argument to the advice of ADA-associated nutritionist, Hope Warshaw, whose recommendations have been getting more attention on the interwebs than they deserve.

But rather than rage against the so called professionals who give toxic advice, I'd just like to remind everyone reading that your blood sugar meter is the most powerful diabetes-correction tool you own. Test your blood sugar after you eat a food you've been told is healthy to find out if it really is "diabetes friendly" for you.

There is solid research that points out that heart disease gets going when blood sugars rise over 155 mg/dl (8.6 mmol/L) one hour after meals. (Details HERE.)

Obviously the "healthy whole grains" beloved by doctors, nutritionists, and the American Diabetes Association failed to pass the "diabetes friendly" test for this experimenter.

So consider no food healthy unless your own one hour post-meal numbers after eating eating them in a meal comes in under 155 mg/dl (8.6 mmol/L) and, ideally, under the 140 mg/dl (7.7 mmol/L) level that, maintained over time, usually results in an A1c in the 5% range.