Are your blood sugar levels high? It can be a scary thing to discover. But finding out about your high blood glucose puts you in a position to act. The dietary choices you make can have a significant impact on your blood sugar levels. Following are some tips to help you regulate your blood sugar levels through the foods you eat.

1. Skip the carbohydrates.

Research shows that low-carb diets can help control insulin and blood sugar. They also have other cardiovascular benefits, such as reducing triglycerides and other risk factors, and even promoting weight loss.

How can you eat fewer carbs? The next time you are grocery shopping, pass on the pasta, bread, rice, and other grains. Also avoid unhealthy snack foods and sugary treats. Stock up on meats, healthy fats and vegetables instead.

When you are following a low-carb diet, your body's main source of fuel will be fat. You will also probably be eating more protein, which will help you feel full and reduce the tendency to overeat.

2. Don’t avoid high fiber foods.

Fiber is a carbohydrate. But unlike other carbs, it can help manage your blood sugar levels. For this reason, when low-carb dieters are selecting foods to eat, they consider the “net carbs.” These are the remaining carbohydrates after those in the form of fiber are subtracted.

If all or most of the carbs in a food are fiber, that food is actually good to eat on a low-carb diet, even if the carb count is significant.

3. Favor foods without a high glycemic index.

To avoid spiking your blood sugar, you will want to avoid high glycemic index foods, and stick with those which are low on the glycemic index.

The meat and eggs which you’ll likely be enjoying liberally on your low-carb diet have a low glycemic index. So do beans and lentils, which is why some people on low-carb diets still eat them. The same is true of sweet potatoes and yams as well.

4. Get more magnesium.

Magnesium appears to play a role in promoting healthy blood sugar levels. So you may want to eat more foods which contain it. These include fish, avocados, leafy green vegetables, dark chocolate, beans, and more.

5. Keep checking your levels.

As you make adjustments to your diet, monitor your blood sugar on a regular basis. As you gather data, hopefully you will begin to see improvements over time. These results can be both informative and encouraging. If you see your efforts paying off, it can be easier to stick to your new dietary choices.

If you want to give your efforts an extra boost, you can also consider taking a supplement to support healthy blood sugar levels and cardiovascular function. Consider trying an olive leaf extract standardized to 20% oleuropein.

We blog regularly about cardiovascular health and diet as well as other lifestyle recommendations. So if you haven't yet, take a look through our archives for even more suggestions for supporting cardiovascular well-being.