The sneaky dangers of fast-acting foods

When you need a quick pick-me-up, what do you reach for? A candy bar, a bag of chips, or a box of raisins? It makes sense. These "fast-acting" foods take no time to race into your bloodstream, flooding your body with blood sugar (glucose), and you're raring to go! The trouble is, the surge doesn't last long leaving you feeling worse than before. Here is some helpful advice to avoid that mid day letdown.

All carbs raise blood sugar. But some carb foods, like white potatoes and white rice, raise it higher and faster than others, like sweet potatoes and barley. Higher peaks mean steeper drops — your blood sugar may sink lower than before you ate — and that's when energy stalls and hunger strikes anew. High blood sugar after meals can, over time, damage the body, even if it never causes diabetes.

Cramming down a sugary, fast-acting meal may leave you feeling fine at first, but soon you notice your energy level beginning to sink. Our diets are chock-full of foods that send us for a ride on the blood sugar roller coaster.  Yes, eating too much and exercising too little get the lion's share of the blame, but the blood sugar roller coaster contributes by setting in motion a chain of events that eventually sends you shopping for "fat jeans." Sound bad? Low energy and weight gain are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what happens when your blood sugar swings high and low.

Perhaps the worst thing about eating meals heavy on fast-acting foods is that over time, they can greatly increase your risk of Type 2 diabetes, the kind that's related to lifestyle. In major long-term studies, eating fast-acting meals increased the risk of diabetes by 40 percent in middle-aged men and by a whopping 50 percent in middle-aged women. Fortunately, it doesn't happen overnight. It takes years, even decades, for your body to get to the point where it can't keep blood sugar under control on its own. The good news is that the slow journey toward diabetes can be redirected at any point along the path.

The earlier you start, of course, the easier and more effectively you can change direction. Eating meals that are gentler to your blood sugar is key so stay away from those fast-acting phonies.