Noodles and blood sugar

One of my favorite dishes is an Asian style noodle salad. I'll make one with whatever's in the kitchen or garden -- here's a typical recipe.

I'll start with a base of Ramen noodles (or any Japanese style noodle). I just boil a package of them without the seasoning. The little packs of sodium they come with is just loaded with sodium and not very good for you.

Put the cooked noodles in the bottom of a large bowl. According to the package, that's two servings, but I use the whole thing. That's a lot of carbohydrates, which I'll get to later.

One of the keys to this dish is to create pockets of flavor, not one mish-mash blend. So don't spread the noodles out. Just put them in a pile in the middle of the bowl. That's what you'll do with all the ingredients, just put them in individual piles rather than spread them out. They'll get blended together as you eat.

Next a handful of finely chopped cabbage. Just put them in a pile next to the noodles.

Then a large handful of mixed lettuces -- torn into small pieces.

Then some fresh, finely chopped, parsley, mint, and basil. About a handful in total. Just whatever fresh herbs are available.

Then a small handful of nuts or seeds -- chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, anything. I used some roasted sesame seeds mixed with a few chopped pecans.

I keep a jar of thinly sliced carrot marinating in some vinegar. Add a healthy spoonful of those carrots.

One boiled egg, sliced.

A small handful of cooked pork cut into small chunks.

Top it off with some flavored vinegar and maybe some Thai style peanut sauce.

That's what I had for dinner today. Before I ate my blood sugar was 112. Three hours later my blood sugar was 313.

No more noodle salads for this diabetic. That's just too many carbs for me, even if I ate a more rational sized serving like a half package. The peanut sauce has some sugar in it also, but the carbs in the Ramen noodles is just over the top. The package says that a package has 52g of carbs, none of which is sugar but only 6g of which is fiber.

Should diabetics eat bananas?

My guess is that diabetics really shouldn't eat bananas.

They're a healthy food generally, but the sugar content is just too much for the typical diabetic. At least that's the general impression I have. Like almost everything else related to diet for those with diabetes, it's never clear cut.

If you think of the carb content of an "average" serving of food as about 15 grams, then the 27 grams in a banana is pretty high. I'm not positive that 15 grams is the right per serving benchmark but it's the rule-of-thumb they taught in the VA hospital sponsered seminars on diets for diabetics that I went to a couple of years ago.

The party line is that a serving of fresh fruit is a serving of fresh fruit, but I'm not convinced.

Banana is a very sweet fruit (even if it doesn't taste sugary) and some of the more rational advisors suggest keeping those serving sizes of very sweet fruit small and limiting them to inclusion with meals that have some fat and protein (fat and protein help the body process the high sugar).

Serving size

I have two bottles of Diet Coke on the table in front of me. One is a 1/2 liter (16.9 oz) and the other is 12 oz.

In the Nutrition Facts on the side one says a serving size is 8oz. The other says 12oz.

They are both Diet Coke.