Diabetes Mellitus is a serious disease that occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin and glucose (sugar) becomes too much in the body.

Diabetes has various serious complications that include kidney disease, heart disease, stroke, blurry vision and other complications.

However, Intake of some common food can increase blood glucose and insulin levels and they are:

1. Substantial Carb Foods

Foods containing huge amounts of carbohydrates contribute a lot to blood glucose.

When carbohydrates get into the body system, they are broken down into sugar or glucose, starch, and fiber and become sucked into the bloodstream.

However, fiber cannot be broken down into glucose molecules, instead, fiber passes through the body undigested and helps to balance the body’s use of glucose. Foods that are advisable and recommended for diabetics, and contain healthy amounts of fiber include wheat, whole wheat bread, whole grain couscous, brown rice, legumes, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.

When diabetics consume too many carbohydrate foods at a time, their blood glucose can rise to alarming levels. If you so much need to take foods containing carbs, you should pair them with healthful protein and fat foods.

2. Industrial Trans Fats

Diabetics need to consider stopping the intake of industrial trans fats as they are highly harmful to the health.

Industrial trans fats are made by pumping hydrogen molecules into vegetable oils which then alters the chemical structure of the oil and makes it solid.

Actually, trans fats do not directly increase blood sugar but are known to encourage belly fat, inflammation and insulin resistance which are alarming for diabetic patients and can cause high risk of heart disease. see observational studies from PubMed Central

Many fried and processed foods like fries, chips, and baked goods contain trans fats, so if you are diabetic or have a diabetic friend or relative and are reading this article, you need to avoid any product which ingredient list reads, “partially hydrogenated.”

3. High Glycemic Index Fruits and Foods

Glycemic Index (GI) is a relative ranking of carbohydrate in foods by how they affect blood glucose levels.Therefore, high-GI fruits are fruits that can increase blood glucose level or sugar level.

Most fruits are Low-GI fruits (low in carbohydrates) except melons and pineapples which are high in the glycemic index ranking and can increase blood glucose, while foods that are high on the GI scale include white rice, white bread, white pasta, puffed rice, pumpkin, white potatoes, and popcorn.

4. Sugar-sweet beverages

Beverages such as flavored coffees, shakes and energy drinks contain a lot of sugar and can be damaging to insulin levels.

Per day, the American Heart Association advise to consume no more than 24 grams, or 6 teaspoons, of added sugar for women, and 36 grams, or 9 teaspoons, for men. This does not however include naturally occurring sugars from foods such as fruit and plain milk.

5. Salty foods

Foods that contain excess salt can raise blood pressure and salt may appear as sodium on a food label.


If you however need to take any of the listed foods, pair them with protein or healthy fat foods to reduce the impact on blood sugar and feel full for longer or consult your dietitian to draw out a meal plan for you.

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