Understand Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load: 5 Key Principles for Better Blood Sugar Control

Managing blood sugar levels is crucial for overall health, especially for those with diabetes or prediabetes. Two important concepts to understand to manage health and wellbeing when making food choices especially if you want to manage diabetes are the Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL). Here are five principles to help you make better food choices based on these concepts: 1. Prioritize Low Glycemic Index Foods The Glycemic Index (GI) measures how quickly a food raises blood sugar levels. Foods with a low GI cause a slower, more gradual rise in blood sugar, which is beneficial for maintaining stable energy levels and avoiding spikes. Examples of low GI foods include non-starchy vegetables, beans, and certain fruits like apples, pears, pomegranate and berries. 2. Consider Glycemic Load for a Comprehensive View Glycemic Load (GL) takes into account both the quality (GI) and quantity of carbohydrates in a food. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of a food’s impact on

Self guided Meditation - Mental Wellbeing

Meditation supports mindfulness, fixation and decreases pressure. Set aside some effort to give your body what it needs to feel present and evaluate a portion of these basic self guided meditation works out.



Deep breathing

Set a clock for two minutes. Shutting your eyes, breath in profoundly through your nose for four forgets about and for three. Breathing in invigorates your thoughtful sensory system, helping you feel stimulated and dynamic. Rehash for the full two minutes and attempt to extend the checks of your breaths in and breathe out.

Breathe gradually and deeply in through your nose, and out through your mouth in a consistent rhythm.

Utilise your lower chest muscle (your diaphragm) to breathe. Your diaphragm is the enormous muscle under the lungs. It pulls the lungs downwards which extends the airways to permit air to stream in. 

At the point when we become restless, we will in general neglect to utilise this muscle and regularly utilise the muscles at the head of the chest and our shoulders. Every breath is more shallow in the event that you utilise these upper chest muscles. You will, in general, breathe quicker and feel more winded and on edge in the event that you utilise your upper chest muscles instead of your diaphragm. 

You can check on the off chance that you are utilising your diaphragm by feeling just beneath your breastbone (sternum) at the head of your belly (abdomen). On the off chance that you give a little hack, you can feel the diaphragm push over here. In the event that you hold your hand here, you should feel it move in and out as you breathe. 

Attempt to loosen up your shoulders and upper chest muscles when you breathe. With every breath out, intentionally attempt to loosen up those muscles until you are predominantly utilieing your diaphragm to breathe. 

Breathe gradually and serenely. At that point start, the muscle works out, working around the distinctive muscle bunches in your body. Repeat around 3-4 times.

Neck: Twist your neck around every path to the extent it is comfortable, at that point relax. 

Shoulders/Back: Fully tense your shoulder and back muscles for a few seconds, and then relax. 

Face: Try to frown and lower your eyebrows as hard as you can for a couple of moments and then relax. After that, your eyebrows (as though you were alarmed) as hard as possible, then relax. After that clench your jaw for a couple of moments, then relax. 

Hands: Clench one hand firmly for a couple of moments as you breathe in. You should feel your lower arm muscles tense, at that point unwind as you breathe out. Repeat with the other hand.

Mindful Gratitude

Consider five things in your day that normally go undervalued. These things can be items or individuals; it's up to you. When you have your five things, basically pause for a moment and express gratefulness and welcome the apparently immaterial things throughout everyday life. Attempt to go through a moment for everything you've chosen.

Get individual. Zeroing in on individuals to whom you are thankful has a greater amount of an effect than zeroing in on things for which you are appreciative. 

Attempt deduction, not simply expansion. One viable method of animating appreciation is to consider what your life would resemble without specific gifts, instead of simply counting up each one of those beneficial things.

Body Scan

Locate an agreeable position, situated or setting down. Follow the means underneath to take a psychological stock of your body. Notice how you feel, the surface of dress against the skin, what parts of the body that are shivering, sore, or feeling especially weighty or light. Go moderate and give extraordinary consideration to the manner in which every region feels, the output normally moves as follows:

• Toes
• Feet and lower legs 
• Lower legs
• Knees
• Thighs
• Abdomen
• Chest
• Lower back
• Upper (back ribs and shoulder blades)
• Hands (fingers, palms and wrists)
• Arms and elbows
• Neck
• Face and head (jaw, mouth, nose, cheeks, ears, eyes, temple, scalp, back and head of head)

Discover time this year to practice your five senses. Tuning into your faculties can enable you to unwind, focus, and can help make you more joyful. The more you work on tuning into your faculties, the more you start to see the great world past your undertaking to do list! 

You can begin by removing booked minutes to propel yourself away from your work and intellectually inquire: 
  •  What am I seeing? What tones and shapes make me grin? 
  • What scents do I like around me? 
  • What would I be able to feel with my hands and my body? What various textures do I discover satisfying to the touch? 
  • What consoling sounds would I be able to hear? Where are noises coming from? 
  • What tastes do I appreciate most?

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation can give you a feeling of quiet, harmony and parity that can profit both your passionate prosperity and your general health.When you think, you may clean up the data over-burden that develops each day and adds to your pressure. 

The enthusiastic advantages of reflection can include:
  • Point of view on distressing circumstances 
  • Building abilities to deal with your pressure 
  • Expanding mindfulness 
  • Zeroing in on the present
  • Expanding creative mind and innovativeness 
  • Increasing persistence and resilience 
  • Reducing negative feelings

References and Further reading:
  1. https://www.mindful.org/how-to-meditate
  2. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858