Spicy Food

[StephenM]

When I was first diagnosed in the sixties the dietician advised me to avoid spicy foods and in general I have done so. Obviously much of the early advice had changed over the years as nobody would now, for instance, advise unlimited cheese and butter. The spicy foods still puzzles me as I am unsure of its origination. What I do know is that spicy food does tend to put up my BG. Recently some friends invited me around and had some Indian food delivered. It was far too hot for me (spice not temperature) and despite not eating that much my BG was over 20 two hours later! I am sure I did not eat that many carbs (small portion of rice) so why the massive rise in BG?

 

[Caroline]

I don't eat spicey food from choice but have never been told I need to avoid it.

What was in the Indian meal? Things like rice chappatis and naan have lots of carbs in them, and I am told that many of the sauces have a small ammount of sugar in them.

Would the place the meal came from be willing to give a break down of the ingredients? That would give some pointers.

 

[ukjohn]

Just shows how different we all are. I love Indian food, and it does not send my BG soaring.I love the Spice37 special, and chicken biryana.🙂

John.

 

[Northerner]

If you're not used to it then possibly you get an adrenalin response from it, causing your liver to release extra glucose? I've always liked extremely hot/spicy food so there doesn't appear to be any difference for me pre- or post-diagnosis 🙂

 

[Copepod]

I reckon it's more to do with "stress" caused by eating spicy food if you're not used to it. Back in the 1960s, "Indian" (in fact, mainly cooked by people from Bangladesh) food was rare - perhaps one restaurant in each town, not a take away in each district, village etc like now. And other spicy food such as Mexican was virtually unknown.

When I started on insulin in 1996, I was staying with my parents and a semi-house-trained 19 year old cousin, after a year working & travelling overseas. Dad and cousin refused to eat anything spicy, rice, cooked cheese etc, which meant food was very boring. However, a very kind family friend, a Pakistani born doctor who went to my parents' church, brought round a lovely selection of curries, dahl, fresh corriander etc, which kept me and Mum fed for several days. In my case, stress of boring food caused me more problems than spicy food, which I liked then and now.

 

[DeusXM]

I find in certain circumstances, spice actually makes me more insulin sensitive. I adore spicy food and I find if I put in some ghost chilis in my fried rice, I need less insulin for the carbs involved. No idea why, although it is work pointing out there is some evidence to suggest directly applying capsacin (the stuff that makes chilis hot) to beta cells may actually help alleviate T1.

I suspect your older diet advice is as copepod says - nowadays there's a Nando's on every street corner and the streets are filled with empty kebab wrappers dripping hot sauce. Your doc's advice may have just come from a common lack of familiarity with anything more adventurous than mustard.

Another possible reason why you're finding spicy food doesn't play well with your BG is culinary. Most spicy dishes aim for the magic BBQ combination of 'sweet with some heat', so most spicy dishes will also contain a reasonable portion of sugar. Then of course, much spicy food is also served with a bland starch to offset the heat, and is also fried. So you've got a combination of plenty of carbs with a lot of fat which extends carb absorbtion.

It doesn't have to be this way though - I make a lethal carb-free noodle soup with shiritake noodles, chicken, stock, green stuff and plenty of birds-eye chili. If you've got a cold, this kicks the c**p out of the virus!

 

[HOBIE]

I have never noticed big changes when eating curries etc. Will have to do some research ! Curry to night ! 😉