Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken pot pie is a delicious and hearty old-fashioned meal, but it’s the sort of thing you want to eat only in moderation. The gravy has starch in it, and the pie crust and filling spike blood sugar quickly due to their refined carbs and lack of fiber.
Orange Chicken With Rice
Just because a meal contains rice doesn’t mean it’s good for you. All the sugars in that sweet sauce break down quickly in your system, causing rapid glucose spikes. So as delicious as this meal is, it’s not the sort of thing you should eat very often.
Quesadillas
Quesadillas are a Mexican meal that have had huge success in the United States. But just because everyone eats them, that doesn’t mean you should too. The meal is high in white flour and in sodium, meaning it’ll make your blood sugar crash.
Pasta Alfredo
Pasta Alfredo comes to us from Italy, a country that has contributed all sorts of wonderful dishes to American cuisine. But unfortunately you shouldn’t eat it if you’re trying to manage your blood sugar. It’s just too high in carbohydrates and saturated fats.
White Bread Sandwiches
People have been eating sandwiches for a long time, but it’s best not to eat them with white bread if you can help it. White bread lacks all-important fiber and contains refined carbs that convert to glucose, causing blood sugar to spike and crash. Even if you put salad in them, they’re not great.
Sweet and Sour Pork
Sweet and sour pork is without doubt delicious. The contrasting flavors just explode in your mouth. However, it is unfortunately not very good for you. It’s high in refined carbs and sugar, causing rapid glucose spikes and making you feel awful.
Pancakes With Syrup
Pancakes with syrup are a beloved breakfast meal in the United States, but people eat them unaware of what they do to the blood sugar. The combination of the refined flour in the pancakes and the sugar in the syrup means they’re terrible for you.
Sugary Breakfast Cereals
Some cereals claim to be healthy for you but in truth are anything but. What sugary cereals actually do is flood the bloodstream with glucose, leaving you hungry and fatigued for the rest of the day. Why not select the non-sugary breakfast cereals instead?
Fast Food Meals
Really you should try and avoid fast food whenever possible. The processed buns, deep-fried potatoes, and sugary condiments make the meals highly glycemic. They’re also lacking in fiber and nutrients. And frankly, eating too much of these things will lead to obesity.
Macaroni Cheese
The macaroni cheese that comes in boxes offers very little nutritional value, but even homemade mc and cheese isn’t good for you. The starch in the meal breaks down quickly into glucose, while the saturated fat can contribute to insulin resistance.
Pasta Salad
Cold pasta salad made with mayonnaise may seem like a fairly healthy meal, but it lacks fiber and includes refined carbs and fats. The pasta spikes blood sugar, and the fat slows down your digestion without providing any lasting energy.
Pizza
Everyone says that pizza is bad for you, and they’re right. White flour pizza crusts convert quickly to glucose in the body, and toppings like sugary tomato sauces, processed meats, and cheese add fat and sodium to the mix. The result? Elevated blood sugar.
Donuts
People have eaten donuts as a dessert food for a long time now, but they’re bad for you. They’re made from refined flour, for a start. The combination of the flour, the sugar, and the deep-frying process means donuts will spike blood sugar while providing almost no nutritional value.
White Rice With Curry
Curry was brought the US by Indian people and their dishes proved to be a runaway hit. But they’re not a good idea if you’re trying to manage your blood sugar. White rice causes blood sugar to rise quickly, and the curry may have hidden sugars in it.
Bagels With Cream Cheese
Bagels are another one made from refined flour, and thus they contribute to bad blood sugar levels. They don’t have enough protein or fiber, and adding cream cheese will only make the matter worse.
Ramen Noodles
Instant ramen noodles have been a thing for a while now, but what you gain in convenience you lose in health. The noodles are made with white flour and come with sodium and sugar-laden flavor packets. The meal will contribute nothing to your body but a sharp blood sugar rise.
Fried Chicken With Biscuits
Fried chicken with biscuits is a classic comfort meal, but it’s not a good one if you’re looking to manage your blood sugar. The frying process adds unhealthy oils that contribute to insulin resistance, and the whole meal is disappointingly low in actual nutrients.
Waffles With Whipped Cream and Syrup
Waffles with things piled on them have been a popular American meal for a very long time, but when they were first invented, people didn’t quite realize how bad they were for the body. There’s little fiber or protein to slow digestion, and the added whipped cream puts fat into your system.
Falafel Wraps
Though falafel is made from chickpeas, it’s often deep-fried and served in white pita with sugary or fatty sauces. The refined carbs and fats raise blood sugar quickly. You can try adding some vegetables to your wrap to make it a bit healthier if you want.
Apple Pie With Ice Cream
Apple pie with ice cream is as American as… well… as apple pie. But you might want to hold off eating too many of the delicious dish. The crust and sweet filling create a high glycemic load, and the ice cream adds more sugar and fat. Just because it’s fruit doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
Chocolate Chip Muffins
People have been having chocolate chip muffins for dessert and breakfast since time immemorial, but some people soon find themselves having to cut down for their own good. The muffins are loaded with refined flour, sugar and fats, and thus spike blood sugar rapidly.
Loaded Nachos
Loaded nachos taste so good, so it sucks to learn how bad they are for blood sugar. The tortilla chips will digest rapidly, spiking blood sugar, while the fat-laden toppings add calories that badly affect the glucose levels in your body.
Chicken and Waffles
Chicken and waffles is a Southern classic which combines fried chicken with sweet, syrup-covered waffles. Yep, you guessed it: that sweetness is what makes this meal a bad one for blood sugar. And to top it all off, there’s white flour in the waffles.
Fried Rice With Soy Sauce
Fried rice uses white rice, oil, and sometimes sugary sauces like teriyaki or hoisin – and all those things are bad news for your blood sugar. Some people try to make the meal healthier by adding vegetables, but that’s just not enough to offset the bad things in it.
Ice Cream Sundaes
Ice cream sundaes are a traditional American dessert, and you won’t find that many people willing to give them up if they’ve been eating them all their lives. But they’re high in sugar and saturated fat, and contain minimal healthy fiber or protein.
Mashed Potatoes With Gravy
Unfortunately, potatoes are high on the glycemic index. And when mashed, they digest even faster, kicking off bad things in your body. Adding gravy, which contains a lot of flour and fat, only worsens the meal’s impact on your blood sugar.
Breaded Mozzarella Sticks With Marinara Sauce
Mozzarella sticks are delicious, but they’re not the sort of thing you should be eating all the time. The cheese is bad for your blood sugar and so is the sugary marinara dip. It’ll slow your digestion, which isn’t good news.
Breakfast Burritos
Those pesky tortillas strike again. They’re bad for your blood sugar, because they’re made with white flour, and that’s not even getting started on the fried potatoes and cheese. Despite what adverts will tell you, breakfast burritos really don’t make for a good start to your day.
Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon rolls are a favorite dessert or breakfast option in the United States, but they’re not something you should eat every day. They’re full of refined flour and have very little fiber, protein, or nutrition. They may taste delicious but they’ll make your blood sugar crash.
Spaghetti in Marinara Sauce
White pasta will cause your blood sugar levels to spike, and then there’s the problem of the sauce. People think it’s healthy because it has tomatoes in it, but it also has a lot of sugar, and that’s bad news. Make this an every once in a while meal.
Cornbread With Honey or Syrup
Cornbread is another quintessentially American dish, something people have been eating for years, but it’ll make your blood sugar spike. All the sugar in the honey or syrup is very bad for you. Don’t forget, it will also contribute to bad teeth!
Cheesecake
Even the crust on cheesecake is bad for your blood sugar, as it’s made from refined carbs. The sugar and fat combination will elevate blood glucose and slow insulin response, leaving you fatigued. If you must eat cheesecake, don’t eat too much.
BBQ Ribs With Sweet Sauce
The meat itself is actually fine blood sugar wise, but the sauce is often packed with added sugars. To make things more difficult, this meal is often served with bread, which will definitely contribute to bad blood sugar. Maybe you could simply eat the meat on its own?
Tacos
The big problem here is, you guessed it, the tortillas. Because they’re made of white flour, they’re just plain not very good for you. Then the tortilla is usually filled with cheese and sugary sauces, things that have a high glycemic index. You can eat tacos every once in a while maybe, but certainly not every day.
French Toast
French toast is typically made with white bread, dipped in a sweet egg mixture, and fried. Topping it with powdered sugar and syrup adds fast-digesting carbs and refined sugars, causing your blood sugar to spike. There’s also little protein or fiber in the meal.
