7 Secrets of Magic Eating for Steady Blood Sugar

These ideas will help you keep your blood sugar levels steady throughout the day.

1. Choose low-GL carbs and limit carb portions. Carbohydrate-rich foods, especially grains and starchy vegetables, are the main contributors to high blood sugar. By choosing "slow-acting" (low-GL) carbs instead of "fast-acting" (higher-GL) carbs, you can help keep blood sugar low and steady. You'll also want to limit your portions no matter what kind of carbs you choose.

2. Make three of your carb servings whole grains. You're not eating as many carbs, so make those you do eat count by choosing whole grains, which help prevent heart disease and diabetes independently of their effects on blood sugar.

3. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Aim for at least seven to nine small servings a day. Most fruits and vegetables have little carbohydrate and are packed with vitamins, fiber, and health-protective compounds, with few calories. Eating fruits or adding vegetables to carbohydrate-rich dishes helps make your diet blood sugar friendly.

4. Eat protein at every meal. Protein lowers the GL of meals and helps curb hunger, making weight loss easier.

5. Favor good fats. "Bad" saturated fats can interfere with your ability to control blood sugar, but "good" unsaturated fats help your body control it better. Good fats also lower the GL of meals.

6. Add acidic foods to your meals. It's an amazingly simple way to blunt the blood sugar effect of a meal.

7. Eat smaller portions. We're talking not about just carb-rich foods here but about all foods. Even when you eat a low-GL diet, calories count. Cutting calories can help you fight insulin resistance -- and of course, along with exercise, it's still the way to lose weight.