Stabilize glucose levels with lentils

In traditional Chinese medicine, there are four types of pulses — floating, sinking, slow and fast — that practitioners use to evaluate your health. In our diets (from the East to the West) there are four basic kinds of pulses: dried peas, beans, chickpeas and lentils. (There are 11 kinds grown worldwide.) These pulses are part of the legume family and, when added to the diet, can go a long way to help stabilize your glucose levels.

Our neighbor to the north, Canada, grows over half of the world’s lentils, so it’s not surprising that a new study from the University of Guelph, Ontario, found that replacing rice and potatoes with lentils can help reduce out-of-control glucose levels.

And you don’t even need to completely replace the rice and potatoes, just make them brown rice and baked potatoes.

The researchers found that when half of a meal’s available carbohydrates

(rice and potatoes) were replaced with lentils, the relative glycemic response (what happens to your blood sugar level) to eating the remaining rice and potatoes was “lowered by 20 and 35 percent respectively.” Just think what replacing it all could do!

Unfortunately, only 13 percent of Canadians eat pulses daily, and in the U.S. it’s estimated that only 8 percent of folks eat them every couple of days.

Add endurance training

Endurance training can be anything that builds up your strength, whether it’s swimming one, then two, then three laps; biking 2, then 4, then 6 miles; or walking 2,000 daily steps on your way to 10,000 or more.

If you are overweight or obese, you can gain big benefits very quickly from adhering to this kind of exercise routine.

A recent study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-champaign found that six weeks of this type of endurance exercise training significantly decreases circulating inflammatory progenitor cells in obese adults.

Circulating inflammatory progenitor cells are stem cells found in bone marrow and blood that play a big part in boosting the risk for heart disease, diabetes complications, cancer, joint pain and dementia, and their numbers are increased in obese and overweight folks. But by pushing yourself just a little harder — a few more steps every day will do it — you can reduce the tissue inflammation they cause significantly. So set your challenge, and be prepared for some ultra rewards!

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.