Poha: Good for diabetes?
It is said that once upon a time Poha was originally a dish limited to the borders of Maharashtra. However almost 500 years back when the Great Maratha army began spreading its tentacles throughout the country, the armymen simultaneously became instrumental in spreading the culture of Poha throughout the subcontinent.
The reason the soldiers loved this dish was to do with the ease with which it can be cooked.
When an army is on the move it has no time to cook biryani or pulao or some other elaborate meals, however, poha is a dish that can be prepared in less than 10 minutes.
Incidentally this ease of cooking has also impressed people throughout the subcontinent. In this modern era where everybody has a shortage of time, a recipe like poha can be godsend.
That’s the reason why poha has today emerged as one of the most popular breakfasts in the country.
And when something gets this popular, it also gathers a lot of unclaimed publicity. This is what has also happened in case of Poha, and today many consider it to be a very healthy breakfast.
There are literally thousands of websites making such claims.
According to one website: “Poha is very low in calories. It has about 76.9% of carbohydrates and 23% fat, which makes it one of the most ideal choices for weight loss.”
There is no use naming or blaming this website because it is not alone in making such proclamations.
There are many websites that make similar claims, however, as you can understand, there is hardly any grain of truth in such claims. They are not backed by scientific studies.
The fact is that if a normal person eats a serving of Poha once in a while, he or she is unlikely to gain weight because of that single serving.
However, if someone is already coping with obesity or if someone has a BMI above 35 or if someone seriously wants to lose weight, then he or she has to exclude poha, indeed all poha type of recipes from his or her diet.
They need to do so because poha is mostly carbohydrates. The most common recipe of Poha is known as Kande Pohe or Kanda Poha, and it is nothing more than some marinated rice flakes deftly mixed with little stir-fried onions.
Sometimes it contains fried potatoes as well, and all these essentially make this recipe almost hundred percent full of carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates, once they enter our body, are broken down as sugar and the latest research clearly tells us that too much sugar ultimately leads to metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
According to Dr. Jason Fung: “Metabolic syndrome, of which obesity and type 2 diabetes are a key part, are ultimately caused by—you guessed it—too much sugar.”
He further adds that “All the conditions we thought were problems—obesity, insulin resistance, and beta cell dysfunction—are actually the body’s solutions to a single root cause—too much sugar.”
So if we understand that excessive intake of carbs causes obesity, then it is easy to take the first step on weight-loss journey. It is by reducing the amount of carbs consumed in the course of a day. Goes without saying, there is no place for Kande Pohe or Poha kind of dishes in the diet of someone struggling to lose weight or maintain weight.
On a personal note, I love poha but I make sure that I don’t eat it often. The last time I consumed it was several months back and that too because I wanted to run an experiment to measure the impact of consuming poha on my blood glucose.
Here in the following pages, we will try to answer a couple of questions about poha and its relationship with diabetes or prediabetes. Given that there is a very strong link between obesity and type 2 diabetes, these questions indirectly also have a link with weight gain or obesity or morbid obesity.
Is poha unhealthy?
Poha is basically a snack food, and although it is consumed throughout South Asia, most recipes employed in this region simply combine some spices with poha, along with some onions or potatoes or sometimes a little chickpeas. Given the structure of most Poha recipes, it is no different than most other junk foods available in the markets.
Its popularity stems from the fact that it can be cooked extremely fast. Before 2-minute noodles became popular in India, poha was in that instant meal preparation category.
Goes without saying, Poha is as healthy as paratha or idli or medu-vada or pizza or burger or some such breakfast/snack item.
Can diabetic eat POHA?
No, diabetics cannot eat poha because most poha available in the market is made of white rice, and thus it is full of carbohydrates which have the tendency to spike blood glucose levels.
It contains very little fiber, something that is essential for a meal intended for a diabetic patient.
Fiber not only blunts the blood glucose spikes but works wonders on several other health parameters.
According to Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, the author of New York Times bestseller Fiber Fuelled… Fiber is the heart and soul of true gut healing, and true gut healing leads to better health in everything from your cardiovascular system to your brain health to your hormonal health. It’s really that powerful.
Can we eat poha daily?
If someone has no problem of Type 1 Diabetes or type 2 diabetes or gestational Diabetes, if someone is not obese or morbidly obese, if someone has their BMI less than 25, then consuming poha on a daily basis should not be a big problem. However, given that it is loaded with carbohydrates, it would be good to combine it with some other dish that contains either lots of healthy proteins or dietary fiber.
If it is eaten in the simplest form – as it is generally – the impact on blood glucose can be serious, as it is a simple carb.
According to Dr. Jason Fung, the author of The Obesity Code: “Refined carbohydrates are easy to become addicted to and overeat precisely because there are no natural satiety hormones for refined carbs. The reason, of course, is that refined carbohydrates are not natural foods but are highly processed. Their toxicity lies in that processing.”
And because we don’t feel satiated after consuming the carbohydrates like breads, cakes, cookies, or idli or dosa – or poha for that matter – we genuinely feel hungry after some time, and then obviously we feel like eating something else.
In other words, carbohydrates literally coax you to eat more.
Best breakfast for diabetics?
It is said that Poha was once just a regional dish and it was turned into a national dish by the Great Maratha Army. The armymen loved it because it could be cooked almost instantly.
And the same reason has also made it a pet breakfast for almost every Indian today.
In India, the structure of many cities is such that the commute from home to office or the place of work can take a very long time, and as a result, mornings tend to be rush hours. And that’s where Kande Pohe scores over other breakfast items. Kanda poha fits very easily into the smallest time blocks, and because it has emerged as an extremely popular breakfast item.
No wonder, it has been given the titles like the “best breakfast” and “most loved breakfast”. However of late, some wordsmiths have extended these epitaphs to “best breakfast for diabetes”. This is where the lakshman rekha or the proverbial line has been crossed.
Poha may be extremely easy to cook, poha may be the best friend of a busy homemaker during the early morning rush hours, Poha may also have a delightful taste, however, it cannot be called the “best breakfast for diabetics”.
For diabetic patients, the most important task is to manage their blood glucose levels. Their life depends on this one single reading. And Kande Pohe is not something that can be trusted to stabilize blood sugar levels.
Poha is basically manufactured by processing white rice, which simply means it does not have much fiber content. And given that white rice comes with a high glycemic index, Poha also inherits the same glycemic index (plus or minus a few points, depending on processing style, but that’s not likely to make a huge difference).
Similarly, the claims about poha keeping in check any sudden sugar spikes in the blood are also patently wrong, and of course claims of Poha being rich in iron are also not credible.
On top of that, the most common recipe of poha is Kande Pohe – which is extremely popular in Maharashtra – and which generally contains little stir-fried onions and sometimes a few peanuts. Some recipes use potatoes along with onions, and some even include some green peas. However, in spite of all this, the dish is mostly made of carbs because of the presence of a rice derivative.
And having almost no fiber, this dish can have a substantial impact on the blood glucose.
And the biggest proof of it is an experiment that I myself ran sometime back. The experiment was to consume two bowls of Kande Pohe to measure the impact they would have on my blood glucose.
And the impact was quite pronounced. After eating two bowls of Poha my blood glucose had shot up to 154, sufficient to prove that it is not a “good breakfast for diabetics” as many people claim it to be.
Now it is sure that if someone else was to consume the same two bowls of Poha, the impact on their blood glucose level may be slightly different. It may be slightly different in either direction; it may be either slightly less than 149 or slightly more than 149, given that everybody is different, and every digestive tract comes with its unique features. However, this little experiment gives us a reference point as to how a dish basically rich in carbohydrates can impact the blood glucose of a normal person.
So, in conclusion, the answer is that Poha is not great for diabetes patients.
Is POHA high glycemic?
Most Poha varieties available in the local markets are made from white rice, and thus the glycemic index of Poha is quite similar to the rice grain from which it has been manufactured. And given that white rice is considered high glycemic so it is safe to say that poha is also high glycemic.
Given the structure of its recipe, it has not much fiber. Fiber is nature’s own weapon against hyperglycemia. Of course, the benefits of fiber extend beyond just taming the blood glucose.
Dr. Will Bulsiewicz in his bestselling book Fiber Fuelled notes that even if people eat just 25 and 29 grams dietary fiber per day, it has shown tendency to prevent people against colorectal, breast, and esophageal cancer.
Pre diabetic breakfast?
Prediabetes is a condition that stands bang in the middle of someone having normal blood glucose management capacity and someone with full-blown diabetes. In other words, prediabetes is literally knocking at the pearly gates of the dystopian kingdom of diabetes.
Sometimes the prefix “pre” leads people to believe that it is far less sinister than full-blown diabetes, and in some cases that is the situation, however, in most cases, great care needs to be taken to avoid prediabetes from turning into full-blown diabetes.
The fasting blood glucose levels of pre-diabetespatients are extremely close to those having full-blown diabetes.
And what is not good for diabetics is not good for pre-diabetics either. After all, pre-diabetic patients need to restrict their carbohydrates consumption unless they wish to join the ranks of diabetics.
However, if you mix Poha with some fibre or healthy fats, the process brings down the glycemic index, and then it can becomes relatively safer for people coping with diabetes.
I have also made a video on green poha – which is my own recipe – and the consumption of that impacted my blood glucose far less severely compared to normal kanda poha dish. The green poha took my blood glucose to 119 in place of 149 which was a significant drop.
Remember the fasting blood glucose level of a normal person is 100, so if your blood glucose stays quite close to that level even after consuming two bowls of Poha, then it means that the dish was truly diabetes-friendly.
So the short answer is: a normal dish of Kande Pohe, which contains either onions or potatoes, is not suitable for diabetes patients. But if they add some fibre to it, or if they increase the quantity of some healthy fats in the recipe, then it may prove to be rather less harmful for diabetic patients.
Is poha Keto friendly?
No; poha is not at all keto-friendly. And the reason is that poha is loaded with carbohydrates. Some recipes may contain almost 90% of a poha serving in the form of carbohydrates.
Ketogenic diet is almost similar to Atkins diet and the most prominent feature of both of these diet is their insistance on low carb consumption. Simulateneously it asks people to increase the amount of healthy fats in their meals. And as we know, most poha consumed in the country is missing on both of these features.
Most Ketonistas – the followers of the ketogenic diet – try to restrict their carbs consumption under 50 grams per day. Some purists even try to restrict their carbohydrates to less than 20 grams per day, whereas even the most basic recipe of Kande pohe will have 60-80 grams of carbohydrates in a serving weighing a hundred grams (depending on the nature of the recipe), so it is definitely not at all keto-friendly.
Similarly most poha – sold on the streets at least – is made of cheapest industrial oils, which are pro-inflammatory, whereas the main objective of keto-friendly diet is to reduce inflammation.
Is poha healthy for dinner?
Poha is generally considered to be a breakfast item. In Maharashtra, where Poha dish was born, it is one of the most common – and of course, most loved – breakfasts.
This love borders on craze, and some people love it so much that they consider it any time snack food. It is treated as a perfect mini meal, so whether it is 11.30 in the morning or 5 in the afternoon, Poha is being served in millions of households acorss the country.
However, whether it is eaten at breakfast or lunch or dinner or anytime in between, the fact remains that it has a high glycaemic index.
It can’t be otherwise. Most often raw poha – of poha flakes -varieties available in markets around us happen to be white poha, and that is simply a derivative of white rice.
And as we know, the glycemic index of white rice is quite high. In some cases it can go all the way in to 90s.
So when poha is consumed at breakfast or snack time, it is somewhat digestible. By digestibility here we mean glucose clearance.
Because most people are engaged in some kind of bodily movement soon after breakfast or snack time, at least some glucose is consumed soon after eating it.
But if someone is going to consume poha at dinner, then there is less chance of this glucose clearance, unless the person has a habit to take a walk lasting around half an hour.
As can be understood, Poha may turn out to be too carb rich to deal with for those who like to watch TV or do serious Netflixing.
However food is often eaten for irrational reasons, and if someone is going to consume poha, then they must take a walk lasting anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes soon after finishing the dish of Poha. This is likely to help clear the glucose from the bloodstream to the muscles where it can be spent right away.
If that is not possible, then one must include some vegetables or some other source of protein soon after or before eating poha, so that the overall glycemic load of the entire meal is reduced.
Is poha better than rice for diabetics?
No; poha is not better than rice for diabetics, and the reason is that poha or flattened rice is basically manufactured from white rice, so the glycemic index of both of these food products is similar to one another.
However, what turns the tables in favor of rice is that we generally don’t consume white rice on its own; most people eat white rice either with some dal or some vegetables or some curries, and all these add-ons supply extra proteins or fiber to the entire meal.
This extra proteins and fiber not only nutrify the meal but they also reduce the total glycaemic load. As a result the spike in the blood glucose is far more muted than what is likely to be in the aftermath of eating a similar quantity of Kanda Poha.
And that is so because Poha contains no vegetables or beans or lentils or proteins. Definitely no fiber either. The most common recipes of Poha contain just stir-fried onions or potatoes, and they do nothing to decrease the glycemic load of Poha.
Daily exercise improves brain function
The more we moved, the fitter our brain became. And even today our brain’s healthy functioning requires regular physical activity despite the passage of time and ills of the aging process.
David Perlmutter
If you want to avoid weight gain, remove all added sugars from your diet.
Dr. Jason Fung, author, The Obesity Code
