"Is sourdough bread good for diabetes?"

This is one of the many common questions I get asked by my patients at my clinic or by participants at my habits as medicine coaching programs.  My answer would be, "Yes, sourdough breads is generally a good bread choice for people with diabetes who take breads regularly. But the degree of impact varies from person to person."

I get this question so often that I did a video to teach people how to ask follow up questions to their initial "Is sourdough bread good for diabetes?". I strongly recommend you watch the video and hope you would learn from it to ask this question about whether sourdough bread is a good choice for you if you have diabetes, in a way that is more helpful to you specifically.

Synopsis of key points in the video:

Is Sourdough Bread Good for Diabetes?

• Sourdough bread may be a slightly better choice than most other breads for people with diabetes because it generally has a lower glycaemic index (GI).
• However, sourdough bread still raises blood sugar, and the difference compared to other breads is not large enough to solve blood sugar control on its own.

The Better Question to Ask

• The better question is not just “Is sourdough bread good for diabetes?”
• A more useful question is:
  Will switching to sourdough bread actually improve your blood sugar control?
• The answer depends on your individual situation, not just the type of bread.

Before Deciding, Ask Yourself These 3 Questions

1. How severe is your diabetes?

• People with more severe diabetes usually have lower tolerance to carbohydrates.
• Even lower-GI options like sourdough bread can still cause significant blood sugar rises.
• The more severe your condition, the more cautious you need to be.

2. How well controlled is your blood sugar?

• If your blood sugar is poorly controlled, switching to sourdough bread alone is unlikely to make a meaningful difference.
• Good control usually requires a combination of lifestyle changes, diet, and sometimes medication.
• Changing one food item is not enough.

3. How is your overall diet?

• Your overall eating pattern matters far more than a single food choice.
• Ask yourself:
  • Are you eating too many carbohydrates or sugary foods?
  • Are you lacking vegetables and whole foods?
• If your overall diet is poor, fixing the big picture should come before worrying about sourdough bread.

So, Is Sourdough Bread Good for Diabetes?

• Yes — relatively better than most breads.
• No — it is not a solution on its own.

Whether sourdough bread is suitable for you depends on:

• Your diabetes severity
• Your blood sugar control
• Your overall diet

Bottom Line

• Sourdough bread can be included in moderation, but
• Your daily habits and overall diet matter much more than switching from one type of bread to another.
  
  
  

Full transcript of video "Is sourdough bread good for diabetes?"

 ---------- Beginning of video transcript ----------

Doctor, is sourdough bread good for people with diabetes? If you're asking this question for yourself because you have diabetes, and if you're wondering if sourdough bread is good for you, . In this video, I will be going through three questions with you to help you come to an answer to this question in a way that is more specific to you.

"Doctor, is sourdough bread good for people with diabetes?" is a question I get asked often by   📍 my patients and my clinic or participants at my habits as medicine coaching programs.  If you have diabetes and you are also asking this question, can I suggest you first refine this question to:

"Doctor I have diabetes, would switching to sourdough bread helped me achieve better blood sugar control? How much sourdough bread can I have in my diet?", making the question more specific to you and not just to people with diabetes in general, and then answer the next three questions that I'm gonna ask you in this video.

But before that, let's talk a bit about sourdough bread to set the context. Sourdough bread has a slightly lower GI than most breads. And therefore it's a relatively better choice for people with diabetes who enjoy breads. But it is important to remember that eating sourdough bread will still raise blood sugar albeit usually to a lesser degree than most other breads.

Therefore, people with diabetes or people who are concerned about blood sugar spikes for whatever other reasons should be mindful of this fact.

So if the question is asked like this" Doctor, is sourdough bread good for people with diabetes? ", a general one about sourdough bread and people with diabetes in general and not specific to you, then the answer is: sourdough bread is a relatively good choice for people with diabetes in general. But if you were to ask the question this way, " Doctor I have diabetes, would switching to sourdough bread helped me achieve better blood sugar control? How much sourdough bread can I have in my diet?", that although this question is similar in some way to the previous question, this time it is more specific to you and not just a question about sourdough bread for people with diabetes in general, then I would suggest you first ask yourself these three questions.

Number one: how severe is your diabetes? People with severe diabetes has a much lower tolerance to glucose or carbohydrates than people with mild diabetes. So you need to be cognizant of this fact. So even though sourdough bread is generally a relatively okay choice for breads for people with diabetes, its impact on your blood sugar and how much sourdough bread you can have is also dependent on the severity of your diabetes condition. Question two: how well controlled is your blood sugar? Regardless of the severity of your diabetes, you should and can still maintain good blood sugar control through lifestyle and diet modifications, medications, or both.

But if your current state of blood sugar control is poor, you should not expect to be able to get your blood sugar under optimal or even just adequate control simply by making the switch from higher GI breads to the slightly lower GI sourdough breads. Third question that you should ask yourself is this: how is your current overall dietary pattern?

You should assess your current eating habits comprehensively. Are you currently having excessive amounts of carbohydrates or starchy foods in your diet? Are you taking too much sugar? Are you not having enough vegetables? Is your current eating habit, your current dietary pattern overall poor and is causing you to have very poor blood sugar control?

Then your focus should first be on modifying and improving your overall diet holistically. In such a situation, adding or switching to sourdough breads in your diet may not be or even should not be that high on your priority. So these are the three questions. You should ask yourself, number one, how severe is your diabetes?

The impact of sourdough breads on your blood sugar would be greater if your diabetes is more severe. Number two, how is your blood sugar controlled? Is it poorly controlled? If it is, then even though switching from high GI breads to the slightly lower GI sourdough breads may be helpful to some degree, it is probably not going to be enough to bring your poorly controlled blood sugar under optimal or even just adequate control. Number three, how is your current diet overall? Is your overall diet obviously poor and you have many other areas of your diet that are clearly affecting your blood sugar control?

Are you taking too much sugar? Are you having excessive amounts of carbohydrates? Are you not having adequate amounts of vegetables? If you're clearly poor in these critical areas, then tackling them may be a lot more important and should be higher up in your priority than deciding whether sourdough bread is good for you or not.

From your answers to these three questions, you can then better answer the question about whether sourdough bread is good for diabetes or not, in a way that is relevant and more importantly, more specific to you, your diabetes condition, your current blood sugar control, and your current dietary priorities.

I hope you have found this useful. Let Habits be Thy Medicine. I'm Dr Chan. Eat well and be well.

---------- End of video transcript ----------

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