Make Bad Foods Better with This Beverage Choice

Next time you say "what the heck" and just order the burger and fries, here's how to make it a little less crazy for your blood sugar. Nix the coffee and chase it with water instead.

Eating high-fat, high-calorie fast food can take your blood sugar levels on a wild and unhealthy ride. And a new study suggests that drinking coffee during or right after may double the blood sugar trouble.

Blood Sugar Shock
The study -- which was small and done on a group of young men -- requires more research to confirm the findings. But the early results were worrisome and intriguing. In several trials, participants drank high-fat meals nutritionally on par with fast-food meals. Six hours later, tests showed blood sugar levels were 32 percent higher among those who had had the fatty meal earlier compared to those who hadn't. And drinking a couple cups of coffee a few hours after the meal produced the worst blood sugar results of all with levels being 65 percent higher, pushing them into the diabetic range. (Related: Here's a list of 12 foods that lower your blood sugar.)

Fat and Caffeine Factors
So what's fatty food got to do with blood sugar? Plenty, according to new theories. Researchers think saturated fat may interfere with the body's ability to process and clear sugar from the blood. And for some reason, caffeine makes those messy conditions even worse. Researchers suspect that both fat and caffeine may disrupt communication between the gut and pancreas -- not good, because the pancreas plays a key role in expediting sugar removal from blood. (Related: Drink this to help calm inflammation after a high-fat meal.)

Coffee's Okay. Really . . .
Other studies have suggested that drinking coffee may have some pretty great health benefits. Some research suggests it may even reduce diabetes risk. So don't feel you have to kick coffee to the curb. But you might want to pass if you're taking the day off from your eat-healthy diet. (Related: Find out why a coffee refill may be totally okay.)

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