Your diet is essential to keeping your body healthy, and knowing what you should and shouldn't eat is key to managing your diabetes. We know eating too much sugar can raise your risk of developing diabetes, but what foods are good to eat to keep your levels stable if you already have diabetes?
Controlling insulin and stabilizing blood sugar can improve your mood, reduce fatigue, gain energy, improve blood vessels and reduce the risk of kidney damage. Medical News Today provides a list of foods that are needed, and not recommeneded, to manage and stablize your levels.
Please note: this is just a recommendation, please consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet.
Non-Starchy Vegetables
There are 2 types of vegetables: starchy ones and non-starchy ones. The difference between the two are that starchy vegetables are rich in carbohydrates, which can raise blood sugar levels, where non-starchy vegetables do not. Examples of non-starchy vegetables include: carrots, baby corn, squash, cucumbers, spinach, arugula, cabbage and bean sprouts.
Whole Grain Foods
Whole grains contain more vitamins and minerals than regular refined grains. Your best option is to look for foods 100% whole grain when shopping for crackers, breads, oatmeal, brown rice and pasta. These types of foods are great for snacking in between meals.
Healthy Fats
When it comes to fats in foods, the fats you should stray away from are foods high in trans and saturated fats. Consuming foods high in unsaturated fats can help lower cholesterol, improve heart health and help control blood sugar. Some examples of foods that contain healthy fats are: avocados, olive oil, seeds and nuts.
Fatty Fish
A good fatty fish to include in your diet is salmon. It contains high amounts of protein and healthy fats. Although the protein doesn’t directly benefit blood sugar, it does fill you up and provides other nutrients to your body.
Cacao
Manufacturers grind up cacao seeds to create chocolates. The cacao seed itself contains epicatechin, which helps regulate blood sugar. Although sweets are not always suggested to eat a lot when you have diabetes because of the sugar, indulging in a few squares of dark chocolate a day is okay.
Eating dark chocolate is better than eating milk chocolate because not only does it contain more cacao, milk chocolate tends to have more added sugars to make them sweeter.
High Protein Foods
Although there is no research supporting that protein affects blood sugar, protein does make you feel fuller for longer. Some examples of foods high in protein are: fish, poultry, beans, soybeans, tofu and nuts.
Foods to Avoid
Everything you eat should be eaten in moderation, especially when it comes to diabetes. Foods rich in bad fats, sugar and carbohydrates can cause insulin and blood sugar levels to spike. Foods that you should avoid if you have diabetes are: sugary drinks, white rice, yogurts with added sugars, honey, and french fries.
Again, these are just suggested by Medical News Today and we advise you to speak to your doctor before making any changes to your diet.
Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323529.php
