You must have heard about the type of foods that you should avoid in order to keep diabetes under control. However, are you aware of the foods that you can eat to control diabetes? Here, you will be informed about the types of food items to choose in case you are suffering from diabetes.
Sometimes it might seem difficult for you to figure out the exact fruits or vegetables when you are fighting diabetes. To ease it out for you, go for the foods that have low sugar content but high protein. When you have diabetes, the only thing you need to do is to keep your blood sugar level under control. Diabetes complications can often lead to serious health disorders like heart diseases and kidney malfunctioning. Thus, you should remember to choose food wisely, thinking about future consequences.
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What should you know about diabetes?
When you are figuring out the ways to combat diabetes through your diet, you should first understand what it is. It is very important to first know the disease properly before you go for its curable measures. Diabetes mellitus is the other name for what you commonly call ‘diabetes’. To understand the disease in lay man’s term, you eat food to gain energy. This energy comes from the metabolism of carbohydrates that you consume, which is majorly glucose. You use this energy to perform work.
When you have sufficient energy, the pancreatic beta cells of your body signals the production of insulin. Insulin communicates with the liver to use the extra glucose to convert it into glycogen and store for future requirements. When you have diabetes, insulin is either produced in very little amounts or not produced at all. Such a condition leads to glucose build-up in your blood since extra glucose is not converted to glycogen in the liver. Diabetes mellitus is basically of three distinct types:
- Diabetes mellitus Type 1- it is the incapability of your pancreatic beta cells to produce insulin. During this condition, your body does not synthesize insulin at all. So you need to supply your body with insulin from outside (artificial insulin shots) to control your blood glucose level.
- Diabetes mellitus Type 2- in this condition, beta cells in your pancreas produces very small amounts of insulin. The amount is so less, that your body cells do not react quite effectively to it. This is actually the type of diabetes that you will mostly find affecting the population. You will find this type very strongly linked to obesity and heart complications.
- Gestational diabetes- this condition specifically happens when you are pregnant, where your body does not react to insulin very efficiently. However, it is not mandatory that you will be affected by gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Even if you are, the problem goes away once you give birth to your baby.
There is another type of diabetes called diabetes insipidus, but it is very different from diabetes mellitus. In diabetes insipidus, the antidiuretic hormone (vasopressin) that regulates your kidney functioning, do not function properly. Due to this, you urinate a lot (urine also becomes very dilute), and you feel extremely thirsty all the time.
Diabetes-friendly foods
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Leafy vegetables
When you are choosing leafy greens as a part of your diet, you are doing the right thing! They are healthy, contain low calories and a very good source of various nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Digestible carbohydrates are the ones that elevate your blood glucose levels. To your surprise, leafy greens have extremely low amounts of digestible carbs as well.
If you have high blood pressure and diabetes, leafy greens provide Vitamin C and improve its intake by cells. Vitamin C reduces markers for inflammation in your body, as well as keeps your blood sugar levels under check. Eat vitamin C rich vegetables like kale, spinach, broccoli, etc. Leafy greens also are very good sources of antioxidants like zeaxanthin and lutein. They will help you fight any diabetes-related health complications.
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Eggs
The myriad range of health benefits that eggs offer you are amazing indeed! If you regularly consume eggs, it will lessen the chances of heart diseases to a great extent. Eggs help in reducing inflammation, elevate ‘good’ cholesterol (HDL) levels than ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol, and improve insulin uptake by cells. You can even find various antioxidants in eggs like zeaxanthin and lutein. The most important benefit is that eggs are excellent sources of protein (albumin) and nutrients present in egg yolk.
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Greek yogurt
If you are diabetic, this food item is not new to you! Greek yogurt is extremely beneficial in improving your blood sugar levels, as well as reducing risks to cardiac disorders. It contains a lot of probiotics, actually responsible for keeping your insulin uptake and glucose levels in blood under control. Not only can you benefit yourself in these grounds, but Greek yogurt also helps you with weight loss. Since it is very high in proteins, you do not feel hungry that contributes to fat burn. Adding onto that, you also reduce your overall calorie consumption by having Greek yogurt.
Can fatty fishes help combat diabetes?
If you are consuming fatty fishes, bless yourself as they are one of the healthiest foods on earth. Fishes like salmons, anchovies, mackerel, sardines, and herring have an immense amount of omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA. These fatty acids will help you in maintaining good heart health, reducing the tendency towards strokes and cardiac arrests. Therefore, you can opt out the threat of heart diseases of diabetes if you eat fatty fishes.
How do fatty acids protect your heart? EPA and DHA shield the cells present in the lining of blood vessels and keep the functioning of arteries strong. Not only that the fatty acids also reduce the chances of inflammation of these vessels to prevent blocking of heart.
Fishes are also very rich in proteins. Thus, high protein level will give you a feeling of fullness, satiate your appetite and also elevate your metabolic rate. So if you are diabetic and want to keep your heart healthy, include fatty fishes in your diet immediately.
