Food Science

Best Healthy Food Choices for Diabetic Patients

Getting the best healthy food choices for diabetic patients can be tough, especially as most of them tend to believe that they have to do away with their best foods. Fortunately, you can fight diabetes and still enjoy your favorite meals,  albeit less often.

Since diabetes has to do majorly with the blood sugar, the types of foods you eat daily will go a long way to keep it in check and regulate your blood sugar level. If you have bad eating habits, you may need to restructure your meal plan and reduce your intake of sugary drinks, refined foods, and sweetened snacks.

As we proceed, you will discover the importance of taking a wide variety of healthy meals from all food groups to help suppress diabetes and improve your health.

Healthy Food Choices for Diabetic Patients: Key to Regulating Blood Sugar Level and Preventing Heart Disease

As we all know, diabetes is a dangerous disease that can cause  a lot of malfunctions within your body system. It occurs as a result of an increment in the blood sugar.

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Keeping  a close tab on your specific food choices, food quantities, and time of eating will all help to restructure your diet plan and keep your blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure at a healthy level.

Usually, diabetic patients produce little or no insulin, which will eventually lead to an increase in the level of sugar circulating in the blood. But when you start following healthy food choices for diabetic patients, you can manage this condition and control the quantity of sugar coming in to your bloodstream.

Healthy food choices are very important for every diabetic patient. When you maintain a healthy balance between what you eat and drink, you will be able to keep your blood sugar level within your target range. That is to say, it will neither be too high or too low to cause anomalies within your body system.

You should expect some difficulty at the initial stages. But then, you should also understand that it is a price that you need to pay if you want to enjoy good health and limit the effect of diabetes in your body.

Food Choices for Diabetic Patients: What You Need to Reduce

If you are looking to stabilize your blood glucose and control diabetes, you should be ready to do away with foods and drinks like:

  • All foods, most especially fried foods, that contain a large amount of trans fat and saturated fat
  • Foods with high sodium (salt) level
  • Sweetened foods, including candy, ice cream, baked foods, and so on
  • Beverages with high sugar content, most especially sugary juice drinks, regular energy drinks, soda, and other sugary drinks

Sugar plays a major role in high blood sugar level, so you need to reduce the rate at which you consume it. Additionally, you can opt for any healthy sugar substitute whenever you want to take coffee or tea.

If you take alcohol a lot, there is a need to cut down your intake and drink moderately. A diabetic female patient should not go beyond a drink per day, while a man with diabetes should not take more than two drinks per day.

If you are on a diabetes medication or insulin injection, you should desist from taking alcohol. This is because alcohol will cause a significant drop in your blood sugar level in the presence of insulin.

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Best Foods for Diabetic Patients

As a diabetic patient looking to  draw up the best healthy food choices that will help control diabetes, it is important that you include the foods and drinks that are appropriate for your age and align with your health goals. You may need to take caution and limit yourself to a certain level when it comes to food consumption. This is because not all foods are good for diabetic patients, so you need to be selective about what you eat.

Additionally, you have to cross-examine every food before eating and avoid foods that will cause complications.  Some healthy food choices for diabetic patients include:

Leafy Greens

The leafy green vegetable is the perfect food to eat while suffering diabetes. It has a low-calorie rate and contains less sugar. The leafy green is nutritious and also contains minerals and vitamins (vitamin C). You can maintain your body sugar when you add this type of food to your balanced meal plan.

Eggs

When you consume eggs frequently, you will experience a change in your health challenge. According to a study, egg consumption improves the blood glucose of diabetic patients. The egg yolk is more nutritious than egg white, hence eat every part of the egg. You can moderate your egg consumption ratio to some extent as you can gain more calories with time.

Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is a good meal for diabetic patients. It contains probiotics, which enable it to control your blood sugar. Greek yogurt is better than conventional yogurt, as it contains only six to eight carbs per serving.

Strawberries

Strawberries are high in antioxidants, and they are nutritious. They assist in regulating your blood sugar. Strawberries support healthy weight loss.

Squash

Squash is a healthy vegetable that supports healthy living. Zucchini and Italian squash are the most common varieties of squash vegetables around. According to a study carried out on the hypoglycemic action of Cucurbita ficifolia, type 2 diabetic patients who consume squash during winter will experience reduced blood sugar. Hence, squash is necessary for diabetic patients.

Garlic

Garlic comes with a lot of health benefits. It supports diabetic patients very much and helps to reduce blood glucose. Garlic is very low in calories, and your body can accommodate a high consumption rate of garlic.

Tumeric

Tumeric is a healthy spice that helps to regulate and reduce your blood sugar level. When you suffer diabetes, you can use turmeric as often as possible, as it comes with numerous health benefits.

Fatty Fish

Fatty fish is necessary for diabetic patients. It is very healthy and aids in maintaining a healthy body system. When you suffer diabetes, you have to include fatty fish in your daily meal plan.

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