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Eating for A Healthy Body – The Diabetes Diet

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Foods to Avoid in Diabetes: Diabetes patients should stay away from these 5 foods in winter, high intake increases blood sugar level fast!

Reports say that there will be an estimated 134 million people in India living with diabetes by 2045. That is a vast number of people, and the change is inevitable as we move towards a more white-collar-inspired working lifestyle. But there are ways to keep a check on one’s health by following the proper diet, also called a prediabetes diet. Let’s explore the topic and look into a diabetic diet chart for you.

What Is Diabetes?

Your body needs insulin to regulate the glucose that builds up in your bloodstream. Sometimes, we cannot produce that much insulin, so we may need external help to handle all that glucose. That is when taking insulin externally helps in maintaining our blood glucose levels.

What Is Prediabetes?

As the name implies, prediabetes is when blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. The National Urban Diabetes Survey states that the estimated prevalence of prediabetes is 14% in India.

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How Can You Manage Diabetes with Food?

Sugar from food builds up in your bloodstream when you live with prediabetes. Therefore, you must keep an eye on the food you eat. Overeating refined sugar and carbohydrates can cause your blood sugar to spike. A spike in blood sugar will make you thirsty, have a dry mouth, urinate frequently, and blur your vision. Once the rush ends, it will cause low blood sugar levels, making you hungry, even if you have just eaten. Eating the correct food can help you manage your glucose levels.

Food to Eat When You Have Prediabetes – The Prediabetes Diet

Whole Grain Bread and Pasta

Ditch the processed and refined grains (such as flour). Eat foods such as brown rice, beans and dal, barley, bulgur, buckwheat, and quinoa. Cereals such as brown rice, oatmeal, and ragi are great, too. Foods such as upma, poha, and idli are made with ragi or unrefined wheat/cereals.

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Healthy Proteins

Fish (tuna, salmon, tilapia, and cod), eggs, lean meats, nuts, and seeds are fantastic additions to your meals. You can also add green gram sprouts to your diet. Paneer and dal (moong and masoor) are also excellent sources of proteins for people living with prediabetes.

Eat vegetables that are low on carbohydrates, such as carrots, capsicum, broccoli, bhindi, and palak. Eat 3-5 servings a day. Avoid white potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, and other starchy foods.

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Be Careful with Fruit

Fruit contains sucrose, a form of sugar, so be careful with certain fruits. Opt for smaller servings of apples and other sweet fruit. Choose low-sugar fruits instead, such as grapefruit, kiwis, and certain types of melons.

Specific diets, such as a plant-based whole grain diet, could also help regulate the diet. Look into the Mediterranean diet or DASH (dietary approach to stop hypertension).

The Diabetic Diet Chart – Meal Suggestions

Breakfast: Try having broken wheat upma, idlis, and dosas made from vegetables, bajra, ragi, poha, and other typical Indian breakfast foods made from whole grains.

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Lunch: Chappathi with paneer, eggs, soya chunk gravy, lemon rice, vegetable salad, peas pulao, khichdi, etc.

Dinner: Horse gram dosa, spinach chappathi, spinach phulka, along with sambar and the chutney of your choice.

Snacks: Buttermilk, channa, tomato soup, slices of vegetables such as carrots and cucumbers, mixed sprouts, nuts, and seeds.

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You’ll find that Indian food generally has many diabetes-friendly options or can be modified to suit your lifestyle. For example, opt for skimmed milk when you can. You even get biscuits and sweets suitable for diabetics but have those in moderation.

Avoid refined grains; beverages sweetened with sugar, fried foods, alcohol, sweetened breakfast cereals, candy, processed meat, and sugary fruit juice.

Point To Note

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Every person is different. For example, if you are a person living with both IBS and prediabetes, you may have other dietary requirements than someone living with prediabetes and high cholesterol.

The Diabetes Diet – Easy and Delicious

As you can see, it is easy to live a happy and fulfilling life with prediabetes if you do your research and find a diet plan that is tailor-made for your specific needs. Take your time and enjoy the journey while looking up websites like ours for guidance along the way.

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Passionate news enthusiast with a flair for words. Our Editorial Team author brings you the latest updates, in-depth analysis, and engaging stories. Stay informed with their well-researched articles.

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