Choosing healthy foods and monitoring eating habits can go a long way in managing blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels can damage body organs like the eyes, heart and even kidney. The first step you can take towards ensuring you maintain a healthy blood sugar level is to start taking foods that are low in calories. After this, you can incorporate certain foods into your daily diet to ensure you are successful in regulating your blood sugar levels. Learn the general guideline about what foods to eat to lower blood sugar level and what foods to avoid. You can also find recommended foods for lowering blood sugar.
Foods that Lower Blood Sugar
The perfect diet should put emphasis on vegetables, whole grains and fruits. Actually, such a diet is not only ideal for diabetic individuals, but also for everyone else who is interested in lowering their blood sugar.
A dietitian can help you come up with a diet based on your lifestyle, health goals and taste.
General Guideline
| Foods to Eat | |
|---|---|
| Healthy carbohydrates |
During the digestion process, sugar and starches are broken down to create blood glucose. It is important to focus on eating healthy carbohydrates like fruits, whole grains, vegetables, low fat dairy products as well as legumes. |
| Foods rich in fiber |
This includes plant based foods that are easily digestible and absorbed into your body. Fiber decreases the risk of heart failure and aids in controlling blood sugar levels. High fiber foods include vegetables, nuts, fruits, whole wheat flours, wheat bran and legumes. |
| Heart-healthy fish |
It is highly recommended that you feed on healthy fish at least two times each week. Fish make good choices for meat. Cod, tuna, and halibut are good examples of healthy fish. They have less fat and cholesterol compared to other meat sources like chicken and red meat. Mackerel, salmon, sardines, tuna as well as bluefish also supply your system with omega fatty acids. These promote the health of your heart by lowering the blood fats. It is important to keep off fried fish as well as fish with mercury like swordfish, tilefish and the king mackerel. |
| Healthy fats |
You need to eat foods containing polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Such foods include pecans, almonds, walnuts, avocados and olives. Also oils like olive, peanut and canola oils are ideal. Even so, you need to consume these oils sparingly as they too contain little amounts of calories. |
| Foods to Avoid | |
|---|---|
| Saturated fats |
This is found in high fat dairy products, hot dogs, beef, bacon and sausages. If you must indulge in these food types, you need to ensure that it is less than 7% of your daily caloric intake. |
| Trans fats |
These are found in baked products, processes snacks, stick and shortening margarines. These should be avoided at all costs. |
| Cholesterol |
Cholesterol can be found in high fat animal protein and dairy products, shellfish, egg yolks, liver as well as other organ meats. If you must indulge in these foods, ensure they do not constitute of more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol daily. |
| Sodium |
While it is difficult to cut off sodium, it is important to consume not more than 2300 milligrams of it each day. |
Recommended Foods that Lower Blood Sugar
1. Cinnamon
According to studies, half a teaspoon of cinnamon each day makes body cells more sensitive to insulin. This enables the cells convert the insulin into energy.
In this study, diabetics consume cinnamon every day, and one month and one week later it was found that sugar spikes were lowered in those patients, and the health of these individuals greatly improved. Cinnamon can be consumed with anything as a sprinkler.
2. Citrus Fruits
According to studies, diabetic individuals often suffer from low levels of vitamin C. Therefore, including citrus fruits in their diet is an excellent choice. Fruits are low in fats and are rich in vitamin C. Citrus is also rich in dietary fiber and other healthy components.
3. Vinegar
Taking two tablespoons of vinegar before meals can work to lower your blood sugar. This is an ideal treatment for diabetic individuals and non-diabetic ones too. This is tested by the result of a study at Arizona State University. You can also try adding a bit more vinegar in regular cooking if you cannot stand having 2 tablespoons of it altogether.
4. Blueberries
Taking blueberries each day increases your cell’s sensitivity to insulin. This sensitivity ensures that this excess insulin is converted to energy, and this reduces the risk of diabetes development. Blueberries have little natural occurring sugars and are also rich in antioxidants. Blueberries also fight cell damage from free radicals.
5. Spinach, Broccoli and Green Beans
These are foods rich in dietary fibers and are low in carbohydrates. This makes them perfect for diabetic people. They are also ideal for people looking to lower blood sugar levels in an effort to keep diabetes at bay.
6. Salmon and Lean Meats
High protein meats have very little impact on blood sugar levels. However, eating fish and lean meats can help to lower blood sugar. Salmon contains heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids. This is a great dish since most diabetics mostly die from heart attacks or stroke. Lean meat is also a source of chromium, which enables insulin to function efficiently.
7. Bitter Melon
This is a cucumber look alike even though it contains warts. Feeding on bitter lemon increases your body’s glucose tolerance by up to 73%. This makes bitter lemon very suitable for diabetics and non-diabetics. You can either stir-fry it or making broth with it.
8. Garlic and Onions
Garlic and onions have the ability to lower blood sugar levels. As proved by several studies which were published in the Journal of Medicinal Food in 2009, onion extracts had a significant effect on lowering blood sugar levels in diabetic rats. In another study in 2010, diabetic rats were given a garlic extract containing S-allylcysteine and their blood sugar levels dropped to normal.
9. Unsweetened Oatmeal
Unsweetened oatmeal takes longer to digest. This prevents the spiking of blood sugar levels. This also facilitates the slow release of energy for your body. Barley, legumes and lentils are equally powerful as unsweetened oatmeal because of their high fiber contents.