How to Eat Healthy When You Have Diabetes?

If you think that it is just medication that can help you fight through diabetes, it’s time for a little eye-opener. Diabetes has very little to do with artificial medicines and a LOT to do with your lifestyle. This means, working out regularly, eating right and other healthier choices can help you with diabetes considerably. Today, my prime concern will be to efficiently introduce the concept of eating right in your lifestyle.

Lately, eating right has been wrongly associated with reducing carbohydrates to nil, weight loss, and even sometimes starving. This is not at all correct. In fact, eating right is a very personalized concept, varies for different individuals, depending upon their needs and medical history. For instance, a sportsman’s calorie requirement will be much more than that of a regular office-goer.

For all the diabetics, here are some tips to introduce healthy eating habits in your daily life:

1) Consume healthier carbohydrates

All carbs are not the same, thus it is wise to not group them under the same head. The human body has a certain requirement of carbohydrates that is essential for the functioning of your body. Satisfy the need with the healthier options available, instead of the unhealthy ones.

Healthier sources of carbohydrates include whole grains, fruits, veggies, pulses, and dairy. Karela is a good option to include in your diet as it benefits you immensely with your diabetes. Also, Karela has many health benefits too to make sure of a healthier lifestyle. On the contrary, the following are on the list of unhealthy carbs: white rice, white bread, and highly processed cereals. The idea is to also cut down foods low in fibre.

2) Reduce salt intake

The reason why I emphasize eating less salt in almost all of my content-pieces is that it is directly related to increasing the risk of high blood pressure, which would, in turn, advance the risk of heart diseases and strokes.

Now since you are diabetic, you already are at higher risk than others. If you ask me, how much salt you must reduce – my answer would be: limit yourself to a teaspoonful of salt a day, that is 6 grams. There are multiple ways via which you can employ this. For instance, try to cook raw instead of pre-packaged foods, because they consist of high levels of salt.

3) Avoid red and processed meat

If you are a vegan, this point is not applicable to you. For the meat lover, cutting down on carbs does not mean you can fill yourself up with red and processed meat.

This can increase the risks of heart problems and even cancer. While reducing the intake of red meat to nil might be difficult, you can certainly start small and replace it with foods like pulses, eggs, poultry, and unsalted nuts.

4) Eat fruits and veggies

Fruits give your body the required minerals, vitamins, glucose and fiber that it needs, regularly. Don’t worry, I haven’t yet forgotten that you are bitten by the diabetic bug and that fruits consist of sugar. However, I still stand by my statement: You shouldn’t avoid fruits because they are sugary.

Fruits are good for everyone, even if you have diabetes. So here’s the thing: they certainly consist of sugar, but it is natural sugar. The idea is to reduce free sugars found in cakes, chocolates, sweets, etc., not the natural sugar found in fruits.

Remember, drinking processed, packaged fruit juices can’t replace the fruits. In fact, they are harmful as they consist of innumerable amounts of free sugar.

5. Pick healthier fats over saturated fats

All of our bodies need fats and just like carbohydrates, it is better to fill the required quota with healthier options rather than the unhealthier ones.

Healthier ones consist of unsalted nuts, seeds, avocados, oily fish and olive oil. These will replace the unhealthy fats in your daily diet like ghee, butter, lard, and red and processed meats. The thing is, saturated fats increase cholesterol in your blood, increasing the risk of heart diseases.

Wrapping up!

Now that we have reached the end of this content-piece, I am sure you must have observed these suggested tips are not as difficult as we thought it to be. In fact, it was just about making smarter food choices.

When you begin, you will find it a bit difficult due to the habit. But with time, when you see the changes and observe your healthier self, you wouldn’t want to go back to your older lifestyle. Lastly, apart from making smart food choices, never miss out on your daily exercise schedule. Healthy food choice combined with lifestyle changes will only make things better!