Diabetes Patients – Foods to Eat and Avoid

The general concern while monitoring and controlling diabetes is to see that the sugar level does not exceed the normal range. This means that one need to cut down certain types of food and consume that food regularly, which are good at regulating diabetes. People with diabetes should try to maintain a healthy weight and eat a diet that is

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  Low in fat
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  Low in sugar
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  Low in salt
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  High in fruit and vegetables
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  High in starchy carbohydrate foods, such as bread, chapatti, rice.

What Foods to Eat?

A diabetic patient must eat lots of fruits and vegetables in which fibre content is very high. Such type of food lowers the requirement for insulin, the reason being it releases energy into the body cells slowly. A high fibre diet means more chromium, which is very helpful in the treatment of diabetes. As for vegetables, onion, garlic, ginger, radish, spinach, cucumber, carrot, tomato, cabbages are excellent in the treatment of diabetes. For fruits, take guava, blackberry (jamun), apples, citrus fruits and pomegranate juice. Let these things be a part of your morning breakfast. Since, fruit juice is high in fructose (fruit sugar) and can cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly, it's best for diabetics to drink fruit juice with a meal and avoid having more than one small glass a day and also

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  Replace white sugar with palm sugar, dates and honey, if you want to have something sweet.
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  Unpolished rice, sprouted grain should be taken in moderate quantity.
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  Fats like olive oil and peanut oil are good in diabetes.
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  Drink plenty of water, at least 8 to 10 glasses per day.
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  Raw vegetables need to be taken in large quantity, as cooked food raises the level of blood sugar fast.
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  Eat non-fat dairy such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese, plain yogurt, avoid cottage cheese as it is high in carbohydrates.

What to Avoid?

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  Processed foods, white sugar, white flour and junk food, must be totally given up. Avoid sweets, glucose, fruit sugar, cakes, ice cream, chocolates, soft drinks, cream and fried foods.
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  Anything that contains harmful preservatives and too much salt should be avoided.
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  Avoid smoking and alcohol.
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  Try and abstain from sweets, ice-creams and chocolates, including the so-called sugar-free types.
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  Avoid concentrated dairy products, such as khoya, kheer, cheese, cottage cheese.
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  Fruits such as bananas, mango, grapes, strawberry, custard apple, date.
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  Avoid commercially packaged foods such as fast foods, chips, ready-to-eat foods, snack foods and "health foods."
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  Fruit juices, as these are much higher in carbohydrates than fresh fruit. Moreover, they also lack in dietary fibre.