Understanding and Treating Diabetes Naturally Part 2
Diabetes can be well managed by eating appropriate combinations of foods, during the right times during the day.
We learned last time that every time you eat a meal the nutrients are digested and released as glucose into the bloodstream as fuel for the cells. So what you eat and how often you eat can affect your blood sugar. When I teach people about how to eat for diabetes I use a very different method than the conventional methods of diabetes education. I always start with teaching people about eating whole foods and using whole food nutrition. Proteins and good fats are very important components of any diabetes food plan. When we eat these foods our stomach takes more time to digest them and puts glucose into our blood stream at a slower rate. This causes our blood glucose to rise more slowly and blood glucose levels do not go as high as quickly. Proteins and fats do not require as much insulin as carbohydrates so this also helps prevent blood glucose levels from being elevated.
Eating protein and good fat with each meal begins to have a positive impact on lowering blood glucose levels and managing diabetes. Animal proteins need to be baked, broiled or poached. Plant proteins can be eaten raw like nuts and seeds. Beans can be lightly sautéed or boiled. Examples of good fats are found in nuts, avocadoes, and olive oil.
Carbohydrates have to be more closely watched and sometimes restricted. The best carbohydrates to eat are vegetables because they have fiber as well as nutrients. The fiber helps to slow the release of glucose into the blood stream. Fruits have more sugar content than most vegetables so they must be monitored and many be restricted depending on how well you manage your blood sugar. Any grains, breads, pastas, cookies, cakes etc need to be restricted or many avoided to keep blood sugars normal. Once you start changing your diet you will not crave the grains overtime.
Muscle love to pull blood glucose out of the blood to use it as fuel. Resistance training, weight lifting, toning muscles are really important to helping blood sugar continue to be normalized each day.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
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