6 Best and 6 Worst Vegetables For Diabetes
👋 Hey there viewers and welcome back to another blog post. Did you know that almost 10% of the American population is living with diabetes? This makes it one of the worst diseases in the country as well as around the world.
The obvious route for treating diabetes is regular exercise and eating right. Picking the right foods may seem like quite a task, but that's not the case. It's all about knowing which vegetables to eat and which ones to avoid. Foods low in sugar and rich in fibre and complex carbs are the go-to food choices for diabetics. In simple words, a proper meal will balance out your blood sugar. Drop the corn and potatoes and say hello to broccoli and kale. 🥦🍠
Let's talk about vegetables that are awesome for diabetics:
1️⃣ Broccoli:
Let's start by talking about one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet. Broccoli is a superfood for people with diabetes. A wholesome meal is incomplete without greens. Packed with antioxidants, folate, and a host of other vitamins and nutrients, they're beneficial not just for diabetics but for everyone. Eating around one cup of cooked broccoli as a side dish or in a green smoothie helps level out your blood glucose level while also giving you much-needed energy. Being densely packed with fibre, they keep you full for longer and away from unhealthy snacking.
2️⃣ Cabbage:
Obesity is one of the primary causes of diabetes. Filling up on veggies is a great way to manage diabetes as well as promote weight loss. Soluble fibre is one of the several nutrients found in cabbage. It contributes to regulating blood sugar, carb cutting, and loading up on fibre-rich veggies like cabbage, which is a great way of managing erratic post-meal blood glucose spikes. Did you know that antioxidants present in cabbage delay the progression of diabetes while also slowing down the process of cell damage? The next time you're out having lunch, try out a cabbage salad with the lean protein of your choice and stay full until dinner.
3️⃣ Kale:
Kale is the queen of greens. They're packed with vitamin C, fibre, antioxidants, and a range of nutrients. People with irregular blood sugar should have foods high in vitamin C due to their capacity to cure inflammation, which is another major cause of diabetes. The green crinkly leaves of kale have a bitter taste. Adding them to your salad or smoothie will protect your heart and detox the body. Stir up a kale salad, whip them into soup, or stir-fry them with other healthy veggies for a healthy meal.
4️⃣ Carrot:
Did you know diabetics shouldn't eat carrots? This is a misconception. Steering clear of starchy, calorie-dense vegetables is key for a diabetic-friendly meal. Carrot is a non-starchy, nutritious vegetable that ranks low in the glycemic index. Adding a bit of colour to a meal is never a bad idea. When it comes to carrots, you'll also enjoy the long-lasting health benefits. Carotene prevents diabetes from getting worse, while healthy carbs and vitamins protect your eyes and heart. Swap your normal snacks with baby carrots and keep your blood sugar stable.
5️⃣ Cauliflower:
They fall under cruciferous veggies, just like their cousin broccoli and cabbage. With the world shifting towards healthier alternatives, riced cauliflower and cauliflower crust pizza have gained a lot of attention. Along with being an amazing kidney-friendly vegetable, cauliflower is extremely low on carbs and brimming with nutrients like folate, potassium, and vitamins. Enjoying cauliflower lentil curry or any other cauliflower dish ensures a much more stable blood glucose level.
6️⃣ Asparagus:
For the longest time, asparagus has been used for its healing benefits. The nutritional benefits of this exotic vegetable include an improved digestive system, healthy pregnancy, and lowered blood pressure due to their low calorie, high antioxidant potassium, and soluble fibre content. They've found their way into your diabetic-friendly meal. Eating them regularly as a side dish keeps the blood sugar in check by increasing the production of insulin. Easy to make, asparagus is a pocket-friendly and delicious way of keeping a check on blood sugar.
Now let's switch to the vegetables that are bad choices for diabetics:
1️⃣ Potato:
Who doesn't love french fries, mashed potatoes, or wedges? This popular side dish is hearty, wholesome, and delicious. However, everything about potatoes makes them bad for diabetics. This starchy root vegetable, which is packed to the brim with calories and carbs, causes a severe spike in blood sugar levels. These carbs break down into sugar and get released into the bloodstream, causing blood sugar to rise substantially. If not kept in check, these simple meal mistakes can lead to long-term heart problems. To bring these levels back to normal or even as a weight loss measure, potatoes should be cut off or replaced with cruciferous veggies.
2️⃣ Corn:
Having corn on the cob now and then as a side dish or salad adds just the right hint of sweetness and colour to any meal of the day. While non-diabetics can enjoy different corn dishes with a variety of toppings, people with moderate to severe diabetes should avoid eating them altogether. Mainly because corn contains carbs, especially sweet corn, that gets converted into glucose and in turn causes a rise in blood sugar. However, not all is bad; you can still enjoy corn in the form of popcorn without experiencing a rise in glucose. Just stay away from the artificially flavored toppings and too much salt.
3️⃣ Butternut Squash:
Technically a fruit but traditionally served as a vegetable, butternut squash can be described as a cross between a pumpkin and a sweet potato. The flavour adds something great to any dish, but despite being delicious, diabetics should be very careful while eating this squash. Although they have fewer carbs than potatoes, they're still dangerous. Just one cup of diced squash contains as much as 16 grams. This is a huge problem, especially if you're counting calories. When eating in moderation, they provide enough antioxidants to eliminate the harmful free radicals and fill you up with vitamins A and C. A side of roasted butternut squash at about half a cup is great for a diabetic-friendly meal.
4️⃣ Parsnip:
Holiday meals and parsnip go hand in hand. They may seem like carrots' pale relatives, but they're not as good for diabetics. Although they share the common ability to boost serotonin, parsnip is a no-go for a diabetic. This is because just one small cup of parsnip contains 24 grams of carbs and 6 grams of sugar, which causes a sharp rise in blood sugar. Frequent rises in blood sugar without regulation can lead to diabetes, especially for people who are prone to it. It can also cause serious health problems in people who are already living with diabetes. Substituting parsnip with sweet potato or carrots will fill you up with natural nutrients like vitamins, antioxidants, and carotene and keep blood sugar within the normal range.
5️⃣ Pumpkin:
Popping with a bright orange colour and deliciously comforting in taste, pumpkin is the taste for the holiday season. But if you’re dealing with diabetes, it would be wise to avoid this vegetable. Ranking high in the glycemic index, pumpkins are very sweet and cause a sharp spike in blood sugar. It’s packed with unhealthy carbs that quickly get released into the bloodstream and raise blood sugar. Pumpkins are especially beneficial for people dealing with vision impairment, nerve damage, and heart disease. However, despite all of these benefits, they cannot be enjoyed wholeheartedly by people dealing with long-term severe diabetes. Eating pumpkin in a much more controlled manner will keep your blood sugar at normal levels while also fulfilling your cravings.
6️⃣ Vegetable Juice:
A juice cleanse is one of the most popular ways to detox, but it's not for everyone. When it comes to diabetics, vegetable juices are a terrible choice, no matter how healthy they claim to be. The problem is that all vegetables are stripped of their essential soluble fibres, leaving behind a lot of vegetable juice. Drinking this will raise your blood glucose. Vegetable juices have become a quick, trendy way of getting all the nutrients, but they're also high in sugar content, making them a no-go for diabetics.
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📑 Conclusion:
Diabetes is a serious condition that requires lifestyle changes. Eating right and exercising will really help. If left untreated, it can cause serious heart problems and other complications that worsen the situation.
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