A significant glucose content in the human body is not always a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Nevertheless, this circumstance is a reason to think about changing your lifestyle, as the likelihood of developing insidious diabetes increases.
Blood sugar is the end result of the breakdown of carbohydrates that enter the human body through food consumption. That is why, with type 2 diabetes, it is necessary to carefully monitor the calorie content of food, and take into account the content of simple carbohydrates.
In this regard, you need to stop eating foods that increase blood sugar. In addition, it is necessary to introduce regular exercise into your life, as a result of which sugar reduction is carried out. To lower blood sugar, you need to focus on the glycemic index, which shows the sugar level in food.
Need to figure out how to lower blood sugar with foods, as well as find out what foods lower blood sugar? And what to do if sugar rises during pregnancy?
General principles of nutrition
The second type of diabetes involves a certain change in lifestyle, in particular, the correction of their diet. Therefore, before you know which foods lower sugar in the human body, you need to consider the general principles.
As mentioned above, each food product has its own glycemic index, based on which all products can be divided into certain groups.
The first group includes products with a high glycemic index (more than 50): sweet dishes, chocolate, sweets, pastry baked goods. In addition, this group includes all fatty meats, alcoholic beverages and sweet fruits, cereals (with the exception of buckwheat), carbonated drinks and natural honey.
The second group includes products with a glycemic index of 40-50: buckwheat, barley, fresh juice, pasta, bread, berries, some fruits and red wine. The third group includes foods with a low glycemic index: fruits, raw vegetables, chicken, low-fat dairy products, dry fruits and seafood.
If the patient has high blood sugar, then all products that are included in the first group must be discarded. Speaking of the average index, such products are consumed no more than 3 times in one week. However, in order for sugar to begin to decrease after a meal , you need to eat only foods with a low index, since they lower blood sugar.
The following recommendations must also be followed:
- Maintain fluid balance, and drink at least two liters of ordinary clean water per day.
- Optimal physical activity is the second key to rapidly lowering glucose in the human body.
- Body weight control.
- Eat Jerusalem artichoke, excluding potatoes from the diet.
- Stop drinking coffee by replacing it with chicory.
It is worth noting that products that lower blood sugar may not cope with the task if the patient does not follow the daily regimen, eats “anyhow”, does not control his weight, and so on.
Treatment of diabetes mellitus is a complex task that not only lowers blood sugar, but also maintains the patient’s normal well-being, and also prevents the development of serious complications.
Foods that lower blood sugar
The leader in dietary nutrition is seafood, which helps lower blood sugar. It is also important that they practically do not contain carbohydrates, which have a direct effect on glucose in the human body. By enriching your diet with seafood, you can no longer worry about a lack of protein.
Shrimp, mussels, squid and other foods also prevent the development of stomach cancer. In addition, due to its nutritious, but low-calorie composition, seafood helps to normalize the patient’s body weight.
Fresh vegetables, greens (parsley, celery, dill) practically do not contain sugar, have a low glycemic index, are enriched with vegetable fiber, and have slow carbohydrates. All this together leads to the fact that they can reduce blood sugar levels by normalizing it at the required level.
Foods that lower blood sugar levels:
- Oatmeal. Even a child knows about the benefits of oatmeal for the body. And this cereal is indispensable in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, since due to its soluble fiber, it affects blood glucose, lowering it.
- Nut products can help lower blood sugar in diabetes. They contain a considerable amount of protein, fat and healthy fiber. However, it is worth remembering that they are high in calories, so it is recommended to eat no more than 50 grams per day.
- Cinnamon is not only an aromatic spice, thanks to which food becomes rich in taste, but also an indispensable product for any type of disease. By consuming half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day, you will notice that the high sugar gradually decreases.
- Avocado is a product that reduces blood glucose, as well as a fruit that strengthens the human immune system, increases the body’s barrier functions.
The above list can be supplemented with sweet peppers, radishes, tomatoes, eggplants and beets, oranges and grapefruits, which reduce high blood sugar and have a beneficial effect on the entire body as a whole, saturating it with useful minerals and vitamins.
Along with diabetes mellitus, patients often have high cholesterol, which threatens no less serious complications if the situation is ignored. Therefore, adhering to the diet, it is necessary to list the cholesterol-lowering foods:
- Greens – dill, parsley, basil.
- Orange, tangerine, apple.
- Prunes, raisins.
- Low-calorie dairy products.
- Lean fish.
As the table above shows, many positions are intertwined with permitted foods for diabetes mellitus, so it will not be difficult to draw up a correct and balanced diet.
Blood sugar during pregnancy
Pregnancy is the most wonderful time in the life of any woman. However, this period can be complicated by a problem called pregnancy diabetes. This is due to the hormone progesterone, which increases the concentration of sugar in the blood.
And high sugar during pregnancy is only one of the problems, since if the situation is ignored, it can lead to a severe pregnancy, and accordingly, the threat to the development of the child is not excluded.
If a woman who is carrying a child has sugar less than 3.3 mmol / l, then this is low sugar; from 3.3 to 5.5 – normal blood glucose levels, and if the analysis shows an indicator higher than 5.5 – this is a suspicion of diabetes mellitus.
In this regard, if a high glucose concentration is recorded in the expectant mother, a special health-improving diet is recommended for her, consisting of food products that quickly lower blood glucose levels.
The following foods must be excluded from the diet:
- Potatoes and other starchy vegetables.
- Flour dishes.
- Confectionery.
- Sweet foods.
- Carbonated drinks.
It is these foods that can increase blood sugar, which can threaten with serious consequences for the unborn child. For example, with a persistent increase in glucose, the likelihood of hypoxia and delay in the development of the baby increases.
As for the permitted food products, they were listed in the article, therefore it is recommended to enrich your menu with them, while not forgetting about the calorie content: it should not be higher than 30 kilocalories per kilogram of weight.
In conclusion, it should be said that adherence to dietary rules allows you to maintain a stable and normal blood sugar level, improves well-being, and also prevents the development of serious complications.