Dealing With Diabetes

Nobody wants to spend their hard-earned penny on a doctor’s fee and hence precaution is better than cure.

Once your fasting blood sugar is above 120 mg/dl, you start to worry that you may be prediabetic. In your effort to curb your situation, you keep thanking God that the chances of your blood sugar going too high don't seem too bad despite giving in to the temptations of Mithais. For a few days, you refrain from eating sugar, chocolates, and ice cream. Eventually, you get back into the craving cycle when the enthusiasm wanes. When you next try to check your fasting sugar, it's above 130mg/dl. You're not expecting it at all. This leads you to wonder what steps you should take next. Perhaps a few days of precautions will not suffice to reverse this beast. The time for action has come.

It might happen with anyone and before it becomes severe, it must be treated. Nobody wants to spend their hard-earned penny on a doctor’s fee and hence precaution is better than cure. If you are also struggling with the same situation, here are few important tips that can help you in the long run.

1. Pull up the protein on plate - In addition to providing us with satiety (feeling of fullness), protein-rich foods like dal, paneer, curd, egg, chicken, fish, and nuts contribute to lowering blood sugar levels. ( The Glycemic load of a meal measures the quality and quantity of carbohydrates in the meal). As a result, food digests slower due to the protein content, and it does not turn into sugar as quickly as it does in other foods. This reduces the risk of blood glucose fluctuations. A protein should be consumed one at a time as it makes the protein easy to digest and prevents acidity. So, it is recommended to avoid consuming pulses (dal) and curd at the same time. Curd should be served with vegetables and chapatti only, and not with another protein.

2. Don’t fight with fat - Being diabetic does not mean you should avoid fat and oil altogether. We need fats to feel full, which is vitally important to our brain. Fats make our food taste delicious as well as increase our satiety. Using healthy fats such as virgin olive, mustard, canola, groundnut, rice bran, and ghee should be incorporated into our diet in moderation. We should strive to maintain a healthy balance between omega-3 and omega-6 oils each day by using different oils during the day. As an example, when preparing your salad you can drizzle olive oil over it, cook your dried vegetables like okra (bhindi) in mustard oil, and spice your dal with ghee.

3. Fruits can be taken - The fruit should be consumed in moderation, like eating a medium apple or a pear or 200g papaya at a time. Juices and fruit that contain sugar should not be consumed by diabetics.

4. Water is essential - We often forget that water is our most important nutrient. To have a healthy metabolism and to rid the body of toxins, we need to understand that our bodies require water. Be sure not to mistake thirst for hunger. Dehydration is visible in your urine color. You should drink more water if it is darker because you've had less water. Diabetes patients with kidney issues should seek advice from their doctors about water consumption.

Diabetes can be beaten with ease. Exercise (physical and breathing exercises) and a better diet can easily reverse diabetes. Diabetes or insulin resistance is not to be panicked over; instead, try to take positive steps to be able to control the disease as well as prevent yourself from losing your life to its effects.