Diabetic patients should keep their mouths shut! 10 sugar-control ingredients revealed, eat these sticks to improve blood sugar

As the saying goes, "food is the first necessity of the people" and "eating is the most important thing in life", daily diet plays the most important role in life. For diabetics, abstaining from certain foods is a very painful thing. In the face of increasingly accelerated aging of blood vessels, the dietary principles for diabetics are actually the same as "balanced diet" for normal people.

Cheng Hanyu, a home care nutritionist and private family nutritionist from the Taipei Nutritionist Association, said that the diet of diabetic patients can be adjusted according to their own preferences. As long as they follow the principle of a balanced diet and utilize a combination of various foods, their daily diet can also be diverse and varied. It is recommended to choose whole natural foods as much as possible rather than highly processed foods, especially to consume more non-starchy vegetables and minimize added sugar and refined grains.

Lower Carbohydrate Priority

For patients who have just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, Cheng Hanyu emphasized that they can start by reducing total carbohydrates. Ideal carbohydrates should be rich in dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals, and low in added sugar, fat and sodium.

According to research, reducing the total carbohydrate intake of diabetic patients has been proven to be the most effective way to improve blood sugar. In the short term, a low-carbohydrate diet is also the preferred method to help diabetic patients achieve their blood sugar goals.

According to the "American Diabetes Association's 2020 Standards of Medical Care for Diabetes", carbohydrates are the most easily used source of calories by the body and have the greatest impact on post-meal blood sugar fluctuations.

Cheng Hanyu explained that carbohydrate-containing foods have different proportions of sugar, starch and fiber, which have a wide range of effects on blood sugar response. They may cause blood sugar concentrations to continue to rise or slowly fall, or even cause blood sugar to rise rapidly and then fall rapidly.

Mediterranean diet, effective long-term blood sugar control

However, like other chronic diseases, diabetes cannot be cured, so diabetics must learn to live peacefully with diabetes. Cheng Hanyu pointed out that according to long-term follow-up studies, a Mediterranean diet consisting of vegetables, whole grains, fish, and rich in olive oil and nuts can effectively lower blood sugar and prevent diabetes, thereby reducing the use of drug treatment and the incidence of cardiovascular disease.

In the past, it was believed that people with diabetes should adopt a low-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. However, a randomized controlled trial found that obese adults with type 2 diabetes were randomly divided into a "calorie-restricted Mediterranean diet group" and a "calorie-restricted low-fat, low-carbohydrate diet group". The results showed that the fasting blood sugar level in the Mediterranean diet group was lower than that in the low-fat, low-carbohydrate diet group.

Cheng Hanyu reminds that to control blood sugar, one should drink more water as possible and avoid alcohol and sugary drinks; if using sweeteners to reduce total calorie and carbohydrate intake, one should avoid a compensatory mentality to avoid eating extra food and extra calories.

Top 10 foods to control sugar

Cheng Hanyu provides 10 kinds of good foods for controlling blood sugar, which can help improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood sugar spikes. He also designs simple and quick meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner to help prevent diabetes.

1. Nuts

Nutritional effects: Magnesium and monounsaturated fatty acids can lower fasting blood sugar, triglycerides, blood pressure and weight in diabetic patients, and increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Recommended amount: 30 grams per day.

| Cuisine: Breakfast - Fruit Yogurt.

| Ingredients: 150ml sugar-free yogurt, 5 cashews, 3 macadamia nuts, 50g berries or other fruits

|Method: Sprinkle cashews, macadamia nuts, raisins and fruits on sugar-free yogurt. .

2. Garlic

Nutritional effects: Organic sulfur compounds, quercetin and flavonoids can lower blood sugar and blood lipids, improve fasting blood sugar, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and enhance the action of glucose transporters and insulin.

｜Recommended dosage: 2 capsules per day.

| Dishes: Breakfast - Garlic Cheese Sandwich Ingredients: 1 slice of toast, 1 tablespoon of ricotta cheese, 1 spinach, 6 cloves of garlic, some olive oil, some black pepper, and some salt.

｜Method:

1. Add olive oil to the pan, add garlic and spinach, stir-fry, add salt and black pepper.

2. Bake the bread until golden brown.

3. Cut the toast in half, put cheese, spinach and garlic on one slice, and cover with the other slice of toast.

3. Ginseng

Nutritional effects: Triterpenoid saponins can increase fasting serum insulin and insulin sensitivity, lower fasting blood sugar, enhance glucose metabolism, and reduce insulin resistance.

｜Recommended amount: Eat as a side dish.

| Cuisine: Breakfast - Ginseng and Yam Chicken Soup

|Ingredients: 200g peeled and cut Japanese yam, 1 chicken leg, 5 red dates, 2 slices of ginger, appropriate amount of ginseng root, appropriate amount of salt, appropriate amount of water.

｜Method:

1. Bring water to a boil, blanch the chicken thighs to remove the blood, remove from the pot, rinse with cold water, wash and set aside.

2. Put cold water, chicken thighs, ginger slices, red dates, ginseng roots, and yam into the pot, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Add salt to taste.

4. Salmon

Nutritional benefits: Omega-3 fatty acids, EPA, and DHA can improve glucose tolerance, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, lower triglycerides, and prevent diabetes.

｜Recommended amount: 70 grams per day.

| Cuisine: Lunch - salmon skewers with avocado

|Ingredients: 200g skinless salmon steak, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 20ml lemon juice, 3ml honey, appropriate amount of salt, appropriate amount of pepper, 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds.

｜Method:

1. Cut the salmon lengthwise into long strips.

2. To make the marinade, put the olive oil, lemon juice and honey in a bowl, add salt and pepper and mix well.

3. Place salmon in marinade and let sit.

4. Skewer the salmon and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

5. Place a frying pan on the gas stove, heat over high heat and add the salmon skewers. Fry for 3 minutes on each side, then remove from heat and serve with avocado dip.

| Ingredients for the dipping sauce: half an avocado (about 140g), 8ml fresh lemon juice, 1 clove of garlic, appropriate amount of chili powder, appropriate amount of salt, appropriate amount of black pepper.

｜Dipping sauce method:

1. Remove the avocado flesh and cut into pieces.

2. Place avocado cubes and other ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

5. Cauliflower

Nutritional ingredients: Sulforaphane, enhances the total antioxidant capacity of serum insulin and insulin resistance, lowers triglycerides, reduces lipid peroxidation, and prevents diabetes and vascular complications.

｜Recommended amount: 150 grams per day.

| Food: Lunch - roasted cauliflower.

|Ingredients: 150g cauliflower, appropriate amount of salt, appropriate amount of olive oil, appropriate amount of black pepper.

｜Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.

2. Wash the cauliflower, cut into small florets and drain completely.

3. Place the cauliflower on the baking tray, making sure they do not overlap. Drizzle a little olive oil evenly on them, sprinkle some salt and black pepper, and bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. The surface of the cauliflower will have slightly caramelized brown marks.

6. Soybeans

Nutritional effects: α-linolenic acid (ALA) can enhance pancreatic cell division, promote insulin secretion, maintain serum insulin stability, and prevent diabetes and vascular complications.

｜Recommended amount: half a box to one box of tofu per day.

| Cuisine: Dinner - Tofu and sesame soup

|Ingredients: half a box of tofu, some green onions, 15g white sesame seeds, some salt and black pepper, 500ml chicken broth.

｜Method:

1. Boil tofu, white sesame seeds and chicken broth and blend in a food processor.

2. Add salt, green onions and black pepper to finish.

7. Bitter Melon

Nutritional effects: Pumpkin triterpenes, momordica charantia and other polypeptide-p increase insulin sensitivity, inhibit α-glucose activity, reduce fasting blood sugar and 2-hour postprandial blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, as well as lower total cholesterol, and prevent retinopathy and complications of myocardial infarction.

｜Recommended amount: 1 piece per week.

｜Cooking: Dinner-Okinawa Mountain Bitter Melon

|Ingredients: 1 bitter melon, 1 egg, 100 grams of pork slices, 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce, appropriate amount of rice wine, appropriate amount of sugar, appropriate amount of bonito flakes, a little salt, appropriate amount of olive oil.

｜Method:

1. Wash the melon, cut it in half and remove the seeds. Use a spoon to scrape the white part and cut it into slices about 0.3 cm thick.

2. Bring a pot of boiling water and add bitter gourd. Remove from the water after about 1 minute and set aside.

3. Heat the pan and fry the meat slices.

4. Add bitter melon and seasonings and stir well.

5. Pour the egg liquid over, mix well and add the dried bonito flakes.

8. Cinnamon

Nutritional effects: Cinnamaldehyde and proanthocyanidins increase glucose uptake and insulin secretion, lower fasting blood sugar, glycosylated hemoglobin, as well as triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and total cholesterol.

｜Recommended amount: Use as a spice.

| Dishes: Dinner - Banana oatmeal cinnamon soup.

|Ingredients: half a banana, 1/3 cup of oats, 5 grams of raisins, 500 ml of milk, a little cinnamon powder, and appropriate amount of salt.

｜Method:

1. Steam the oatmeal granules and set aside.

2. Peel the banana, cut it into sections and put it into a pot with milk and oatmeal to cook.

3. Add raisins, cinnamon and salt to season.

9. Olive Oil

Nutritional effects: Monounsaturated fatty acids can lower fasting blood sugar, triglycerides, blood pressure and weight in diabetic patients, and increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

｜Recommended amount: 20 to 50 grams per day, as cooking oil.

10. Ginger

Nutritional effects: Ginger oil, gingerol, and shogaol increase insulin secretion, lower blood sugar, glycosylated hemoglobin HbA1c and insulin resistance, improve total antioxidant capacity, and lower triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

｜Effects: Lowers blood sugar.

｜Recommended amount: Use as an ingredient.

This article is excerpted from Changchun Monthly Issue 447

This article is authorized by Changchun Monthly. Reprinting without permission is prohibited.

※This article is authorized by Changchun Monthly. Reprinting without permission is prohibited. Click here to view the original article

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