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Diabetes diet: Here's what an Ayurveda expert wants you to note

Diabetes diet: Here's what an Ayurveda expert wants you to note
Eat this, not that, if you are a diabetic © Shutterstock

Are you a diabetic? There are many misconceptions about diet for diabetes. We get an Ayurveda expert to help you with important insights.

Written by Upneet Pansare |Published : October 26, 2018 10:13 AM IST

When it comes to diabetes diet, there are certain things that you must keep in mind to keep the condition under control. Wrong eating habits over prolonged periods of time can damage the pancreatic function. "Two important points are when do you eat and how often do you eat," says Dr Nisha Manikantan, senior Ayurveda expert with The Art of Living's Sri Sri Tattva. Today irregular snacking is very common. But in Ayurveda, Dwikal Bhojanam-meals at two times, at most, three times is recommended for anybody in the pre-diabetic stage. You can have something light like buttermilk or tender coconut water between meals. When you eat too many times, the body secrets a lot more insulin and then there is insulin resistance. Your body cannot utilize it.

-Eat at least three meals a day, along with one or two snacks evenly spaced out throughout the day.

- As far as possible, have each meal/snack at about the same time every day.

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- Avoid skipping your meals.

- Keep about the same amount of carbohydrate intake in each meal every day.

Avoid foods that have a high glycemic index. Basically, a diet which has normal good carbohydrates and proteins and a lot of greens is recommended. Ayurveda allows fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Allowing all the fruits and vegetables in the diet is quite unlike prescriptions in other schools of medicine which do not allow certain type of fruits and vegetables in the diet. There are certain fruits which are really good for diabetes like berries, pomegranates. Have karela jamun (bitter guard and Indian blackberry) juice to regulate sugar. Amla triggers insulin secretion. There are certain fruits that can immediately cause an insulin spike but in the long term, they do no harm. So for example, we allow one apple a day. Even fruits like mangoes and bananas that have high glycemic index are recommended in limited quantities. If there are too many restrictions on food that adds to the stress which further worsens diabetes. So you don't have to avoid anything, but you keep it to very limited quantities.