Learn Foods That Control Diabetes

You may have heard that diet and exercise is beneficial in helping to manage your diabetes. This is most certainly true and even more so when you at the best foods for controlling your diabetes.

It has been established that sugar intake in and of itself does not the cause of diabetes, however it will aggravate the situation. Obesity is a common cause of diabetes. The fact is that some foods are not sweet at all turn into pure sugar. These are carbohydrates and if you are a diabetic, you should limit your intake of these, particularly the ones high on the glycemic index.

The Glycemic index is a way of measuring how fast a food is metabolized in your body. The range is 1-100 and the higher the number the faster the food turns to sugar in your body. This is a simple way of monitoring your carbohydrate intake.

Using the index as a guide is a great way to combat diabetes. Foods that control diabetes in this category are: Beans, Lentils, Whole grain bread, Brown rice, Sweet potatoes, and Some dairy products. There is a good variety of tasty foods that control diabetes by lowering the amount of sugar or glucose in your system. You can use this list as a base to build your diet from.

The less processing a food undergoes the better it is for you. Take for example fresh fruit or vegetables compared to juices. The whole food will be lower on the index than the juices. While you do not have to be a vegetarian, it can help reduce other problems associated with diabetes. Cardiovascular problems are common with diabetes and eliminating all animal products will greatly reduce cholesterol and other health problems from them.

The other thing to watch out for are foods with high levels of saturated and trans fats. These can cause heart disease and other complications and should be avoided at all cost.

There are some great vegetables to eat low on the index including: chili, peppers, carrots, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower. One rule of thumb you can use to pick the healthiest vegetables is that the darker the color the better the vegetable.