Diabetes has become an epidemic in the recent years with over 400 million people affected worldwide. Diabetes is a physical condition wherein the body is unable to process the carbohydrates completely.
The autoimmune process destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas in type 1 diabetes. The diabetics need to inject insulin during the day to make sure glucose levels are maintained in the body.
Naturally one of the ways to achieve better blood sugar levels is by following a low-carb diet.
Coming to what amount of carbohydrates is ideal for the diabetics is a debatable topic. As per studies conducted, keeping in mind blood sugar levels, weight and other diabetes parameters, the carb when restricted to 20 grams per day is shown to give good results.
The right amount of carb is again dependent on the individual as the response varies. With blood glucose measurement before and after the meal you get a fair idea for intake of carbs.
Instead of completely giving up on carbs, a balanced platter of high-fiber with right nutrients with low carbs like vegetables, berries, nuts,and seeds should work fine for daily meals.
Before going to recipes let’s take a look at what foods would suit best?
[Also Read 5 Healthy and Tasty Diabetes Recipes!!!]
Food to have daily
Anything grown and untouched and processed by human hands can be had.
- Non-starchy vegetables (Most of them)
- Eggs
- Cheese
- Meat
- Poultry
- Seafood
- Avocados
- Olives
- Olive oil & coconut oil.
[Also Read Fruits and Vegetables for Diabetes]
Food to have once in a while
- Berries: 1 cup or less
- Plain, Greek yogurt: 1 cup or less
- Nuts and peanuts: 30-60 grams
- Flaxseeds or chia seeds: 2 tbsp
- Dark chocolate: Less than or equal to 30 grams
- Pumpkin/Spaghetti squash: Equal or less than1 cup
- Liquor: 5 oz or 50 grams
- Dry red or white wine: 4 oz
Food not to consume
Diet high in carbohydrates can raise the blood sugar levels in diabetics.
- Bread/pasta/cereal/corn
- Vegetables high on starch like potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams and taro
- Legumes like peas, lentils,and beans (green peas and snow peas do not fall in this category)
- Whole fat Milk
- Fruit other than berries
- Juice/soda/punch/tea with sugar
- Beer
- Desserts/baked goods/candy ice cream
[Also Read 5 Ways to Avoid Diabetes Complications]
The 5 low-carb recipes are:
In the vegetarian category:
Millet Pulao
Ingredients
- ½ cup foxtail millet
- 1 ½ cups of water
- 1 to 1 ½ tbsp oil
- A bowl of chopped vegetables (carrot/beans/capsicum/peas)
- Mint leaves chopped
- ¼ tbsp of ginger garlic paste
- Jeera
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 green cardamoms
- 4 cloves
- Cinnamon stick
Steps
- Wash and soak the millets in a lot of warm water for one hour
- In the pan, pour the oil and heat it
- Add dry spices and sauté
- Add ginger garlic paste till you get the aroma
- Add the chopped vegetables and mint and fry for few minutes
- Pour the water and add salt as per the taste
- Let the water come to boil
- Drain the water from the millets and add it to boiling water
- Keep the flame medium and let the millet cook fully
- Keep it covered for 7 minutes
Sprouts Roll
Ingredients
- 2 tsp oil
- 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
- ¾ cup finely chopped onions
- 1 ½ cup boiled green gram sprouts
- ½ tsp of turmeric powder
- 1/5 cup finely chopped coriander
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Salt
- 4 rotis made from whole wheat flour
Steps
To make sprouts fry
- Heat the oil in the pan
- Add the onions and sauté it
- Add ginger garlic paste
- Add the sprouts
- Add turmeric powder and chili powder, continue stirring
- Add salt
- Add lemon juice and coriander and keep it aside
To Make Rolls
- Spread the roti
- Spread the required amount of sprouts mixture in the center of the roti
- Roll it up tightly
Here fresh rolls are ready to pack for lunch.
Ragi Dosa
Ingredients (1 cup = 250 ML)
- 1 cup ragi flour
- 1 cup Rava/ semolina / suji
- ½ cup rice flour
- ½ cup curd/yogurt
- 1-inch ginger finely chopped
- 1 green chili finely chopped
- few curry leaves chopped
- 2 tbsp coriander finely chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin/jeera
- ½ tsp pepper crushed
- 1 tsp salt
- 3½ cup water
- oil for roasting
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add 1 cup ragi flour, 1 cup Rava, ½ cup rice flour.
- Add ½ cup curd, 1-inch ginger, 1 green chili, few curry leaves, chopped coriander, 1 onion, 1 tsp cumin, ½ tsp pepper, and 1 tsp salt.
- Add 1 to 2 cup water to make batter such that there are no lumps
- Rest the batter for 15-20 minutes.
- Add water as required and prepare a flowing consistency batter
- Pour the dosa batter over hot tawa
- Sprinkle ½ or 1 tsp of oil on tawa.
- As the dosa roasts to a golden brown, turn it over and cook.
- Finally, fold the dosa and serve instant ragi dosa with mint chutney.
Sprouted Grams Porridge
You can either make it at home or go for a ready-made available from Manna. A mix which contains the powder of various sprouted grains.
Steps to make Porridge
- It can be had it any of the following ways
- Mix half cup of milk with a half cup of water
- Boil for a while
- Add 2 tbsp of hurittu and stir continuously,so there are no lumps in it
- Add salt to your taste
Note: Instead of milk you can use buttermilk also,but this does not involve boiling.
This can make a healthy and quick breakfast option to suit you.
Barley Soup
Ingredients
- ½ cup barley, soak for a couple of hours
- 1 small carrot,
- 5-6 cloves of garlic
- 2 medium-sized tomato, pureed
- a piece of ginger, grated
- salt to taste
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 2 cups of water
- ½ tsp roasted cumin powder
- ½ tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- cilantro to garnish
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Wash and soak barley fora few hours.
- In a pressure cooker, pour 1 tbsp oil. After a fewseconds and add jeera/cumin and let it splutter.
- Add grated ginger and garlic.
- Saute till the raw aroma is gone and add carrots and barley.
- After a few minutes add tomato puree to it.
- Let it cook until tomato is cooked. Add salt, red chili powder, paprika and mix well.
- Add water and cook until the barley pearls are soft. After opening the pressure cooker, let it simmer for additional few minutes. Sprinkle cumin powder and check salt at this time. Garnish it with cilantro.
So here you are with hot soup on a rainy day. Just right for your taste buds and friendly to your body too.
All our body types are different and unique. Knowing how our body responds to food with little trial and error, we certainly can make the right choices and make peace with ourselves. Choose Ayurveda along with your regular food. Sugar Knocker brings you the most natural products that are completely herbal and you can place your trust upon.
[Also Read 11 Natural Herbs that can help to Regulate Sugar Levels Naturally]
