BackEat right, prevent diabetes
Just like a bad diet can bring on type 2 diabetes, a good diet can reverse it or even help prevent it
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In a groundbreaking study in 2011 on reversal of type 2 diabetes, researchers at Newcastle University in England put 11 people diagnosed with diabetes within the previous four years through a carefully planned, extreme 600 kcal-a-day diet for eight weeks. The results were startling. After one week, the pre-breakfast blood sugar levels of every participant were normal. Three months after the end of the diet, even though the patients had returned to eating normal (but healthy) food, seven of them had been cured completely.
The study, published in Diabetologia, dramatically reaffirmed the well-known fact that type 2 diabetes can be effectively managed or cured through lifestyle management.
The corollary to this, of course, is that certain foods, when added to your daily diet, can certainly help prevent diabetes. Which still doesn’t mean that you can go on a sugar binge—nothing can replace the benefits that a balanced diet and regular exercise give. These foods give an extra boost to a healthy diet—they have been shown not only to help stabilize blood sugar and prevent diabetes, but if consumed regularly, also help in weight management, reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, help prevent bowel cancers, keep bones and muscles in better shape, and more.
Almonds
Another study, published in 2007 in ‘Metabolism’, concludes that almonds not only lower serum cholesterol levels but also reduce the glycaemic impact (blood sugar-raising capacity) of the carbohydrate foods with which they are eaten.
Add in your diet: The flavour of almonds goes up manifold when they are dry-roasted in the oven. Unsalted roasted almonds can be chopped and added to salads, or eaten as it is for a snack. Almond butter makes a very good sandwich spread. Some of the flour used for cakes can be substituted with almond flour.
Wholegrains
While wholegrains have been proven to prevent diabetes, they lower average blood sugar and insulin levels, and improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels in those who already have type 2 diabetes.
Making a sudden transition from refined foods like white flour to wholegrains can lead to a bloated and uncomfortable feeling, so make it gradual. Even replacing half your daily carbohydrate-intake with wholegrains like oats, brown rice, barley, ‘ragi’ (finger millet) or broken wheat can make a big difference.
Add in your diet: Oat porridge or oat ‘upma’ for breakfast, broken wheat ‘pulao’ or ‘khichdi’ with seasonal vegetables for lunch, ‘ragi’-cinnamon biscuits for a snack, and tomato and barley soup with wholewheat bread for dinner.
Yogurt and cheese
Add in your diet: Yogurt lends itself to many Indian dishes in the form of ‘raita’, curries or with rice. A bowl of ‘dahi’ is part of most Indian ‘thaalis’. Outside of Indian cuisine, you could use yogurt for dips and salad dressings, buttermilk/thinned yogurt for cake and pancake batter, and hung yogurt for desserts such as cheesecakes. It is also one of the foods you can get weaning babies started on. Yogurt paired with seasonal fruit makes an excellent snack for children as well as adults.
Tea
Add in your diet: Have three-four cups of lightly brewed black or green tea, with minimal milk and no sugar, for maximum benefits. You can still have the occasional cup of masala ‘chai’ but not on a regular basis.
Fenugreek
The ‘Diet And Diabetes’ handbook from the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, prescribes 2 tsp of fenugreek seeds a day along with lunch and dinner or 25g of these every day. According to the authors, “Seeds can be taken as such after overnight soaking in water or in powder form mixed with buttermilk 15 minutes before a meal."
Add in your diet: Fenugreek seeds can be soaked, sprouted and added to salads. Soak along with the rice while making ‘idli’ batter, or add to ‘rotis’, ‘dal’ and vegetables. Add 1 tsp of fenugreek seeds to any ‘dal’ and pressure-cook them together. The one drawback is the bitter taste, which can be masked when added to food preparations instead of eating them as it is. One can also make fenugreek tea using the seeds and drink one-two cups a day.
Cinnamon
In a clinical study, ‘Cinnamon Improves Glucose And Lipids of People With Type 2 Diabetes’, published in ‘Diabetes Care’ in 2003, 60 people with type 2 diabetes were divided into groups, and it was observed that the intake of 1g, 3g, or 6g of cinnamon per day reduced serum glucose, triglyceride, LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol.
Add in your diet: Use cinnamon liberally in baking, in masala ‘chai’, sprinkle on hot cocoa or oatmeal porridge for breakfast. Banana slices dusted with cinnamon powder make an excellent healthy dessert. Cinnamon has an inherent sweetness that works on satisfying the sweet tooth just like sugar does, helping to reduce sugar consumption. Try having your coffee with a dash of cinnamon powder instead of sugar.
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