Nearly 24 million Americans have diabetes. Another 70-80 million have pre-diabetes. And there are 50% more people with diabetes today then there were just 10 years ago. These statistics are alarming, but YOU don’t have to be a statistic.
That’s because your lifestyle – your dietary choices, physical activity and habits – play the biggest role in your risk for diabetes. In fact, many people are able to get off their medications and even reverse type-2 diabetes with diet and exercise.
You can get your blood sugar in balance, manage your diabetes, and stave off complications while enjoying a delicious diabetes-beating diet.
But what kind of diet can prevent or reverse diabetes?
A diet that is low glycemic and low in sugar to keep blood glucose and insulin levels stable, provides healthy protein to stoke your metabolism and burn fat, is packed with B vitamins that protect the heart and fight inflammation, high in magnesium to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation, rich in anti-inflammatory fats and low in those that promote inflammation, and free of hormones, pesticides and toxins that disrupt your body’s delicate hormonal balance.
Here are the specific criteria that make a recipe a “Diabetes Recipe” at Healing Gourmet:
- LOW IN SUGAR: Contains less than 10 grams sugar per serving
- CARB CONTROLLED: Contains less than 30 grams of carbohydrate per serving, ideally with a high ratio of fiber to keep you full and slow the digestion of carbs
- METABOLISM-BOOSTING MAGNESIUM: Provides a good source of magnesium
- PROTEIN: Provides at least 5 grams of protein to stoke metabolism
- HEALTHY FATS: Provides a rich source of any of the following blood-sugar balancing and anti-inflammatory fats:
- EPA/DHA omega-3
- ALA omega-3
- MUFA (5 grams/serving)
- BALANCING “Bs”: Provides an excellent source of any of these nutrients:
- Folate
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin B6
- FREE OF HORMONES, PESTICIDES & TOXINS: All recipes at Healing Gourmet are free from the endocrine-disrupting toxins found in our conventional food supply. This means no BPA, PCBs, dioxins, rBST, PFCs, pesticides, antibiotics, artificial sweeteners, harmful additives or preservatives.
When you submit a recipe that meets these criteria, your healthy creation will appear in Diabetes Recipes, helping others enjoy a healthy, diabetes-fighting diet.
It is also vital that you engage in regular vigorous exercise, optimize your vitamin D levels (ideally obtained from sun exposure), get restful sleep and achieve or maintain a healthy weight to prevent or reverse diabetes.
To learn more about a diabetes diet and how you can balance your blood sugar, stave off complications and enjoy a diabetes-fighting meal plan, go here.