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May 13, 2024 By Megha Mahajan 1 Comment

10 Dietary Changes That Can Help Manage Diabetes

manage diabetesDiabetes – the one word that makes your mind wander in so many directions! You find yourself asking questions like: Will this last for ever? Will I ever get better? How can I manage my diabetes? Well, these are smart questions that anyone should ask. And, yes, you can and will get better! You just need to make a few tweaks in your lifestyle and you should be fine.

While it may seem like an insurmountable hurdle or a wall that cannot be breached, there are thousands of diabetics with good testimonies. Aged people who have lived with diabetes so much so that they sometimes forget that they have diabetes. How can this be your testimony? Well, the pointers below show some of the things you can do to kickstart your own journey to overcome diabetes.

Of course it’s not going to be easy to let go of all your favorite meals. But, no one is saying you have to get rid of them all at once. You’ve just got to be smart about it. Do not make diabetes “complex”,  make eating “complex” to keep diabetes “simple”. Just as in everything else, a lot of effort has to go into your overall lifestyle if you are to conquer diabetes. Just be conscious and you’ll make headway. To eliminate diabetes, take a step towards improving your eating habits and you’ll feel a lot better generally.

Some Dietary Changes To Help You Manage Diabetes

1. Eat Complex To Live Simple: Eating complex doesn’t mean you have to stop eating everything. It simply means you have to make your carbs complex over simple ones, as these are the best type of carbohydrates for diabetics. Complex carbohydrates digest slowly and maintain steady glucose levels in the body.

2. Make fiber an important part of your diet: Fiber refers to plant-based food that slows down the breaking of carbohydrates and keeps you full for longer periods of time. Yes, fiber can go a long way in improving your situation. You don’t have to go over and under in search of fiber rich foods. You can get your fiber fix by following these simple tips:

  • Do not sieve the flour
  • Eat whole fruits over a glass of juice
  • Choose whole grains and whole pulses
  • Eat more vegetables
  • Do not peel the edible portion of the fruit for example – apple, guava, pear, peaches
  • Make soups and salads your best friends

3. Choose healthier versions of your favorite food

Instead of these Choose these
White bread Brown bread
Normal roti Bran roti/multigrain roti
Meat Fish
Normal rice/parboiled rice Brown rice
Sugary or flavored cornflakes Plain cornflakes/oats
Sugar Jaggery/honey
Mayonnaise veg sandwich Hungcurd vegetable sandwich
Normal chocolate Dark chocolate
Creamy cheesy dip Salsa dip
Whole milk Skimmed milk
Salted nuts Unsalted nuts
Soda Salted fresh lime
Potato sticks Raw veggie sticks
Fried chicken Grilled chicken
White pasta Whole wheat pasta
Fruit juices Whole fruits

It surely can be very difficult to do away with all your favorite meals. Instead of doing away totally, you can instead opt for close alternatives as shown above. Choose the healthier version of your favorite meals and you’ll thank yourself for it.

4. Say “NEVER AGAIN” to Trans-fat: Trans-fat is basically obtained chemically by the hydrogenation of oils. It will make your condition worse! To avoid trans-fats, avoid chips, cookies, pastries and margarine. Incorporate healthy fats by following these simple methods:

  • Introduce olive oil or rice bran over butter or ghee
  • Remove the skin from chicken before cooking it
  • Prefer healthy ways of cooking such as grilling, baking and roasting over frying
  • Enhance flavour of food by using more of herbs and spices instead of oil. It will not only give you good taste but also prevent you from consuming extra oil as well as provide you the benefits of antioxidants
  • Prefer fish over red meat as it is full of good fat
  • Eat fish 2 or 3 times week instead of red meat
  • Use hung curd as dressing instead of mayonnaise
  • Prefer baked chips over fried ones

5. Choose Low-glycemic index foods: Glycemic Index refers to the rate at which a particular food raises our blood glucose levels. Foods with high GI spike our blood glucose level and vice-a-versa. Again, fiber is your hero! Fiber rich foods have lower glycemic index – another reason why you should take them.

Some Low GI Sources include whole nuts, whole cereals, cherries, oatmeal, apple, vermicelli, whole dals, prunes, plain yoghurt, soymilk, whole milk, peaches, channa dal and peanuts.

6. Eat small but frequently: The logic here is, heavy meals spike our glucose levels. So small frequent meals will keep our metabolism high, while maintaining glucose levels.

7. Walking and Exercise are your best friends: Exercise is important as it helps to maintain your ideal Body Weight which is very important for diabetics. Exercising helps your weight loss efforts, and is especially important in maintaining an ideal body weight.

8. Limit only high caloric fruits: Except for some fruits like mango, banana and chikoo, one can eat any fruit but  in prescribed amounts only.

9. Use functional foods in the diet: These foods provide “extra benefits” to your diet. Apart from nutrition, it provides you a number of benefits. Functional foods are full of antioxidants, unsaturated fatty acids and are also rich in fiber. Some of them include mustard seeds, flax seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, cinnamon, cloves and chia seeds.

10. Before sleeping ask yourself the following questions:

  • Am I taking too much of alcohol? If the answer is no, then you are okay
  • Am I taking medication properly? If yes, give yourself a pat on the back
  • My feet are clean? No? Then rush to the bathroom!
  • Am I feeling stressed? If your answer is yes? Chill with music and take deep breaths. Remember nothing comes at the cost of your health and ensure you feel some relief.
  • Have I checked my weight?
  • Did I walk for 45 minutes today? If yes, you’ve done well. Feel good about it because you are on track to manage diabetes
  • Now, time for sleep…Proper timing is essential. Get good sleep.

You can manage diabetes by living healthy. Eating in moderation and eating healthy can go a long way in giving you really good results!

We hope this article helps you manage diabetes effectively. For more help to manage diabetes, get the right guidance and motivation by certified experts, join the GOQii Diabetes Care program. It’s India’s only diabetes program that is driven by Smart Science and Personal Coaching to improve Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS), Postprandial Blood Sugar (PP), reduce HbA1c levels. You can subscribe here: https://store.goqii.com/diabetescare.

To read more on how to manage Diabetes, check out Healthy Reads.

Let’s #DefeatDiabetes and #BeTheForce!

November 14, 2023 By Priyanka Mangla 3 Comments

The Early Signs & Symptoms of Diabetes

symptoms of diabetesDiabetes has become one of the most common lifestyle disorders affecting both, urban and rural areas alike. You can attribute this to overeating, obesity, stressful, busy and sedentary lifestyles which lead to the early symptoms of diabetes. This also includes lack of proper nutrition which leads to disturbed glucose metabolism. Heredity is also a major factor in the development of the disease. It is usually misunderstood that eating only refined sugar in excess will lead to diabetes but that’s not the case. Excess intake of proteins and fats also leads to development of diabetes because ultimately they are also metabolized and converted to glucose.

Diabetes is characterized by the elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine. It is of 2 types:

  • Type 1: is present since birth due to complete absence of insulin 
  • Type 2: Develops later in life due to the deficiency of insulin

There are other variants too like gestational diabetes which occur during  pregnancy. Read more about it here: https://goqii.com/blog/what-gestational-diabetes-can-do-to-you-your-unborn-child/ 

Since untreated or uncontrolled diabetes gradually starts affecting the functioning of major organs of the body, like the heart, kidneys, brain, nervous system, eyes, etc. it is important to diagnose and manage diabetes as early as possible.  

How Can You Diagnose It? 

It is diagnosed by a blood test, in which the blood glucose in the fasting state (normal values range between 80-120 mg/100 ml of blood) and 2 hours after having the meal (normal values, 140 mg/100 ml of blood) are measured. Now, even before getting your blood glucose tested, there are certain signs and symptoms which our body shows which indicate the development of diabetes. 

Early Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes

  1. 3P’s: Polyphagia (increased hunger), polydipsia (increased thirst), polyuria (increased urination). Remember these 3 P’s and look out if you are experiencing these. 
  2. Loss of weight: In spite of increased hunger, there will be a very sharp loss of weight, which again is a warning symptom. This is happening because the glucose is getting lost in the urine, also due to insufficient insulin, the available glucose is not getting utilized to provide energy and to function, the body has started utilizing the glucose which is stored in the muscles and organs. 
  3. Getting tired: Loss of weight due to this condition leads to early tiredness. The person gets tired easily both mentally and physically. 
  4. Dry mouth: Despite drinking more water, there will be dryness in the mouth. 
  5. Paleness: appears because of anemia.
  6. Frequent infections and delayed healing of wounds: happens due to excess of glucose in the blood. 
  7. Loss of libido. 

In its early stages, we can easily prevent it from progressing further to a full blown Diabetes Mellitus with: 

  • Regular exercise: for a minimum of 30 minutes to maintain optimum weight. Engage yourself in light games. 
  • Proper diet: Which includes salads with meals (this slows down digestion and prevents an immediate spike in blood sugar levels) and excluding refined sugar, alcohol, smoking and high fat foods. 
  • Yoga & meditation: take care of the stress levels and curb the disease from getting any worse. Pranayama (Breath Control) and certain yoga asanas like Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana), Shoulder Stand (Sarvangasana) and various others help in stimulating the pancreas to produce insulin . 

There are certain home remedies which can be used as a supportive measure. I want to discuss here the two most important ones. 

  1. Bitter gourd (Karela): is highly beneficial in the treatment of diabetes. It contains an insulin-like principle, known as plant-insulin which has been found effective in lowering the blood and urine sugar levels.
  2. Java Plum (Jamun): The seeds contain a glycoside ‘jamboline’ which has the power to check the pathological conversion of starch into sugar in cases of increased production of glucose. In the Homoeopathic system of medicine, we have a very effective medicine prepared from this fruit to treat diabetes. 

We hope this article helps you manage Diabetes and helps you spot the early signs and symptoms. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below! For more articles on managing Diabetes, check out Healthy Reads. 

For further guidance and motivation by certified experts, join the GOQii Diabetes Care program. It’s India’s only diabetes program that is driven by Smart Science and Personal Coaching to improve Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS), Postprandial Blood Sugar (PP), and reduce HbA1c levels. You can subscribe here: https://store.goqii.com/diabetescare.

#BeTheForce Against Diabetes! 

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