Best Indian Foods To Control Blood Sugar Management

Regulation of blood sugar is not all about staying away from sweets. Everything about your diet plan, quantity, combination of meals, and overall lifestyle may affect your body’s blood glucose response when you consume food. For people with diabetes, prediabetes, or anyone looking to have regulated glucose in their blood, making healthy dietary choices becomes an integral part of health management.

There is great news for everyone who wants to regulate their blood glucose level – an Indian diet itself contains plenty of nutritious foods. Vegetables, dals, pulses, whole grains, curd, nuts, seeds, and fresh fruits can all be included in your diet.

Contrary to the elimination of all carbohydrates and a super strict dieting regime, you need to choose nutritious foods to control blood sugar.

How Does Food Influence Blood Glucose?

One of the nutrients that influence blood glucose is carbohydrates. Once you eat carbohydrate-rich food items, the process of digestion helps in converting much of the carbohydrate into glucose, which then goes into the bloodstream.

But it should be noted that not all carbohydrate-containing foods are equally nutritious.

Foods that are highly refined and rich in added sugar content may make it difficult for you to manage blood glucose, especially when such foods are consumed in larger quantities and more often. But whole and less processed foods may provide many nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Other factors that may influence the body’s glucose response include protein, fiber, healthy fats, portion size, exercise, medications, and personal metabolism.

In that way, picking up foods to control blood sugar means improving the quality of your meals.

Top Indian Foods to Control Blood Sugar

There are plenty of nutritious foods to control blood sugar available in Indian cuisine that can be included in your blood sugar level-friendly diet plan. Here are some of the options to choose from.

1. Green Leafy Vegetables

Green leafy vegetables can be incorporated into regular meals as they consist of vitamins, minerals, fibers, and other nutrients, but they have very little carbohydrate content.

Popular green leafy vegetables of India are:

• Palak

• Methi

• Bathua

• Sarson

• Chaulai

These greens may be included in your dal, vegetable combination, sabzi, etc. Be careful not to put extra oil, butter, or any cream in them while cooking.

Inclusion of more vegetables in daily meals is one of the easiest things which you could do to make your diet better.

2. Dal and Pulses

Dal is a basic ingredient of most Indian kitchens and can act as an essential ingredient of a healthy meal.

Some popular dal recipes in India are:

• Moong dal

• Masoor dal

• Chana dal

• Moong

• Chana

• Rajma

• Black Chana

The presence of protein in pulses, together with other nutrients, can balance out the meal. Pulses can be cooked with vegetables and moderate quantity of whole grains to make a meal balanced.

Keep in mind that carbohydrates are also found in these pulses, lentils, and beans.

3. Whole Grains

There is no need for eliminating grains when dealing with blood sugar. It should be based on the types of grains consumed and the quantity.

Generally, the amount of nutrients in unprocessed whole grains would be larger compared to processed counterparts.

Possible options would be:

• Oats

• Barley

• Whole wheat

• Brown rice

• Millets

• Dalia

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that even healthy carbohydrates can influence the level of blood glucose, thus the quantity is still important. A large portion of the healthy grains is not necessarily better just because it is healthy.

4. Non-starchy Vegetables

Among different food products non-starchy vegetables might become very effective foods to control blood sugar through an appropriate diet.

Vegetables in the Indian cuisine include:

• Bhindi

• Gobhi

• Cabbage

• Cucumber

• Tomato

• Brinjal

• Capsicum

• Beans

• Lauki

• Tori

It might be beneficial to eat more vegetables taking a good portion of plate.

5. Whole Fruits in Appropriate Amounts

It doesn't mean that one cannot eat fruits just because he/she is suffering from diabetes.

Though whole fruits consist of carbohydrates, they also consist of fiber, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. The amount and total carbohydrates contained in the meal should be taken into account.

Examples of fruits that one can consume in India include:

• Guava

• Apple

• Orange

• Papaya

• Pear

• Mosambi

Consuming whole fruits instead of juices is better since they contain natural fiber.

One should not think that the consumption of the fruits is limitless just because they are natural. The glucose level differs from individual to individual and people with diabetes should follow the diet recommended by their health care provider.

6. Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds can be a good source of healthy fat, protein, fiber and some micronutrients.

Useful examples of nuts and seeds are:

• Almonds

• Walnuts

• Peanuts

• Flaxseeds

• Chia seeds

• Pumpkin seeds

A small quantity can be consumed for breakfast or as a snack.

However, nuts and seeds are high in calories and consuming a huge amount of them is not required.

7. Curd

Unsweetened curd could also serve as an additional ingredient for an Indian diet.

It is rich in protein and calcium and can readily be incorporated into food intake. Unsweetened curd can be consumed with veggies or for the preparation of raita without sugar.

Packaged flavoured yoghurt products or even some sweet curd products might have a high content of sugar, so the nutrition information should be considered when purchasing such products.

8. Protein Sources

Protein sources can be consumed along with vegetables as well as controlled quantities of foods containing carbohydrates.

Depending on individual preferences, they may include:

• Paneer

• Tofu

• Eggs

• Fishes

• Chicken

• Dal

• Chickpeas

• Pulses

Methods of cooking also matter. Roasted, grilled, boiled, steamed or lightly cooked food might be a better choice than food items usually prepared by frying.

Indian Foods to Avoid for Effective Blood Sugar Management

Selecting the right foods to control blood sugar is only half the battle when it comes to blood sugar management. In addition to that, it is also beneficial to avoid certain food items which contain large quantities of refined carbohydrates or added sugars without much nutritional content.

Avoid frequent consumption of:

• Soft drinks

• Packaged beverages

• Mithai and desserts

• Cakes, pastries, and biscuits

• Maida based foods

• Highly processed snacks

• Sugar loaded breakfast cereals

• Sweet tea or coffee

• Fruit juices

• Large quantities of refined grains

It is not necessary for you to categorize all food items into good and bad foods. Frequency of consumption, portion size, quantity of total carbohydrates consumed and other aspects of the diet are equally important.

Simple Indian Plate for Effective Blood Sugar Management

One simple method of making a balanced diet with foods to control blood sugar is through plate method.

Try to consume approximately:

½ plate: Non starchy vegetables

This can include palak, bhindi, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber, beans, brinjal or mixed vegetables.

¼ plate: Proteins

These can include dal, paneer, tofu, eggs, fish, lean chicken, or any other protein item.

¼ plate: Quality carbohydrate food

This may include a controlled portion of whole-wheat roti, brown rice, another whole grain, beans, or an appropriate starchy food.

Water or another unsweetened beverage can accompany the meal.

This approach can make portion management simpler without requiring every person to count every calorie at every meal.

Blood Sugar Management Lifestyle Habits

Selecting proper foods to control blood sugar is vital; however, it is not the only aspect of managing blood sugar.

Proper physical activities, enough sleep, proper weight management when necessary, stress management, and medication administration when recommended can all be helpful in such a case.

Here are some effective habits:

• Try to maintain your diet well balanced.

• Be conscious of your portion sizes.

• Be physically active according to your state and medical advice.

• Drink plain water instead of sugar-filled drinks.

• Minimize the consumption of heavily processed food.

• Sleep adequately.

• Check your blood glucose levels when instructed by your healthcare provider.

• Administer medications when recommended medically.

Consistency will generally be more effective than adhering to a very strict schedule just for a couple of days.

Make Ayurvedic Well-Being Part of Your Life Every Day Using Jolly DIABO 100

Apart from a balanced diet and proper living habits, there is also an option of including Ayurvedic supplements as part of one’s life style to promote well-being.

These are Jolly DIABO 100 capsules, an Ayurvedic supplement produced by Jolly Pharma that can be used to complete your healthful life style regimen.

This is possible provided you use the supplement in accordance with the instructions on how it is done.

Nevertheless, this kind of supplement should not replace the balanced diet as well as blood glucose measuring or prescribed medicines in any way.

In case you have diabetes, are using insulin or other medicines to control blood glucose, are a pregnant or nursing woman or suffer from any other disease, make sure that you seek medical advice first.

Final Thoughts

There is not any particular food that can regulate blood sugar.

What can be done is to adopt a whole eating pattern based on foods to control blood sugar, vegetables, right proportion of whole grains, lentils, proteins, whole fruits, nuts, seeds, and others unprocessed foods.

However, by decreasing the intake of sugar-sweetened drinks, high consumption of sweet foods, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods can further elevate the quality of your diet.

The most helpful foods to control blood sugar can be those foods which can form part of an eating pattern right for your health needs.

In case you already have diabetes or often face either high or low glucose levels in your blood then you should consult a doctor or dietitian about changing your diet. The diet you might have is very individual thing depending on various factors.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Indian foods help in controlling blood sugar levels?

Non-starchy vegetables, green vegetables, dal, pulses, whole grains in limited quantities, proteins, nuts, seeds, curd without any addition, and limited portions of whole fruits may be included in a healthy diet.

2. What food items must be avoided in case of high blood sugar?

Sugary drinks, sweets, refined flour based items, processed items, fruit juices, and excess refined carbohydrate foods should be avoided if your blood sugar levels are high.

3. Can diabetics eat rice?

Yes, but depending upon the diet chart prepared for an individual, rice consumption can be included in moderation along with other foods.