Lower Your Blood Sugar Naturally: The 7 Best Vegetables to Eat & Avoid in Diabetes

Regular exercise and eating right is the best way of treating diabetes. The foods that are low in sugar, rich in fibers and complex carbohydrates are the go-to food choices for diabetics. So sometimes it gets really hard for people to choose between what's right and what's wrong but today we're going to make that a little bit easier. So if you or someone you know has diabetes then stick till the end because we'll discuss Hi I'm Dr. Ritak Shree, medical doctor and clinical nutritionist. Welcome back to my channel. Today we are diving into the world of vegetables for diabetics. So I'll be sharing seven best and worst vegetables that will manage your blood sugar level. So let's get started with seven best vegetables for diabetics. First on our list is broccoli. Now broccoli is known to be a superfood for diabetics. It's a cruciferous vegetable that has a chemical compound called sulforaphane which helps level out our blood sugar level. So it's a vegetable that's filled with antioxidants, it has folate and it's filled with other vitamins as well. So it's not just healthy for diabetics but for everyone else as well. So one cup of broccoli will level out your glucose levels immediately and it's full of fiber as well so it keeps you fuller for a longer period of time and helps manage your blood sugar. Next on our list are leafy greens and these would include kale, spinach and lettuce and kale in fact is known to be the queen of greens. So they are filled with antioxidants, they are rich in vitamin C and they have a lot of other vitamins as well. So vitamin C is important for diabetics to consume regularly because it reduces inflammation and inflammation is one of the major causes of diabetes. They're also full of fiber as well. So add them to your smoothies, to your salad or just stir fry them with other vegetables and you can even make baked kale chips as a snack. Next on our list is cauliflower. Now cauliflower is another cruciferous vegetable just like its cousin broccoli. So cauliflower is a very low carb vegetable and it has lots of fiber which helps reduce or improve our insulin sensitivity. So cauliflower also is filled with nutrients like folic, potassium and lots of vitamins. Cauliflower is a versatile vegetable and it can be used in a variety of dishes and it's also used as a carbohydrate alternate just like we can have cauliflower rice or we can make pizza crust out of cauliflower. So adding cauliflower to our meals will ensure that we stable our blood glucose levels. Next on our list are carrots. Now staying away from starchy vegetables and calorie dense vegetables is the key for a diabetic friendly meal. So carrots are actually a non-starchy vegetable and they're packed with lots of vitamins as well. So adding a bit of color to our diet is always a good idea because they contain lots of antioxidants and phytonutrients. So carrots are containing carotene. Now carotene helps prevent diabetes from getting worse and since it's low in calories and low in carbs, it also helps manage our heart health and the vitamins vitamin A found in them are good for our eyes as well. Next is cabbage. Now cabbage is a vegetable that is full of soluble fiber and that helps regulating our blood sugar level. So cutting down on carbs and loading up on vegetables that are fiber rich is the best way to regulate our post meal blood glucose spikes. So cabbage is a very good source of fiber and it also contains a lot of antioxidants which helps delay with the progression of diabetes. Next are bell peppers. So whether you're having green, yellow or red bell peppers, these are all a great option for diabetics. So they're very low in calories, they're low in carbohydrates yet they're rich in vitamin C and they're full of antioxidants. So incorporating bell peppers in your meal will help you manage your blood sugar levels and they'll also reduce your inflammation. Last but not least we have zucchini. A zucchini is a summer squash which is very low in calories and carbohydrates yet they're very rich in fiber and water content. So as we know fiber helps regulate our blood sugar level. The zucchini is a versatile vegetable which can be eaten cooked, grilled, baked so we can have them in a variety of dishes as well in salads, in stir fries. So this makes it a diabetic friendly meal. Bonus! So bitter gourd or bitter melon. Now this vegetable gets its name from its taste. It gets more and more bitter as it ripens. So this vegetable is linked with lowering our body's blood sugar level as it contains properties or it has properties that act like insulin. So they bring more glucose into our cells to use it as energy. So bitter melon can be consumed to lower our blood glucose level. Now let's switch to vegetables that are bad for diabetics. First on our list are potatoes. Now we all love our potatoes. We love french fries, mashed potatoes or veggies. They're everyone's favorite but they are not diabetic friendly. They're not good for diabetics. This vegetable is a starchy vegetable so that means they're calorie dense and they're full of carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and are released straight into our bloodstream and giving a severe spike in our blood sugar level. And this is exactly what diabetics are not looking for. Second on our list is corn. So having a corn on the cob as a side dish or adding them to our salad gives it just a little bit of sweetness to any meal. But these are not good choice for diabetics. So people might want to avoid them. Corn especially sweet corn is full of carbohydrates and this carbohydrate gets turned into glucose which will eventually cause a rise in our blood sugar level. So it's better to avoid corn and sweet corn. Next on our list is butternut squash. So technically it's a food but it's served as a vegetable. So it's a crossover between a pumpkin and a sweet potato. So while it is very delicious and it's nutrient dense as well but it's relatively high in carbohydrates and as a diabetic we're looking for low carbohydrate options. So when eaten in moderation of course you will get antioxidants vitamin A and vitamin C. So having a side of roasted butternut squash about half a cup is diabetic friendly. But make sure you do not exceed this limit because they're high in carbohydrates and they will give you a rise in sugar. Next up are parsnips. Now it's a root vegetable which is very similar to carrot. So it's very high in carbohydrates as well. Just one cup of parsnips include 24 grams of carbohydrates and 6 grams of sugar which will definitely give you a sharp spike in your blood sugar level. So if you do enjoy your parsnips make sure to eat them in moderation and balance them out with including other non-starchy vegetables. Next are pumpkin. So this bright orange colored vegetable is very delicious and it has a comforting taste for most of us but it should be avoided by people who are diabetic. This is ranking high in glycemic index as it is tasting very sweet and this means that it can cause a spike in our blood sugar level. So it's loaded with carbohydrates which quickly get released into our bloodstream and this can rise sugar in our blood. Last we have beetroot or beets. Now beets are naturally sweet and they have moderate amount of carbohydrates in them but they can still cause a spike in your sugar level. So of course beets should be eaten in moderate amount because if you eat too much of beetroot then this is not ideal for a diabetic. Bonus vegetable juice. So a juice cleanse is a very popular way of doing a detox but it's not for everyone. So when it comes to diabetics no matter how healthy these juices claim to be they're not a good choice for them. This is because vegetable juices are usually stripped off their essential soluble fibers and then they're just left with the sweet carbohydrate part and this will definitely cause a rise in your blood glucose level. So a juice is claiming to have all nutrients and it is a very fast way of getting all the nutrients in but not for diabetics. It's loaded with carbohydrates so this is going to give you a big spike in your sugar level and it's a no-go for diabetics. There you have it the top seven best and worst vegetables for diabetics. Remember managing diabetes involves making a lot of informed choices about your diet and it needs to include a lot of variety of nutrient-dense foods. If you found this video helpful please give it a thumbs up, share it with people who have diabetes so they can be well informed and please make sure to subscribe to my channel for more videos on health and nutrition. Thank you for joining in today. I hope to see you in my next one. Till then, take care, stay healthy, bye.