Diabetes: Best root vegetables to control your blood sugar levels
People with diabetes need to eat right during winters to manage their blood sugar. Here are root vegetables they should opt for.
Diabetes: You can use the season to your advantage by making the best out of seasonal fruits and vegetables which are abundant during winter months.
Winter is here in all its glory and while the cold weather puts you at risk of falling ill, the availability of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables makes boosting immunity much easier. Winters can however make you sluggish and trap you in a comfort zone where you crave for oily, greasy and deep-fried stuff. You can instead use the season to your advantage by making the best out of seasonal fruits and vegetables which are abundant during winter months. The season also offers an array of incredibly nutritious root vegetables that are a storehouse of micronutrients. Some of them are excellent for people with diabetes who are looking for healthy food options to control their blood sugar in winters. So, people with diabetes should not just stay active when the mercury drops, but also stock their kitchen with food high on fibre and protein so that they don’t have to worry about their blood sugar levels. (Also read: Diabetes: 5 healthy carbs to curb blood sugar spikes)
“The winter season, arguably, offers the widest variety of seasonal food. This is because you get so many nutritious fruits and vegetables to eat. However, if you have diabetes, you need to be more careful of what you eat, as managing blood sugar levels is a must for you,” says Dr Siddhant Bhargava, Fitness and Nutritional Scientist, Co-Founder- Food Darzee.
ROOT VEGETABLES FOR WINTERS
Here are the best root vegetables for people with diabetes in winter suggested by Dr Bhargava so that they can effectively manage their blood sugar levels:
1. Turnip: A low-carb root vegetable, turnip is high in fibre and rich in water. It is known for controlling blood sugar levels, enhancing the processing of guts and aiding in lowering cholesterol.
2. Beetroot: Consuming beetroot, a superfood for a diabetic patient, helps to lower the complications of diabetes, like nerve damage and eye damage. Moreover, the alpha-lipoic acid found in beetroot helps in reducing nerve damage in people with high blood sugar levels. Further, essential nutrients such as betalain and neo betanin help lower your blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity.
3. Carrot: Carrot is an excellent addition to your healthy diet if you have diabetes. It is packed with plenty of essential nutrients that benefit blood sugar levels, such as vitamin A and fibre.
4. Radish: It contains chemical compounds such as glucosinolate and isothiocyanate, which can help regulate your blood sugar levels. Consuming radishes also enhances your body’s natural adiponectin production, a hormone that protects you against insulin resistance.
