We all know the basic idea that surrounds ‘healthy living’. Eat more vegetables, exercise, get good sleep, and stress-less. A generic formula for the masses, but a formula that’s not always easy to adapt even though it always sits in the back of our minds.
The sad truth is that with the buzz surrounding the latest superfoods or miracle diets, we often forget about these core nutrition concepts.
We also live in a society where eating healthy (based on the latest trends) can get expensive, whereas highly processed food that can last forever on the store shelf can be rather cheap.
We’re enticed by delicious marketing, and our taste buds end up adapting to the high sugar, high fat, and high salt content of packaged foods, which is why certain conditions, like heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome are so prevalent.
And a result of diets that are less whole food based, and more convenient based, our blood sugars bear the brunt. Abnormal blood sugar levels (or dysglycemia), which has an overall impact on your health, can…
Cause fatigue and irritability
Can contribute to other hormonal imbalances
Can cause headaches and dizziness
Can cause sugar cravings, which often lead to poor dietary choices
There are ways to naturally manage your blood sugars and help prevent these symptoms and diseases. Start with the basics we mentioned above, as well as incorporating more foods that have been scientifically proven to help with our blood sugar management.
Top 10 Foods to Help Balance Your Blood Sugar
1. Steel cut oats
As long as you’re choosing a version of oats that do not contain added sugars, and are generally in their whole food state, such as steel cut or rolled oats, they can be a wonderful food for balancing blood sugars.
Oats are incredibly high in fiber and protein and have heart protective properties. They also make a great filling meal, which helps reduce the need for quick convenience foods later in the day. Oats also contain beta glucans, which are a soluble fiber that helps to maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
You can cook a large batch of steel cut oats in your crock-pot or on the stovetop and have an easy breakfast throughout the week. Add in a few other nutritious ingredients such as fruit, cinnamon, and nuts and seeds to create more flavor and provide you with a nutrient-dense meal that provides energy throughout the day like these 2 Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter Overnight Oats:
2. Okra
Okra is one of those foods that is incredibly beneficial for your health, and relatively easy to add to pastas, soups, and stews.
Although research on okra is still in its early stages, studies of the extracts, and major phytonutrients (plant chemicals), isoquercitrin and quercetin 3-O-gentiobioside have been shown to reduce blood glucose and insulin serum levels in mice. In Turkey, blood sugar issues have been treated with roasted okra seeds for years.
Foods that contain a high fiber content, as well as antioxidants, have been recommended for those with blood sugar issues because these types of food lower cholesterol and have a stress relieving effect on the body. This makes okra a powerful food for blood sugar management.
3. Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a great spice to add to your diet if you’re looking to take control of your blood sugars. Although different types of cinnamon have been studied and shown as effective for blood sugar management, the true cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon is the one with the best results and the one you should be looking for.
Ceylon cinnamon is the ideal form of cinnamon, as it’s very low in coumarin (a liver toxic substance) that is found in higher amounts in the cassia variety of cinnamon.
Ceylon cinnamon works in various ways to help manage diabetes. For example, it reduces the influx of glucose into the bloodstream from the small intestine (this is through enzyme inhibition), and it has been shown to act as an insulin mimetic (it mimics insulin) to help with adequate cellular glucose uptake.
One of our favorite ways to use Ceylon cinnamon is in the form of Ceylon cinnamon tea. You can simply do this by taking a couple of Ceylon cinnamon sticks and slow boil them in a large pot of water for about 15-25 minutes. Once the tea is cool, the cinnamon will release its active compounds. Learn more about how to do this properly here. Drink this tea 20 minutes before and after meals.
You can also add Ceylon cinnamon to soups and stews to activate these beneficial compounds.
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