Start Reversing Diabetes With These Simple Diet Tips

Diabetes diet

Diet is a funny topic. It’s surprising to see no two dietitians ever agree on what you should eat. Diet is like a religion. Every religion is trying to convince you to convert to his or her religion. And follow the religion to the T. And completely change your life. But what dieticians don’t realise is that changing diet is tougher than changing religion. 

E.g. Let’s take a keto diet advocate. He convinces a person to completely cut carbs from the diet, which means no wheat, no rice, no pasta, no pizza, no dal, no fruits, no juices, no legumes. Basically, nothing else, apart from non-veg and oils, butters.

 Or let’s take another school of diet: Vegan diet. They ask a person to give up non-veg. And also, forget milk, paneer, curd, buttermilk, and ice-cream completely. 

This thought itself is scary. We would find it easier to change religion than change diet so drastically. What about you? 

Whom do you Believe? What do you do?

There is one word answer to this problem: BALANCE. We don’t believe in saying that any food is forbidden ever. Why did Adam and Eve eat an apple? Because they were forbidden to eat. It’s human to crave for things which are forbidden. And that’s why most diets fail. So don’t worry. You will love this new way to eat. Probably the easiest meal plan to reverse diabetes ever. 

A healthy diet is healthy for everyone. But in case of diabetes, we need to take some extra care. Let’s go through what you can eat throughout the day. When you wake up, do you have tea and biscuits? Do we need to tell you that it’s not a good way to start your day? You should always start your day with positive thoughts and positive food

Hence, we recommend you to take 4-5 soaked nuts like almonds or walnuts. Raw nuts are a great source of essential nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids. Soaking will remove the anti nutrient and make it easier to digest. After an overnight fasting, having nuts was seen to help with glucose control. Also, we recommend you to take one of the following drinks:

  • Lemon Water: As lemon is rich in vitamin C. Having lemon juice in lukewarm water will rehydrate, detoxify, boost immunity and improve digestion with just this small change in your routine. Research has shown that polyphenol antioxidants found in lemons reduce weight gain. 
  • Herbal Teas: Green tea, many spices and herbs like cinnamon, ginger, fenugreek, mint, tulasi have beneficial effects on blood sugar control and overall health. These can be used to make herbal tea instead of normal tea.

We have two products which are designed for the mornings

  • TruGreen – With super foods like Spirulina, moringa, wheatgrass, beneficial spices to add taste and health, Trugreen is the best health drink you can start the day with.
  • TruDrink is a combination of Apple cider vinegar, a known insulin sensitizer, Garlic known for its cholesterol lowering property, ginger with anti-inflammatory properties, lemon and honey. Together these are ideal for weight loss and immunity.

Before We talk about breakfast, we would like to introduce you to two concepts that we strongly recommend: Truweight Plate or The Possible Plate and 50:25:25 ratio. 

Possible Plate

Our food plate should be 50% vegetables, 25% protein, 25% carb. Look at a typical Indian thali, especially south Indian thali. It’s a hill of white rice. With a small bowl of dal and vegetables. It is largely 65% carb, 20% vegetables and only 15% protein. And then we say “Indian diet is healthy”. If it was healthy, 15 crore Indians would not be suffering from diabetes and prediabetes. No, we are not asking you to stop eating your favourite food, just keep the ratio right. 

Remember the ratio: 50: 25: 25

What do we fill our stomach with? Food, right? And that’s where the problem is. Only 50% of the stomach should be filled with food. Balance 25% with water. 25% with air.

Half the time, we confuse thirst with hunger and eat food. How many of you might be making the same mistake? A golden rule to follow here is: Drink a glass of water 20 minutes before your meal. According to ayurveda, water before the meal is amrit, but after the meal is poison

Lastly, 25% of the stomach should be filled with air. Which basically means that you should stop eating, when you are 75% full. Japanese have been practising it for years and they live the longest. They call it Hara Hachi Bu. But why air? Let us explain with an analogy. If you put clothes in your washing machine, will you stuff it with no air? Will the washing machine function? You need some air in your stomach too for better digestion. And it will also prevent you from overeating.  

Breakfast 

  • Whole moong dosa or Chilla with added vegetables with ginger or green chutney
  • Poha with added vegetables of your choice + 2 egg whites or Sprouts
  • Dalia or millet rava upma with added vegetables 

Midmorning 

Medium sized seasonal fruit 

Lunch 

  • Start with a Bowl of salad, it can be as simple a one cucumber or carrot
  • Your 25% carb can be from Brown rice,  whole wheat phulka or millet preparation like roti or rava
  • 25% protein can be from any dal preparation like palak dal, sambar, channa, rajma or fish or chicken preparation
  • To fill the rest of the 50% vegetable portion, add any cooked veg curry
  • Glass of buttermilk or raita can add to the probiotics

Evening  

Tea / green tea + roasted chana/ground nuts/makhana 

Dinner

  • Veg soup + Vegetable Dalia or millet khichdi – 1 cup + raita OR
  • Veg Soup + Millet roti/dosa + Usal/Sambar 
  • Salad + Phulka + Dal + veg

Bedtime 

Cinnamon water will help with blood sugar control

We follow over 12 phases in our diabetes management program.

 In every phase, we will make some minor changes to your diet to highlight one important aspect of diet. You can carry forward good things from one phase to another. It is like learning different chapters in a book. If you read chapter 2, you do not forget chapter 1. “Variety is the spice of life.” Having different phases breaks the monotony and gives variety in diet plans. Phases also help to change the metabolic rate. An active metabolism induces weight loss. Phases like calorie shifting can revamp the metabolism and break plateaus if reached. Some of the other phases are:

Belly Fat Phase

Reducing fat from the belly is not just for cosmetic reasons but also important to reduce your risk for metabolic diseases. In this phase the focus of the diet would be to reduce belly fat by introducing foods rich in  MUFA, Vitamin C, calcium, CLA, anti- bloat foods etc.

Forgotten Foods Phase

This week is all about forgotten foods: ragi, jowar, bajra, kuttu, foxtail millet. Foods that we ate till 50-100 years back in large quantities but somehow the advent of consumerism has ensured the death of these products in urban plates.

Shifting Grains Phase

The body gets used to eating similar kinds of food and there is a chance that metabolism slows down. By changing the number of times you consume grains, we revamp the metabolism which helps in weight loss.

Immune Booster Phase

Immune Booster phase is about phyto-chemicals which are plant chemicals that may prevent and/or suppress disease in the human body. 

You will love the following phases as well. But right now, it’s important to start with the first phase and start changing your life. Your actions will only bring a transformation. Wish you all luck!

Conclusion

Diet is the cornerstone of being healthy. It can achieve what medicines cannot. Remember the Possible Plate and the 50:25:25 ratio. Be mindful of what you eat at the various meals during the day. Do not starve in search of weight loss, it will not help. Allow yourself to go through the various phases and look for results that are not immediate. 

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