
Diabetic Recipes
It is not easy being a diabetic. Oral drugs or insulin are of absolutely no use if the person concerned is not willing to change the life style and the eating habits. Diet then is an important part of the daily routine of a diabetic. All diabetic recipes must avoid Sugar as far as possible. Artificial sweeteners can be resorted to, but remember products high in fat and cholesterol, which have been artificially sweetened by aspartame, or saccharin should not be consumed in the name of a being a diabetic diet. Their high calorific content makes them unsuitable for diabetics. A vegetarian diet is an inherent part of any diabetic recipe. South Indian dishes like idlis and dosa, which have very little fat content, are good for them. Idlis contain a mixture of rice and Bengal gram dal, which is soaked, ground and then allowed to ferment. As idlis are steam cooked, the question of fats do not arise. Idlis or dosas can be taken for breakfast. A little known but very good for diabetics is porridge made from ragi (nachni). The ragi is ground into flour and this flour is mixed with water and cooked for a while. A semi solid paste when mixed with buttermilk or curd is not only filling but also good to control the blood sugar levels. In India, Khichidis, which are a mixture of rice and toor dal, are filling and acceptable for diabetics. Broken wheat cooked just like rice is another alternative. It can be eaten in the same way as rice is. However, there is nothing like the ubiquitous Indian roti, which is filling and can be prepared in many ways. Wheat flour made into a dough and rolled into rotis which can be prepared on a tava or tandoori rotis which can be made on a tandoor, bhakris and naan are nutritive and at the same time fat free. The good thing about them is that they raise Continue reading >>

Diet Control
Food is the prime factor that promotes the welfare of our health. The energy that we have to go about our daily activities is derived from the food we eat. When the food we eat is more or when it is too less, it can result in diseases. It is imperative for us to have a harmonious blend when it comes to our bodies, food, and sports and other physical activities. These are the times when our food habits have been challenged: the fast food scenario has led to unhealthy food choices; playing a big role in turning us into sick patients. These bad habits are to be discarded and we should adopt a healthy diet and appropriate eating pattern. Bad eating habits lead us onto lots of diseases. There are several reasons why this happens. People move about very less nowadays. Yet the amount they eat has not become less. Moreover the food we eat is not balanced. Control of food intake is vital for diabetic care. What is commonly seen is that people have a casual attitude: a “let it be”, “we eat what we need; let it be” we’ll face it when it happens. They even dismiss others who try to eat healthy. This is mainly because such people do not have no knowledge about food or the nutrients in it, nor do they have any idea of what a person can eat. Remember it is important that we know Diabetes and dietary pattern The dietary pattern of the diabetics should be same as that of other members of the family .there is no need to separately cook their foods. Dietary pattern of the diabetic patient should be healthy and well balanced and that is suitable for other members also. The meal pattern of the diabetic patient should be such that it controls diabetes and other lifestyle diseases How important is a balanced diet? Healthy Eating If you follow a healthy eating pattern it is possible Continue reading >>

Idli Chutney Or Pongal Sambar?
NUTRITION What is Glycemic Index? Low GI foods are advocated for diabetics Glycemic Index has been a topic of debate among nutritionists for several years. How does it affect blood sugar in diabetics? Since diet is the cornerstone of diabetes management, any new theory on the role of nutrition in diabetes care attracts attention. Several random trials have been conducted till date and both the American Dietetic Association, and the American Diabetes Association advocated the use of low glycemic index foods in a diabetic's diet. What is glycemic index? And how can a diabetic incorporate low glycemic foods into his diet? What are the benefits in doing so? Ever since the glycemic index came to be used in 1981 to classify carbohydrates, many random trials have been conducted to establish the effect of low glycemic foods on those with diabetes, high blood pressure and those who are obese. By definition, the glycemic index (GI) of a food is the glucose response during a 2-hour period after consumption of 50g of carbohydrate of a specific food, divided by the glucose response following consumption of 50g of carbohydrate from either white bread or glucose. Glycemic load (GL) is a calculation of the GI value of a food multiplied by its total available carbohydrate content. Simply said, the glycemic index is a tool to measure the potential impact that individual foods have on blood sugar levels after their consumption. And accordingly carbohydrate foods get classified as those that do not significantly increase post prandial blood sugar (that is blood sugar level found after eating) as low glycemic foods and those that cause hyperglycemia as high glycemic foods. Effects of a meal with high GI If the meal is thus of high GI, it can cause elevated blood sugar and free fatty acid co Continue reading >>

Best Breakfast Ideas For Diabetics
After being identified as a pre-diabetic, I have understood how important is breakfast for diabetics, because the breakfast a diabetic chooses to take has a major role in controlling diabetes. It is important to start your day with low sugar high fibre diet which can keep you full for longer time without consuming more carbohydrates. Being a South Indian I am a fan of Dosa and idli. But these foods consist of 60-70% carbohydrates which do not make them the best breakfast for diabetics. So after a brief research and after talking to my Friend Manipal (Doctor) I have narrowed my breakfast menu to effectively manage my blood sugar levels. One thing I understood was to avoid Sugar, Salt and Oily Breakfasts.Most important thing is don't start your day with a coffee or tea with sugar, that will start your day with high blood sugar levels, Infact leaving tea and coffee made of milk is recommended for diabetics. Come let us see best breakfast ideas for diabetics. Monday's Break Fast is Oats with Milk I prefer taking Oats every monday as it is generally a non vegetarian sunday almost all time which makes my stomach heavy , So i prefer eating Oats with Milk sweetened by honey and added with almonds. providing below a typical oats recipe i take. I enjoy Quaker Oats, They make me feel good. these are not available at my place , I purchase them from Amazon. 1 kg Quaker Oats costs around Rs 180 the cost is similar to saffola and kellogs but the taste and feel is amazing. Oats 60 gms Milk 150 ml honey 1/2 teaspoon almonds 4 You can see above is a best breakfast idea for Monday, Light and fiber rich breakfast with very less amount of honey just to make it bit sweet and Almonds are good for diabetics. Tuesday's Breakfast is Bread and Omlet I prefer Brown Bread and Omlet as my Tuesday br Continue reading >>

Idlis
The Myth: Idli is healthy food. The Fact: Idli is fattening food. If the fat in our food is the sole cause of body fat, we should all have been slim, because we have banned the ghee from our diets and turned cooking oil reduction into a fine art. The pride with which our Mega Star unveiled his oil less dosa, the fervour with which the media highlighted it and the zeal with which we appreciated it highlights our thought process of making ‘fat’ the villain. If you want proof of it, see the spread at any marriage party – ghee is either absent or when present, has very few takers. Has this anti-ghee mania made us slim? No, because fat or even cholesterol in Indians, who mainly eat grains, comes from the blood sugar spikes caused by fermented grain contained in foods like Idlis. Carbohydrates in our diet enter the blood as glucose, also called sugar. Ideally, the glucose should enter the blood at a uniform rate until the next meal, which ideally has to be after every 4 hours. Removing the fiber, as in the case of white rice, makes the glucose enter the blood faster and fermenting accelerates it even further. So, blood sugar Blood Sugar levels, after eating idlis rise a lot within the first one or two hours, depending on whether they are eaten with fat or not and fall to very low levels thereafter. To see this effect for myself, I had measured my Blood Sugar levels after eating Idlis with fat laden coconut and pudina chutney. The readings are presented below. Any one can repeat this experiment, because, thanks to the ubiquitous occurrence of diabetes in our society, glucometers are available in most households. No Food Grams Cals Glycemic Index (GI) Blood glucose at different hours after the meal 0 1 2 3 4 1 Idlis (3 nos 180 g)+ Coconut Chutney (160 g) 340 660 60 121 11 Continue reading >>

Diabetes Recipe: Barley Idli
Boiled barley looks deceptively similar to rice, which makes it a great rice substitute. But what makes it better than rice is that it has almost nine times more fibre than rice! In fact, of all the whole grains, barley is the king when it comes to fibre content. It is commonly known as jau in India and is one of the rare ancient grains that is being consumed to this day. Read about the health benefits of barley. From a diabetes perspective, barley is a wonder grain because of its low glycaemic index. A study conducted by the Agricultural Research Service at the Diet and Human Performance Laboratory in Beltsville, barley fared better than the traditional breakfast favourite oats. Dietician Geeta Shenoy shares a nutritious recipe, barley-based recipe which puts an interesting twist on another breakfast favourite, the idli. Ingredients ½ cup barley (Jau) 1 cup parboiled rice (ukada chawal) ½ cup urad dal (split black lentils) ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds (methi); salt to taste ½ cup chopped boiled, mixed vegetables (carrot, French beans) Method: 1.wash & soak parboiled rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds in a deep bowl in enough water for 2 hrs. Drain and keep aside. Wash and soak the barley separately in a bowl in enough water for 2 hours. Drain and keep aside. Combine the parboiled rice, urad dal, fenugreek seeds and barley in a mixer and blend to smooth paste using approx. 1½ cups of water. Transfer the paste into a deep bowl, add the salt and mix well. Cover it with lid and keep the batter aside to ferment for 4 hours. After fermentation mix the batter well once again. Wet the idli moulds with little water and pour spoonful of the batter into each of the Idli moulds. Sprinkle few mixed vegetables over each idli. Steam in an idli steamer for 12 min or till they are cooked Continue reading >>

Idlis With Wheat Rava / Bansi Rava Idli ~ Diabetes Diet Food!
The last couple of days, my internet seem to be playing on me. I wanted to post on Konda’s Menu everyday so that I stay focused. But rather I was unable to keep to my own schedule. It was fine that the items listed for Wednesday and Thursday were not new ones. Still I took pictures of them in the last moment, you can guess that from the picture. Konda has been very happy with her lunch, so that is one very very good thing to happen. I can now get to make her eat better because she choice herself. I made Parotta with Paneer Butter Masala for Wednesday. It was such a great idea as we all ended up taking for lunch. So it was a better plan. I even sent it for the boys, who were happy knowing it. Thursdays was a relative easy one, Curd Rice with Pickle. From next week onwards, I am planning to include new dishes that I can make and introduce to the kids. Hopefully I get to write down the list soon. Coming to today’s post, this is a healthy version of Idlis suited for the Diabetes Diet. Without Rice, this makes the idlis so healthy and ideal. This is normally prepared when I am making the regular idlis with Rice. That way I can save some Urad dal batter for mixing this batter. During our recent visit to my sister in-law, Athamma had got a packet of Bansi rava, Rice rava along with few other things. So whenever regular idli is on menu, she also soaks the bansi rava for herself. This gets done quickly provided you have the Urad Dal batter ready. Else you might have to plan to grind it a day ahead and store it in fridge. Idlis with Wheat Rava / Bansi Rava Idli ~ Diabetic Diet Food Soaking time for the Bansi Rava – 1 hr Preparation Time – 10 – 15 mins Soaking & Resting time for Urad Dal batter – 4 soaking time + overnight or 6 hrs fermenting time (this is usually done Continue reading >>

4 Common Types Of Diabetes Mellitus | Diabetes Diet Chart For Indians
Diabetes is routinely accompanied by excess of weight; something the experts call as ‘Diabesity’ (Diabetes + Obesity) Everyone has heard of diabetes mellitus and the dietary restrictions it imposes. Rather, diabetes has claimed our attention with scary statistics. It is estimated that by the year of 2025, diabetes prevalence will rise to 69.9 million compared to 32 million in the year of 2000. And that is alarming. However, in order to fight the disease, we must first know it properly. So here we bring to you the symptoms, types, and diseases associated with diabetes mellitus. Want to prevent diabetes? The first step is to reduce your weight! Get FREE Diabetes Weight Management Consultation and Nutrition Mentoring by an experienced Truweight Nutrition Coach. 6 diabetes mellitus symptoms It is found that diabetes mellitus often doesn’t show prominent symptoms. And if they occur, the symptoms of Type 1 may appear quickly while the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes mellitus may develop very slowly. 6 of the common symptoms that are associated with diabetes mellitus are as below Frequent urination than usual. Growing excessive thirst and prolonged dryness of the mouth Developing blurry vision Weight loss at an alarming rate Prolonged healing of cuts and wounds Extreme tiredness 4 most common types of diabetes mellitus Diabetes mellitus is a disease that can be of different types depending on nature. Whatever the type is, the disease results in high blood sugar level. This group of diseases is referred to as metabolic disorders that persist for a long time. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus are the common types. While the first is primarily dependent on medicines the latter can be controlled with proper diet and exercises. 1. Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus This type of diabetes Continue reading >>

If You Have Diabetes Please Eat Rice, Banana And Ghee But Eat The Right Way !
Here comes another important day the world diabetes day especially for Indians. With 40 percent of Indians being prone to diabetes call it syndrome x/metabolic disorders/lifestyle changes etc . Typically in India diabetics are asked to stop eating rice, banana and ghee. The first thing once needs to understand is that eating rice / idly / dosa does not cause diabetes eating loads of rice with very little of dal and curry will spike the blood sugar levels. Low fats for diabetics but how much low is low and what type of fats? Too low of fats affects your brain functioning and poor lubrication to gut and joints. The traditional Indian foods and eating practices hold good for us even today and are proved scientifically across the globe only fear is Ghee should not be patented by nations who never ate before we introduced to the rest of the world and now sold as “clarified butter” clarifying al l the misconceptions around this wonder food! Rice: Traditionally when rice is served on a plate before that there are at least two forms of curries, chutneys and dal in the plate and rice is served and topped with a dollop of ghee . How does this help? Rice is a simple carbohydrate but remember it’s the richest source of biological protein compared to any non-vegetarian food followed by fish protein. So rich though not dense on protein is having high biological value protein, energy packed carbohydrate might cause sudden spike in the blood sugars this is where our traditional Indian food wisdom comes in, its mixed with curries – fiber and vitamins and minerals, dal – protein and ghee – which reduces the glycaemic index of the rice. So ideally you platter has a complex carbohydrate mix which is absorbed gradually without rising blood sugars. Agree? Well same goes with Idly Continue reading >>

Best Diet For Diabetes: Vegetarian And Non Vegetarian
Don’t you denounce sugar and rice as soon as your sugar levels shoot up? However, diet for diabetes is much more than restricting sugar and rice. You may still crave for ice creams, chocolates, pizza or burger, but diabetes must be making you think that all this food items are completely taken away from your list for life long, am I right? However, if you are following a proper well balanced diet for 6 days a week, you can easily treat yourself for 1 day. Yes, you heard it right; you can eat one meal of your choice. The same follows even for the non-vegetarians In this article, I’ll be sharing 2 sample menus with you, one for vegetarians and the other for non-vegetarians. These are the generalized balanced diet for diabetes, sugar peasant, which will help you maintain the diabetes normal range without fearing of any side effects. We will help to prepare a diet chart for sugar control. Best Diet for Diabetes – Vegetarian Menu(Non-veg for diabetes) Consuming non veg for diabetes is considered harmful, but minimal amounts can be eaten as shown in the following diabetic diet chart. 1. Early Morning 1 tsp. of methi seeds (soaked overnight, gulp the seeds with water) (You can take one fenugreek capsule per day as an alternative) 2. Breakfast 1 glass buttermilk + 1 bowl Oats/Broken wheat (daliya) 3. Mid-morning 1 fruit (As per the list given below). Make sure you are eating fruits properly. 4. Lunch 1 whole cucumber + 1 onion + 1 Chapatti (No ghee) + 1 cup vegetables (As per the list given) + 1 cup dal (less oil) + ½ cup brown rice 5.Afternoon (2 hours post lunch) 1 cup green tea + 1 tsp. flaxseeds roasted and grinded (Omega 3, 6, 9 veg capsules can be used as an alternative) 6. Evening snack 4 almonds + 2 walnuts + 1 bowl of boiled sprouts 7.Dinner (Before 8pm) 1 cup b Continue reading >>

Don’t Worry, Your Grandmother Was Right About The Idlis
Do you recall using a starch solution to test for iodine in your high school chemistry lab? A stock viva voce question about this experiment would be, why must you use freshly-prepared starch solution? The answer to this question is that, if the solution is not freshly-prepared, bacteria will decompose the starch. Old starch solution will be chemically very different – you will not see the iodine ions turning it purple-blue. But why is the effect of bacteria on the chemical structure of starch (a carbohydrate) important here? To illustrate what microbes can do to carbohydrates: fermentation of carbohydrates can vastly alter their nutritional profile. This is a vital point Ravi Mantha seems to have overlooked in his article on the idli, wherein he argues that the popularly held notion of the idli being a healthy food is profoundly wrong. Mantha bases his arguments solely on two quantities, the glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL). For idlis, the GI and GL are typically in the range of fruit juices and desserts, he points out. For good measure, he equates the idlis with Coke. Ergo, they must be avoided like the plague. The GI of a food provides a measure of how much it would cause one’s blood glucose levels to spike, relative to pure glucose (which is taken to have a GI of 100). The GL goes one step further, and accounts for the size of the serving (or, more accurately, the amount of carbohydrate in it). Thus, a watermelon has a GI of 72, but two cups of watermelon chunks have a GL of only 4, compared to 22 for a Snickers bar (GI 55). However, neither quantity captures how fast (or slowly) the blood sugar level shall rise, the effect of other nutrients present in the food, or any other downstream effects. In other words, they totally miss the context, which, iro Continue reading >>

Which Is Better For A Diabetic: Chapati Or Rice?
Diabetics need to be especially careful of their dietary choices because they are unable to naturally control blood sugar levels. Type 1 diabetics don’t produce enough insulin, which is needed to shuttle glucose from the bloodstream into cells. In contrast, type 2 diabetics produce enough insulin but their cells are resistant to its affect. Common Indian foods such as chapati and rice can be eaten by diabetics in moderation, but different varieties are better suited to diabetic diets because they have lower glycemic indexes. Consult your doctor about the importance of choosing foods with a low glycemic index. Video of the Day Carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables and grains are not metabolized into glucose at the same rate. Some are quickly digested, causing spikes in blood glucose and insulin release, while others are broken down more slowly, which impacts blood sugar and insulin levels to a much lesser degree. The glycemic index is a comparative measure of how quickly a carbohydrate is reduced into glucose. In general, foods with index values of 55 or less have low impact on blood sugar levels and are considered most appropriate for diabetics. Index values between 56 and 69 are considered to have a moderate impact on blood glucose and insulin, whereas values of 70 or greater represent significant impact. The glycemic index of rice depends on whether the grain is polished or not, whereas the index of chapati depends on the type of flour used. Rice for Diabetics Diabetics can safely eat all types of rice, although their portions should be moderated. In the production of brown rice, only the outermost hull is removed from the rice kernel. White rice is further milled, processed and polished, which reduces the nutritional value of the grain. In addition to containing Continue reading >>

Rujuta Diwekar's Diet Tip
- ‘Eat rice, eat sugar, eat ghee,’ says nutritionist I have a confession. When I went to meet Rujuta Diwekar at Starmark South City for the launch of The PCOD-Thyroid Book (Westland Books, Rs 200), I went armed not only with health questions but also a bunch of starry questions. Why? Because Rujuta is the woman behind Kareena Kapoor’s fab weight loss and she’s worked with so many Bolly bods! But once Rujuta started talking about eating and sleeping and ghee and dahi, this stuff seemed far more important than the stars I wanted to quiz her about. So here is a non-starry but five-star interview with nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar. We loved your concept of ‘don’t lose weight, gain health’… See, what we need to understand is that till now there has been too much focus on total body weight and that’s exactly why the world is still fat. Most of us have been on diet after diet but all that it has done to us is that today we are much fatter than when we went on our very first diet. And the reason is we have consistently lost our lean body weight. Lean body weight is the weight of our bones and muscles. It is the bones and muscles which keep us metabolically healthy. It is the bones and muscles also that are metabolically active as tissues. And it is bones and muscles that respond beautifully to eating local food, to exercising, to sleeping on time. And once we shift our focus to making long-lasting, sustainable changes in our lifestyle, versus just losing weight, then we lose weight in an irreversible fashion. If you lose weight but you lose health with it, you get acidic, you are irritable, you cannot sleep at night, then how is that weight loss even going to serve you? Whoever thought sleep was so important to weight loss... Sleeping is the most underrated aspe Continue reading >>

How To Eat Rice Without Affecting Blood Sugar Levels
Expert-reviewed by Ashwini S.Kanade, Registered Dietician and Certified Diabetes Educator with 17 years of experience Fact-checked by Aditya Nar, B.Pharm, MSc. Public Health and Health Economics As a diabetic, one of the first foods you are asked to give up is rice (and sugar, of course!). Which, let’s face it, is not easy for most of us. But why do you have to give up something that’s been part of your staple diet all your life? Do you have to eliminate it altogether? Are any healthier substitutes just as satisfying to the taste buds? Are all types of rice bad for you? Let’s find out. What makes rice risky for diabetics? To understand how rice causes fluctuations in blood sugar levels, you first need to understand what glycemic index or GI score is. GI is a score given to different food items (between 0-100) and indicates how they affect your blood sugar levels. For eg., refined sugar with a high GI of 100, instantly increases your blood sugar levels but a natural form like those found in fruits with a medium GI range increases it slowly. [1] You must’ve figured out by now that you need to include food with a low or medium GI in your diet and try to avoid ones with a high GI. High GI foods fall in the range of 70 and above, medium GI foods in the range of 56 to 69, and low GI foods in the 55 or less range. The rice variety most of us eat unfortunately falls into the first category. However, you don’t have to give it up completely (but don’t start celebrating just yet). Is there a way to continue eating rice safely? Try other varieties of rice: Brown rice, wild rice or wholegrain basmati rice. Brown rice is white rice that has not been stripped of its nutrients. It is rich in fibre and magnesium, that help regulate blood sugar levels. Wholegrain basmati rice Continue reading >>
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Moong Dal Idli ~ Diabetic Friendly Idli
Folks I am back with another healthy recipe for you. I am taking my resolution of posting recipes that are as healthy as possible, a bit too seriously This is not a New Year’s resolution. I decided to do this late last year and I hope to keep at it as much as possible. When I was going through my archives I realised that I posted 60 odd recipes which is pretty low as compared to the other years. A few months from now this blog will celebrate its 8th birthday! Time simply flies, doesn’t it. So this year’s actual resolution from a blogging point of view is to post a 100 recipes by the end of 2017. Will I be able to do this? I do not know but putting it down on paper makes it impossible to squirm out of the deal for me. I also follow the videos of a motivational speaker Jay Shetty on Facebook who also asked for an affirmation to be added along with every challenge taken. So I will now aim to post at least 25 health recipes (out of the total 100) that are aimed towards helping those with special dietary needs/restrictions. There! In the days to come I will also share my experiences with the monthly challenges I plan to start taking this year. So coming back to today’s recipe, idli is one of our favourite breakfast options. Most times I stick to making them the traditional way – I haven’t perfected the ratio for the rice and urad dal and sometimes I have trouble getting the dough to rise so I use store bought batter. Sometimes I make the rava idli and on days when we are in the mood to eat sanna (Mangalorean/Goan idlies made with batter fermented with yeast) I make those or on rare occasions its the ragi idli that makes its appearance. Now the moong dal idlies are added to my idli repertoire! I got this recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor’s book on Healthy Tiffins. Thes Continue reading >>