Honey for type 1 and type 2 diabetes: what can be consumed, benefit and harm
Diabetes is a complex and dangerous disease, the essence of which is the failure of the endocrine system: the carbohydrate and water metabolism in the body is disrupted. To all those who have been diagnosed with diabetes, the doctor first of all prescribes an appropriate diet, eliminating the use of many products - and especially this refers to sweets. However, even here everything is not clear: for example, is honey under diabetes - banned or allowed? After all, honey is unusually useful, and consists mainly of fructose, which in certain amounts is allowed for use by diabetics. Let's try and we will understand this question.
Is it possible to eat honey in diabetes mellitus type 1 and type 2?
Honey is a controversial product in the sense that specialists can not give an unambiguous answer to the question: is its use permissible in diabetes? Some scientists do not agree that bee products, which contain not only fructose, but also glucose, and sucrose, can be included in the diet of diabetics. Other experts refer to the results of numerous studies, during which it was possible to prove more than once: a small amount of honey will not cause harm, but it will be useful in diabetes of any type. That's what the doctors say:
- Type 1 diabetes can periodically be accompanied by hypoglycemia, during which it is recommended to eat a certain amount of carbohydrate food. In this case, a candy or a liver is better to prefer more natural products - for example, honey. For information, one grain unit is 12 g of sugar, or 15 g of honey.
- Diabetes type 2 with sufficient compensation is not a contraindication to the use of a small amount of honey. A little sweet mass - namely 1-2 tsp. Per day, you can afford and even need to. But with poorly compensated diabetes, the question of the possibility of its use should be decided by the attending physician.
Honey is a source of many vitamins and minerals, enzymatic and bioactive components. His influence on pancreas work is only positive, and in Canada there is even a special clinic in which patients with type 1 diabetes are treated with the help of beekeeping products.
A lot of research has been done on the possibility of using honey in diabetes. So, a hundred years ago, Dr. A. Ya. Davydov conducted experiments, giving patients with diabetes honey or sugar. After the sugar, the patients felt unwell, but after using honey, their health did not suffer.
The Bulgarian professor of medicine S. Vatev tested the possibility of using honey in pediatrics. He determined that if you follow a diet recommended for diabetes, eating a small amount of honey has only a positive effect. Under a small amount, he meant the following dosage: 1 tsp. On an empty stomach, thrice a day.
Of course, each case of the disease is individual, so the possibility of including honey in the diet in diabetes is better coordinated with your doctor.
Honey with gestational diabetes
Pregnancy is a period of significant changes in the female body. Because of the hormonal changes and increasing the burden on the internal organs, so-called gestational diabetes sometimes develops. As a rule, such a violation is temporary, and the condition of a woman is normalized after the child's birth. However, according to statistics, in almost 50% of cases in time such women developed real, or true diabetes.
During pregnancy, some food for a future mother is prohibited. The diet is toughened even more if, during the diagnosis, gestational diabetes is detected. Since in such a situation a woman is "deprived" of all sweets, there is a need to search for a suitable permitted alternative, which often becomes honey.
Indeed, honey in gestational diabetes is acceptable - but not more than 1-2 tsp. Per day (this amount is desirable to use not immediately, but "stretch" for the whole day). And the most important addition: the delicacy should be real, from the checked beekeeper. The product purchased in the store, or in the market for an unfamiliar seller - is by far not the best option. The fact that honey is the record for the number of fakes, and when diabetes pregnant women "run into" a fake - then put at risk not only themselves, but also the future baby.
What kind of honey can I eat with diabetes?
With diabetes, honey is allowed, but not any variety. First, the product must be ripe, and secondly - natural, with a proven 100% quality. We bring to your attention a small list of the varieties allowed for diabetes:
- floral (get it from nectar, collected from a variety of flowering plants);
- Acacia (an easy and useful product that can be stored for a long time in a liquid state);
- buckwheat (improves the picture of blood and increases the level of hemoglobin);
- Chestnut (honey with bitter taste, not everyone likes, but it is extremely useful).
Other known varieties - for example, rapeseed or lime - contain more glucose than fructose, so they were not considered for use in diabetes with specialists.
How to take honey in diabetes?
Of course, honey in diabetes can not be eaten literally "spoons." The limiting daily amount of it - 2-3 tsp. The product is added to cottage cheese, kefir, water. But sweeten hot honey with honey: at a temperature of more than 40 ° C its useful properties are replaced by harmful ones.
Before embarking on the introduction of honey in the diet, make sure that it is natural. Sometimes this is a matter of life and death: a lot of extraneous additives, including sugar, make a fake dangerous for any diabetic. Therefore, find a "self" beekeeper who will supply you with fresh and quality bee products.
And yet: the crystallized mass in diabetes should not be eaten. It is important to choose only a liquid product. There are varieties that can not crystallize for 1-2 years (for example, honey from a white acacia).
Also in priority for diabetics is honey in honeycombs. This product can be used almost regularly. By the way, it's impossible to fake it.
Buckwheat honey with diabetes
Buckwheat honey has a characteristic taste, aroma and color. It is dark, sometimes resinous, perhaps not very attractive in appearance. But such a variety is considered one of the most useful, because of the record content of vitamin and mineral substances.
Buckwheat honey has such healing properties:
- strengthens the immune system;
- prevents catarrhal diseases;
- treats anemia, hypertension;
- eliminates hypovitaminosis;
- improves the functioning of the nervous system, soothes;
- inhibits the development of inflammatory processes;
- accelerates recovery in case of physical exhaustion, after severe diseases and surgeries.
The use of such honey in diabetes is felt only if its use is correct. So, for people with diabetes, the daily norm of this bee product can not be more than 1-2 teaspoons.
Honey of white acacia with diabetes
Honey, obtained from the flowers of the white acacia, is easily recognizable: it is light, almost transparent, with a slightly golden hue. Such a bee product crystallizes very long: it can remain liquid from six months to two years.
Honey white acacia is allowed for use by people with diabetes. It is considered hypoallergenic, as it causes allergies very rarely.
One of the main advantages of this product is a wide vitamin and mineral composition, represented by vitamins A, B, C, E, H, PP and trace elements, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iodine, chlorine, sodium, zinc, phosphorus, iron, etc.
The bee product from the white acacia has such features and properties:
- tones up, gives strength and vivacity;
- improves blood composition and vascular wall condition;
- accelerates metabolism;
- cleanses the liver;
- activates the brain, improves sleep;
- stops the development of the inflammatory process, heals ulcers, wounds.
The average amount of fructose in acacia honey is 40%, so for diabetes it is allowed to take 1 tsp. Such a treat once a day. The optimal time for consumption is in the morning on an empty stomach, or during the day half an hour before meals.
Honey in diabetes can be eaten in its pure form, gradually dissolving in the oral cavity, or dilute a small amount of it with warm water.
Honey and lemon in diabetes
Lemon is a very desirable product in the diet of people with diabetes. It is hardly worth repeating again that this citrus fruit is extremely useful. Lemon "knows how" to stabilize blood pressure and cholesterol level, and also accelerate the removal of harmful substances from the body.
Lemon with honey is often used as a remedy for diabetes. For example, this recipe is popular:
- take one medium-sized lemon, one head of garlic and 3 teaspoons of honey;
- garlic is cleaned and passed through a meat grinder along with a whole lemon (no need to peel off);
- add honey to the resulting mass and mix well;
- consume 1 tsp. Mixture with food, three times a day.
Such a recipe helps to significantly improve the health of a patient with diabetes and normalize blood sugar levels. In addition, you can prepare the healing mass for future use: it is perfectly preserved in the refrigerator, if it is placed in a clean jar and closed with a lid.
Alternative healers assure the benefits of another, more complex prescription:
- squeeze juice from a pair of medium lemons;
- mix the resulting juice with 300 grams of washed and dried raisins and 300 g of ground walnuts;
- add 200 ml of fresh honey;
- stored in the refrigerator, using 1 tsp. Mixture in the morning with breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Honey in the Cells for Diabetes
Honey in honeycombs is, in fact, the same bee product, which is only in its natural "storehouse". When the honey is pumped out the frame with the honeycomb is installed in the honey, where the liquid part is literally squeezed out, separating from the honeycomb.
Therefore, honey, used with honeycomb, is also useful: plus, it is supplemented with useful properties of particles of other products, such as wax, zabrus, propolis.
Honey in honeycombs is not faked, therefore, when purchasing such a product, one can count only on the natural composition. Its effectiveness is beyond doubt, since it has:
- anti-inflammatory effect;
- healing effect;
- antimicrobial property.
Phytoncides, which are contained in wax, are distinguished by preventive and medicinal effects. With diabetes, honey in honeycombs is consumed little by little - a day is enough to eat a piece the size of a small walnut. Usually it is advised to chew such a piece until the sensation of sweetness disappears in the mouth: many "sponges" are spit out, but with diabetes it is advisable to swallow it. The absorbed wax plays the role of a natural sorbent, perfectly cleansing the digestive system. However, it is important not to overdo it: since the digestive tract is not able to digest the waxy "chewing gum", it can be eaten very little. A greater amount of swallowed mass can only do harm.
Optimal use of honey in honeycombs for diabetes in the morning, on an empty stomach, with a glass of clean water.
Chestnut honey for diabetes
Honey from chestnut color can not be considered a popular variety. The main reason for this unpopularity is the peculiar taste of the product. However, with diabetes, it is much more useful than any other honey variety.
Such a variety can have a different color shade - from dark to almost colorless. It depends on the kind of chestnut tree from which the nectar was collected. But the taste is always typical, and it is simply impossible to confuse it: the expressiveness of sweet and sugary taste in it is minimal, but the bitterness stands out quite brightly. It is because of this bitterness that the product is less popular. But such honey in diabetes is considered one of the most recommended for use.
The main useful property of chestnut honey treats is the ability to inhibit the vital activity of bacteria and even viruses. With diabetes, honey demonstrates such abilities:
- optimizes the exchange processes;
- makes the vessels elastic;
- strengthens immune defense;
- improves the function of the pancreas and digestive system as a whole.
The acceptable rate of consumption of such honey for diabetes is 1 teaspoon per day (without any danger to health).
Flower honey with diabetes
Honey from different colors is called floral: among all varieties, it probably has the richest flavor. In addition, it is also very useful in diabetes, since its composition can be represented by the nectar of many honey-plants: apple, apricot, cherry, strawberry, clover, sweet clover, dandelion, alfalfa, peppermint, etc. The hue of flower honey can vary, depending on from which plants in the process of honey production involved more.
A teaspoonful of this product contains approximately 25 kcal. More than 60% of sugars are fructose and glucose, and less than 10% sucrose. This ratio is quite permissible for the use of honey in diabetes.
If there is no predilection for allergies to beekeeping products, the optimal dose of flower honey for diabetes can be from one to two teaspoons. Experts recommend adding a combination of delicacy with a few drops of lemon juice: this will help improve metabolic processes and update blood composition.
In general, regular consumption of honey in diabetes in recommended amounts will strengthen the immune system and improve the functioning of many organs and systems.
Health Benefits of Diabetes
Everyone knows the fact that all bee products are extremely useful. However, very few people know that, in addition to vitamin and mineral components, glycutil is present in the honey mass - a substance that can be called a kind of natural insulin (because of the similarity of the action). Paradoxically, many studies of scientists confirm that after using small amounts of honey, the sugar level in the blood stream does not increase, but on the contrary - decreases.
Among other abilities of honey in diabetes, you can separately identify the following:
- Purification of blood, increase of hemoglobin level, normalization of cholesterol level.
- Sleep stabilization, mood improvement.
- Restoration of damaged tissues, healing of ulcers and wounds.
- The inhibition of the development of inflammatory processes.
- Stimulation of immunity, improvement of metabolism.
- Minimization of adverse events with the intake of hypoglycemic drugs.
Absolutely all the components that make up the honey, in one way or another are useful. It's vitamins, and micro and macro elements, and organic acids. Such a rich formulation is the best alternative to any pharmaceutical product.
Honey and cinnamon in diabetes
One of the most important components of cinnamon is phenol, which takes part in the mechanisms of lowering the glucose content in the blood. This property allows you to apply spice to improve the condition of people with diabetes. Cinnamon stops the development of inflammatory processes, promotes the healing of tissues. According to specialists, the daily inclusion of this spice in the menu helps to stabilize the metabolism, which is disturbed in diabetic patients. In addition, cinnamon is able to greatly reduce the blood glucose - about 30%, and also prevents the appearance of excess weight.
How can I apply cinnamon powder to diabetes mellitus? Nutritionists say that only one daily addition of it to food will have a beneficial effect on the condition of the sick person. This spice is universal: it can complement not only desserts, but also salads, and even meat dishes. Dosage cinnamon at your own discretion: it is preferable to start a systematic intake with 1 g of powder, gradually increasing the daily amount to one full teaspoonful.
In the already prepared dish, the spice retains its healing powers for 4 hours. To get the maximum benefit from it, it is recommended to add cinnamon to the dishes just before they are consumed.
A good combination is cinnamon powder and honey. Of these ingredients, a medicinal drink for diabetics is prepared:
- mix 1 tbsp. L. Honey, 1 tsp. Cinnamon and 200 ml of warm water;
- insist for 40 minutes;
- placed for 60 minutes in the refrigerator;
- take 100 ml twice a day.
It is also recommended to drink 150 ml of low-fat kefir before bedtime, with half a teaspoon of honey and the same amount of cinnamon.
In its pure form, cinnamon should not be consumed: the powder is added to dishes and drinks.
Harm to honey with diabetes
The composition of honey sweetness is represented mainly by such simple carbohydrates as fructose, glucose and sucrose. So honey is a carbohydrate product. And this must be taken into account before starting to absorb it in large volumes. Do it categorically impossible - and not only with diabetes, but even a healthy person. It is believed that the optimal daily amount of honey for healthy people is 100-150 g, and for a person diagnosed with "diabetes" 1-2 tsp. Exceed this dose is strongly not recommended.
In addition to increasing the level of sugar in the blood, honey in large quantities can cause excessive weight. And, as you know, extra pounds - this is an additional adverse factor in diabetes. It is possible to develop an allergy to honey .
If you correctly dose and consume a bee product, not forgetting about systematic control of blood sugar level, then you can note only its beneficial effect on the body. Honey with diabetes will help improve metabolism and clean blood and blood vessels.
Medical expert editor
Portnov Alexey Alexandrovich
Education: Kiev National Medical University. A.A. Bogomolets, Specialty - "General Medicine"
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