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Foods that lower blood sugar
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025

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Effective treatment of diabetes is impossible without diet. The diabetic diet must include foods that lower blood sugar. Low-carb nutrition helps control the indicators and prevent complications. What foods are healthy and what should be taboo?
Healthy foods for high blood sugar
According to observations, when consuming healthy foods with elevated blood sugar, the indicators stabilize after 2-3 days. To prevent complications, it is necessary to constantly monitor your diet.
Among the products that lower blood sugar, there is no place for those enriched with fast-acting carbohydrates. The diet for diabetes is developed individually, but everyone must adhere to the general rules.
- Food should be taken regularly.
- The carbohydrate and protein content should remain unchanged.
- You should eat only when you feel hungry.
- A feeling of slight satiety is a signal to stop eating.
- Overeating is not allowed.
- If you are forced to postpone your next meal for an hour or more, you need a light snack.
The diabetic menu is formed by combining cottage cheese, porridge, boiled eggs, low-fat soups, salads and stewed vegetables, boiled meat dishes and casseroles, decoctions, dried fruits. Preference is given to fruits and leaves with a minimum of carbohydrates (eggplants, cabbage of different types, cucumbers, pumpkin, lettuce). Fresh tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms do not cause problems.
The restrictions apply to marinades and pickles, so-called sweet vegetables (potatoes, beets, carrots, processed tomatoes). Use vegetable oil instead of mayonnaise. It is recommended to create a weekly menu from suitable products.
Prohibited foods for high blood sugar
There are groups of strictly prohibited products for high blood sugar. An approximate list of such foods:
- fatty meat and fish dishes;
- roast;
- smoked;
- homemade "preserves";
- baked goods;
- ice cream;
- sweets;
- sauces and seasonings;
- caviar.
Restrictions are imposed on so-called "sweet" vegetables. These include legumes, carrots, potatoes, beets, peppers, and tomatoes that have been heated. But diabetics should not be upset, as they still have plenty of tasty and healthy vegetables with a minimum of sugar: from pumpkin to fresh tomatoes.
Exclude fruits rich in simple sugars, fresh and dried - figs, pineapple, banana, dates, raisins.
Spicy cheeses and fatty sour cream are also prohibited.
Porridges made from corn, semolina, and rice groats are prohibited. They are replaced with products that lower blood sugar.
What foods lower blood sugar?
It is vitally important for people at risk to know which products lower blood sugar. Because a special diet is an important component of therapy. When consuming products that lower blood sugar, the effect, i.e. stabilization of indicators, occurs within 2-3 days.
For diabetes, experts recommend planning a diet for a week at a time.
- Liquid dishes are prepared on lean meat, vegetables, mushrooms, fish. Excellent options are okroshka, borscht.
Cereals and vegetables are suitable for a side dish; a steamed cutlet, meatballs, or omelette are an excellent addition to them, given that no more than 1 egg per day is recommended.
- Vegetable and fruit salads, stewed vegetable dishes are always welcome on the diabetic table. Sauces and seasonings with carbohydrates are replaced with vegetable oil or homemade low-carb mayonnaise.
There are no restrictions on fresh fruits: strawberries, apples, watermelons. They are consumed after meals.
- Cheesecakes, casseroles and fresh cottage cheese are also included in the healthy menu.
When choosing spices, you need to focus on the composition. Salt and pepper are neutral ingredients in this sense.
- Recommended drinks include juices, jelly, compotes, tea, and chicory coffee.
Rye bread, made from bran, is useful, up to 300 g per day. Pastries are excluded completely.
Any disease complicates life, diabetes is no exception. However, millions of people, following the recommendations of doctors, have managed to establish a full working and personal life. Moreover, the abundance of products that lower blood sugar allows you not to deny yourself tasty and varied food.