Is Beetroot Good for Diabetes?

When you are a patient of diabetes, you always need to be careful about your daily diet. The foods which are otherwise considered healthy may not be good for consumption if you are diabetes’ patient. Beetroot is one such vegetable which is usually considered very healthy.

But when in diabetes, you need to question “Is Beetroot Good for Diabetes?” Let us find out the answer to this question in the article that follows:

Some Properties Of Beetroot

Beetroot is considered one of the best food items that you can include in your meal plan if you are someone who happens to suffer from a complicated condition like diabetes. Some of the nutritional facts about beetroot are as follows:

  • 100 grams of beetroot is known to contain around 5 grams of carbohydrates
  • Around 8 grams of protein
  • Calcium, iron, magnesium, sodium, potassium, zinc are just some of the many minerals and vitamins found in beetroot
  • It also contains good percentage of fiber and vitamins such as vitamin B1, vitamin B2, amongst a host of others

Let us now see some of the major benefits of beetroot

Beetroot

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Benefits of Eating Beetroot for Diabetes Patients

Beetroot offers a number of benefits to the diabetes patients. Some of these benefits include the following

  • Beetroot comprises nitrates that go a long way in helping to lower the blood pressure in a diabetes patient. A person who has diabetes has to suffer from a lot of issues and one of them is raised blood pressure.
  • It is a well-known fact that if you have diabetes, you need to control the same by maintaining a healthy weight. In diabetes, exercise, therefore, plays a very prominent role. When you consume beetroot juice on a regular basis, the stamina and energy levels tend to increase. Because of all this, you can exercise better with good results.
  • In diabetes, another complication arises due to the tendency of diabetic patients to suffer from a lot of nerve damage. The main enzymes contained in beetroot is also known to reduce the possibilities of a nerve damage.
  • People with diabetes should include food items that have low to medium glycemic index. The glycemic index of beetroot is 64. This implies that sugar is released into the blood really gradually. As a result, there is not too much increase in the glucose levels in the body of the diabetic patient.
  • The low calories present in the vegetable implies that you need not worry about weight gain at all
  • The juice of the vegetable is also considered healthy. Not only does the beetroot juice helps in improving and enhancing the digestive tract, but it is also rich in fiber. This implies that after drinking it, you will feel full for a longer period of time. Hence, the vegetable further aids in losing all the unnecessary fats.

Some Disadvantages of Beetroot for Diabetes Patients

You should definitely not go overboard with the consumption of the vegetable. It is not an unknown fact that beetroots are high in sugar. Besides, the presence of oxalates in the vegetable means that you can be prone to getting kidney stones and there could even be problems with your gallbladder.

Nevertheless, you can eat beetroot within the recommended portions if your medical expert so advises. You should also keep a tap as o how your blood glucose levels have been changing or fluctuating before or after having beetroot in either the raw vegetable form or the juice form.

How to Include Beetroot in a Diabetic Diet?

You can make use of any of the following ways in order to include this healthy vegetable in your daily diet:

  • You can make a salad comprising of beetroot, feta cheese, as well as a pear.
  • Most of us like top drink beetroot juice. The juice is the more favored form of the vegetable when compared to the raw vegetable.so, you can combine carrot, spinach, and beetroot to get a lovely juice which is not only healthy for diabetes but also for the entire system
  • You can also eat a dish made out of beetroot which can then be mixed with eggs and goats cheese. This is usually a roasted dish and turns out to be really yummy.
  • Additionally, you can also roast the vegetable and make a dish out of thyme and garlic. It works best with chicken

Thus, beetroot can be regarded as one of the healthiest food that you can easily include in your diabetic meal plan. However, you should remember, that you should not take any liberties and you should consume beetroot only as recommended by your medical expert!

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