Not many people know much about mushrooms. These are actually regarded as a fungus and are known to be a rich source of various vitamins and nutrients that are needed by the body. In this article, let us understand how mushrooms can help you get most of the nutrients that your body requires and whether or not a diabetic can eat mushrooms?
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Some Nutritional Facts About Mushrooms:
Mushrooms are known to be full of nutrients that the body requires on a day to day basis. Some of the nutritional facts include the following:
- A cup full of mushrooms is known to contain just over 16 units of calories
- Besides, mushrooms are known to be a good source of the much-needed protein in our diet
- The low glycemic index of mushroom makes it a highly nutrient-rich food
- Besides, some of the most essential nutrients that is required by our body is found in mushrooms. These include several vitamins such as selenium, vitamin B2, as well as vitamin B5
- These are a great source of vitamin D
Some of the major advantages of using mushrooms are explained in the paragraph below:
Advantages of Eating Mushrooms for the Diabetes Patients:
-} Inflammation-related diseases are one of the most common threats in all the diabetes patients. One of the major advantages of eating mushrooms on a regular basis is that the anti-inflammatory properties in the food help to reduce the risks of such diseases.
-} Not only are mushrooms full of all the essential nutrients that are required on a day to day basis but the mushrooms also contain less or no sugar at all. This means that you can easily include this in your regular diet.
-} One of the major ways of controlling and managing diabetes is that you need to have to closely monitor your weight. You need to exercise in a timely manner and if you do not do so and maintain your weight, you will develop a lot of complications due to diabetes. Since the fungus does not contain calories, you can include it in your daily diet for weight management.
-} It is a well-known fact that you need to have food that have a low value of glycemic index as when you eat food that have a high value of glycemic index, the blood glucose levels in the body increases. The glycemic index of mushrooms is just somewhere around 10. This means that you can safely have it without worrying about increase in the levels of blood glucose or blood sugar.
-} Mushrooms also play a very important role in improving the lipid levels of the body.
-} They further help to reduce the levels of bad cholesterol
-} Anti-oxidants present in the mushrooms go a long way in helping to reduce the damage that is caused to the cells. This, in turn, goes a long way in helping to reduce the various complications that a patient who suffers from diabetes are known to suffer.
-} Mushrooms contains vitamin B in abundance. This helps to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases to a great extent. Heart-related conditions is one of the major complication or side-effect caused as a result of diabetes. Hence by reducing the chances of contracting heart-related conditions, mushrooms tend to help a great deal in managing diabetes.
-} It is a well-known fact that when you include mushrooms in your daily diet, the immunity of your body increases. With increased immunity, you stand at a better chance of managing diabetes.
-} Mushrooms are known to be rich in copper as well. this, in turn, helps in the building of strong tissues that goes a long way in keeping you healthy.
Having seen the various advantages, you should, by no means ignore the risks associated with the habit of eating mushrooms.
Points to be Kept in Mind:
Not everything is hunky-dory when it comes to eating this otherwise healthy food. you need to be really careful when you make a decision of including mushrooms in your daily diet. Few things that should be kept in mind include:
-} Mushrooms are normally grown in the wild. Hence, there are a lot of mushroom varieties which can be really wild and can lead to poisonous effects on the body. This, in turn, is more harmful rather than healthy for the body. You should therefore go for the purchase of mushrooms after doing a proper research and only after understanding the origin of the mushrooms. You should not go for just any other variety of the food item.
-} You should go for that variety of mushroom that is firm, as well as clean.
-} Do not use too much of water while preparing the curry when adding mushrooms. Mushroom tends to get really soggy and the curry will not turn out to be good
Thus, as is clear from the above article, you can safely include mushrooms in your diabetic diet provided the same has been recommended by your medical expert and you do take into account the above-mentioned points into consideration while you are including mushrooms in your diabetic diet.