Is Juicing Vegetables Good for Diabetes?
Answered by: Susan Eagles
Question from: Name
Posted on: April 09, 2005

I really need to lose weight! I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and am only 34 years old. Although the disease is a generational trait on both sides of my family (I am African American), I was told by my doctor to lose weight, I’m 250 right now-my goal weight for my height and muscle mass is 170/180. I’m on an oral med that I take at night so insulin is not necessary, but I still want to have children and a great life, and I’m worried about this being a hindrance!! I don’t want this to be an issue I’ll find myself dealing with for years to come, or even the rest of my life.

I’ve been working out with a trainer and that is going great! I have totally changed my eating habits and I feel I’m on the road to success. But eating veggies is an issue. So, I purchased a juicer and I love it. I figure I am getting all of the nutrients of the vegetables without having to really eat them (more specifically those that I don’t enjoy i.e. Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, etc). I am on a mission to get healthy, lose weight and be comfortable with my body-I am very apple shaped! My question is this, is juicing vegetables a great way to go about getting all of the nutrients I need from them? Is it just as good at eating them, or does it matter?

Please let me know. I recently went to the doctor for a checkup and my numbers were great, but I’m hoping this will make a difference as well. It’s just been so hard to lose the fat-I’ve gained a ton of muscle though and lost several inches. Help!

Juicing is a good way to get nutrients. What juicing doesn’t give you is the fibre. A high fibre diet is necessary in diabetes, in weight loss and for general health, to promote healthy digestion and elimination. The vegetable pulp helps to balance the sugars in vegetables, so in diabetes, over consumption is not recommended. There are many ways that you can increase fibre in your diet. "Pulping" is one of them. That is, blending the vegetables and drinking or eating the whole blended vegetables without straining out the vegetable pulp. Another way is to add freshly ground flax seed to the diet. Grind flax seed in a blender or a coffee grinder that is not used for coffee. Store the ground seeds in the freezer. Add one to two tablespoons of the ground seeds to every meal. The freshly ground seeds can be eaten with porridge or on salads, or drunk after mixing with a little water.

It may help your dislike of vegetables to add some of the spices that are recommended in diabetes. According to your taste, add cinnamon, cloves, coriander, garlic, ginger, and turmeric.

You are certainly on the right track with your exercise program, as exercise lowers blood sugar as well as promoting weight loss. It also lowers stress. Chronic stress affects blood sugar levels. Weight loss and aerobic exercise, forever, are the bases of treating blood sugar problems.

The best dietary advice in blood sugar problems is to follow a low glycemic index diet. For information on foods and the glycemic index, please see our website at www.richters.com. Choose "Q&A" from the main menu, then enter "Syndrome X " for the search. For more information on diabetes, enter "diabetes" for the search.

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