Diabetes: Nutritionist on healthy fats to regulate blood sugar levels
Eating more healthy fats, like nuts, seeds and vegetable oils, while limiting refined carbohydrates, can lower blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity, says nutritionist Bhakti Kapoor.
Diabetes can be prevented from turning deadly by finding ways to manage blood sugar levels. Uncontrolled glucose levels can invite a range of worrying health issues from heart problems, vision loss to kidney disease. Having a high blood sugar level can also affect your moods and energy levels, leaving an impact on your quality of life. One of the ways to improve insulin sensitivity naturally is adding healthy fats to your diet. According to research published in PLOS Medicine journal, eating more unsaturated fats instead of carbohydrates can reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes. (Also read: Diabetes superfoods: Fibre-rich foods you must eat for healthy blood sugar level)
Having healthy fats like as polyunsaturated fats lowers blood sugar levels and improves insulin control, according to the study.
There is a lot of emphasis on healthy lifestyle from diet to physical activity for diabetes patients as doing that can also keep cardiovascular disease risk factors such as high B and high cholesterol in control. Getting rid of unhealthy habits like smoking and alcohol could go a long way in minimising adverse impact of diabetes on your health.
Nutritionist Bhakti Kapoor in her recent Instagram post talks about the kind of healthy fats one should consume for controlling blood sugar levels.
"While high blood sugar is the characteristic symptom of diabetes, your blood sugar can also be high even if you don’t have the condition. To avoid making high blood sugar worse, it is important to make good dietary choices and choose foods that can help you regulate your blood sugar," says Kapoor.
"Eating more healthy fats, like nuts, seeds and vegetable oils, while limiting refined carbohydrates, can lower blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity," according to the nutritionist.
Healthy fats that can help improve blood sugar control as per nutritionist Bhakti Kapoor:
- Monounsaturated Fats: Monounsaturated fats are called “good or healthy” fats. This includes nuts, avocados, olive oil and cold pressed seed oils like sunflower, sesame and peanut oil.
- Polyunsaturated Fats: Again, a healthy category of fats that can serve as a healthy replacement for saturated fats. Examples of these are walnuts, flax seeds, soybean oil, safflower oiled corn oil.
- Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Omega-3 fatty acids help prevent clogging of the arteries. Some types of fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and must be included for lowering blood sugars.
Kapoor says healthy fats play an important role in regulating high blood sugar by supplying anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits that can help regulate metabolism and body’s response to insulin.
