Cooking Tips for Diabetes

Diabetes people can control their blood sugar level by following simple cooking tips. Cooking tips for diabetes help diabetic patients to eat balanced diet with essential nutrients. Diabetes is a disease that occurs due to inability of our body to produce sufficient insulin to metabolize the food that we eat. Normally the food we eat is converted within our body into a form of sugar called glucose. Glucose level increases in the blood which stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin that regulates the blood glucose level and helps in utilizing and storing glucose in our body.

Diabetes can be controlled through effective management of the balance of sugar and insulin, to enable your body to function well. Management of diabetes involves attention to diet, exercise, medications in the form of injections and pills. The diet plan helps a diabetic patient to control the intake of food as well as weight.

Some healthy cooking tips include:

- Season foods with herbs and spices, vinegar, lemon juice, or salsa instead of salt.
- Use vegetable oil spray instead of oil, shortening, or butter.
- If you do use oil, use canola, sunflower, or olive oil in food preparation instead of vegetable oil.
- Steam vegetables using a low-fat broth or water.
- Use low- or no-sugar jams instead of butter or margarine.
- Eat or cook cereal with skim milk or 1 percent milk.
- Use low-fat or fat-free cottage cheese, or nonfat yogurt in place of full fat versions.
- Drink 100 percent fruit juice that has no added sugar.
- Eat chicken or turkey without the skin.
- Broil, roast, stir-fry, or grill meats. Always buy lean cuts of meat.
- Use lemon or lime on fish and vegetables instead of butter or sauces.
- Buy whole-grain breads and cereals.

Always consult your health care provider, registered dietitian, or nutritionist to get advice on planning and preparing healthy meals.