Diabetics must eat starchy carbs – BY Dr Harold Gunatillake

Diabetics must eat starchy carbs

Did you know that you eat basically two varieties of carbs, both equally beneficial to your health and survival?
They are classified as starchy ones and leafy ones. One cannot survive on the healthy leafy vegies alone you need starchy ones too to feel full, satiated and get the required micronutrients.

Just imagine you eat many cupful of healthy gotukola or kale, you’ll never be satisfied how healthy they are, and not been able to concentrate on your daily work or relate to colleagues and family. When adding a few starchy vegies you tend to promptly revive.
Starchy vegies contain more complex carbs and more calorie-dense compared to those non-starchy ones mostly rabbits eat. The common starchy ones are corn, potatoes, zucchini, parsnip, pumpkin, butter squash, sweet potatoes, yams and other underground rhizomes.( Rice and wheat are grains and not vegetables).These starchy vegies are packed with energy, nutrients, phytochemicals, antioxidants, vitamins and so on. Some starchy vegies have vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene and beta-crypto xanthin that help to reduce cataract and macular degeneration.

The non-starchy vegetables include spinach, celery, broccoli, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, cucumber, carrots, beets, mukunu-anners, and gotukolas and so on. Non-starchy vegies have about 5 grams of carbs in half cooked or 2 cups of raw at a time.Non-starchy vegetables are very low glycaemic and you could eat ad-lib even if you are a diabetic.
Diabetics are supposed to eat more non-starchy vegies than the high carbohydrate vegies to control their blood sugar levels. This is not true, because starchy vegies give you more strength, energy to concentrate and exercise. Diabetic medication will look after the blood sugar levels along with exercise, whether you eat either kind of foods. This is why diabetics are encouraged to eat potatoes, yams, beets though they contain much starch ultimately converting to sugar. The notion that diabetics should eat less starchy vegies is because they raise the blood sugar levels more than the non-starchy ones. Starchy vegies as mentioned earlier contain vitamins and minerals and fibre needed for metabolic processes. Green-peas contain a lot of vitamin A than you need in a single day, almost half of vitamin C and iron, too. Likewise, other starchy vegies contain beta-carotenes and other minerals required for daily metabolism.
Starchy vegies are a good source of fibre. High fibre diets aid weight loss, as fibre fills up quickly and staves off hunger pangs. Eating a diet rich in fibre can help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. So eating a moderately rich starchy vegetable diet is good after all for diabetics. So the bottom line is doing not differentiate between starchy and non-starchy vegies, eat both kinds even if you are a diabetic who needs to restrict foods containing sugar.

However, if you need to lose weight you must restrict high calorie dense starchy vegies and eat more non-starchy ones.

Good health by Dr harold
Ref: EcoWatch

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