November 14th is celebrated as the World Diabetes Day every year. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of a medical condition that affects millions of people around the world.
Diabetes could also affect other organs, such as the kidneys and eyes, if nothing is done to manage the condition. There are also fairly frequent reports of diabetes being related to cardiovascular complications.
So, what’s diabetes? Diabetes is a condition in which your body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or doesn’t respond to the insulin that is produced. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas which regulates the amount of glucose in the blood.
Diabetes is of various types – type 1, type 2, type 3, gestational and pre-diabetes. All anyone with diabetes can do is to control the symptoms because diabetes has no proven cure.
For diabetes management, diet plays a key role. Many foods are known to keep blood sugar levels under sugar, one of which is our humble onion. That’s right!
It is actually a fantastic idea to include onions in your diabetes diet, but one has to be very careful about the portion.
A research published in the international journal ‘Environmental Health Insights’ found that consumption of fresh onions decreased blood glucose levels among people with type-1 and type-2 diabetes. Onions have a low glycaemic index as well which means that it gets digested slowly, allowing only a slow release of sugar into the bloodstream.
You can use onions in any way that you prefer. They are so versatile, there really is no lack of ideas. Use them in your soups, stews, salads or sandwiches. You could also try onion-water, a simple low-calorie detox drink that you can consume every morning.
To make onion-water for diabetes control, here’s what you need to do:
Ingredients:
- 2 chopped onions
- 1 cup of water
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 1 pinch of rock salt
How to prepare it?
Take a blender and blend all the ingredients. Don’t strain the contents as it is very important that you get the fibers.
The salt helps to cut through the onions’ pungency. If you like, you can rule out salt entirely. If your body allows it you can also add a touch of honey to the mix occasionally. But make sure that you have your blood sugar levels tested in advance.
In addition to the management of diabetes onion water is also essential for immunity and skin health due to the range of antioxidants it contains. Nevertheless, you have to be very careful about the amount. In the long run, an excess of anything could be harmful.
(Please note that this is just a tip to manage diabetes based on generic information. This is not a substitute for medical prescriptions.)
