Every year 14th November is celebrated as the World Diabetes Day. The day is aimed to promote awareness about the peculiar condition that afflicts millions of people around the world. If nothing is done to manage the condition, Diabetes could impact your other organs like kidneys and eyes too. Reports of diabetes being linked to cardiovascular problems are also fairly common. So, what is diabetes? Diabetes is a condition in which your body is either not producing enough insulin or not responding to insulin produced.
Diabetes are of many types: Type 1, Type 2, Type 3, Gestational and Pre-diabetes. Since diabetes has no known cure, you can only manage the symptoms.
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Your diet plays a crucial role in diabetes management. Many foods are known to keep blood sugar levels in control, one of which is our humble onion. Yes, that’s right! Including onions in your diabetes diet is actually a great idea, but one has to be very mindful of the portion. A study, published in the journal ‘Environmental Health Insights,’ revealed that consumption of fresh onions reduced blood glucose levels among type-1 and type-2 diabetics. Onion also has low glycaemic index. Which means, it gets digested slowly, enabling slow release of sugar in the bloodstream.
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Diabetes Diet: Onions are excellent for diabetes management
You can use onions in any way you want. They are so versatile, there is really no dearth of ideas. Use them in soups, stews, salads or sandwiches. You can also use them to make onion-water, a simple low-cal detox drink that you can consume every morning.
Here’s what you need to do to make onion-water to manage diabetes:
Ingredients:
- 2 chopped onions
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 pinch of rock salt
Method:
Take a blender and blend all the ingredients. Do not strain. It is important you get the fibres.
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The salt helps cut through the pungency of the onions. You can completely rule out the salt if you want. If on a particular day your body allows, you can also add a bit of honey to the mix. But make sure you have checked your blood sugar levels in advance.
In addition to diabetes management, onion water is also good for immunity and skin health owing to the range of antioxidants it comprises. However, you have to be very careful about the portion. Excess of anything could be harmful in the long run.
(This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.)
About Sushmita SenguptaSharing a strong penchant for food, Sushmita loves all things good, cheesy and greasy. Her other favourite pastime activities other than discussing food includes, reading, watching movies and binge-watching TV shows.
