Why nuts are a great food for diabetics
Posted on 29 June 2009
Conventional wisdom and advice regarding the dietary control of diabetes is that meals should contain a good amount of starchy carbohydrate. I am vigorously opposed to this notion of two main counts. Firstly, science shows that reducing carbohydrate intake is generally highly beneficial in the management of diabetes (see here for some more detail on this). Secondly, why would diabetics want to base a significant proportion of their diet on foods that are the precise foods diabetics do not handle well in their bodies. The idea that diabetics should eat plenty of starchy carbohydrate defies both science and common sense.
It should also be remember that even if no carbohydrate is eaten the body can switch to other fuel sources (protein and fat) to make it. This means that the body
Published June 29, 2009 . Filed under: Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome, Healthy Eating, Specific conditions, Unhealthy Eating!
Great blog post John, thank you.
Since eating nuts as a snack, I’ve been able to balance my blood sugar levels better as a type 1 diabetic. At the same time I went low carb too. My diabetic nurse and my specialist before her, are always delighted with my blood sugar levels when tested.
I might add not recommended to me by the NHS but of course an excellent Nutrition consultant.
I’d highly recommend snacking on nuts and fruit sometimes with the nuts to any diabetic.
July 3, 2009 @ 8:27 am
Nuts are a great food for many reasons. However, many nuts sold are not fresh (one health food shop owner told me that they are mostly off!) and rancid oils are not healthy. So be careful where bought and keep sealed and in the dark. Hilda
July 4, 2009 @ 11:07 am
How lovely to be able to tell people that they should eat MORE of something!
I find when working with diabetics the big problems they have with eating nuts is that they perceive them as being fattening and they have been told to aovid fat.
But it is useful for them to have nuts as a snack and in my experience helps them balance blood sugar levels.
July 4, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
Hilda, Hi.
The potential (or possibility) for rancification of oils in nuts is interesting and one I have noted as appearing in a number of written works. It looks to have the potential for an interesting line of further study that time has not yet permitted. Even in the sketchiest of thumbnails that I have in constructed in my mind to date I would be inclined to think that ‘oils’ are significantly factorial in several foremost health conditions of our time.
Might I be correct to carry in my head the broad generalisation that those of the naturally occurring oils that in the modern age that we might regard as therapeutic tend to the shorter chained ones, and that the shorter chained ones are also tend towards being the least stable and most likely to oxidise?
Oxidation in extracted oils is fairly well documented, but can you or anyone suggest any further reading in re. the oxidation of oils ‘intrinsic’ to nuts and seeds etc.? The next logical line of inquiry is to consider the bodies response to ingestion of rancid fats.
I expect the health food assistant is correct to point out the concerns, but I also wonder if such concerns might be overplayed.
July 5, 2009 @ 9:50 pm
I have had severe problems with artery blockage also was diagnosed with diabetes type 2. Having gone through a bypass & several angioplasties within last 17 years. About 3 years ago heart surgeon recommended a new bypass but I refused; start studing to know what to do if avoid a bypass. I start eating a lot of nuts, specially wall nuts & lot of fruits/fresh vegetables. A year ago a mild heart pain occured on exersion, after angiography I was told that my one of the main artery (a by passed artery) was totally blocked but luckily a new blood wain grown up supplying blood to the affected area. I was suggested to continue eating the same food I was eating. This day my heart health is improved and I run some time to catch my buss without any pain. My diabes is also well controlled thanks the nature of nuts.
January 12, 2010 @ 12:58 am