Can bhindi (ladyfinger) or methi seeds control your sugar levels?

When your near and dear ones come to know that you have Diabetes, you will get a lot o advice on having various foods that can bring down your sugar levels. Methi seeds, Bhindi, (ladyfinger), Karela (bitter gourd) top the list. Soak the bhindi in water overnight and have that water in the morning. Sprout methi seeds or just have a spoonful of it, powdered or otherwise. Consume Karela juice and so on. If you google, you will find a lot of researched articles too on these foods and one should definitely include them in the diet (I do) but on their own, they are not capable of keeping your sugar levels continuously at normal levels. They may partly aid you. 

Here's why.

From my experience, I can say that there is no particular food that can reduce your blood sugar levels. It is what you eat and how you digest it, that forms the crux to keeping your Diabetes at bay. You indulge in a couple of pegs of hard drinks and then have methi seeds, will it work? You gulp your food or get tempted to have food comprising complex carbohydrates and then have karela juice, will it work? No.

There is no miracle cure for Diabetes - not even those pills. But there is the wonderful hope that yes, the right kind of food can indeed control, lead to several months of keeping your sugar levels normal, leading to cure your Diabetes. I have deliberately used the word `cure.' The medical fraternity will not accept this (though I shall tell you in my subsequent posts about one part of the medical fraternity that is thinking on this lines). My line of thought is this: it is agreed upon that your common cold is cured - it comes back though, now and then. Your stomach is upset due to some food allergy or contaminated food and that is cured - but it comes back if you have food that is allergic to you or eat contaminated food. I consider Diabetes with the same yardstick - right food and food habits will finally cure your Diabetes - if you go back to carbohydrate-rich, fat-rich, dairy-rich, gluten-loaded foods, bad lifestyle you are bound to have your sugar levels go haywire once again. Someone said to me - oh, so you have to be on this strict food all your life. Firstly, it is not strict - you can enjoy your food, only you are keeping the bad food away. Diabetes is not a miserable disease - it is a blessing in disguise to reform your food and lifestyle habits. I feel so good starting my day with coconut milk tea, banana smoothie, Nitric Oxide salad. Earlier, I used to have the tea with the toxic milk, the worst processed food called Bread...triggering off acidity in the first part of the day.

Stock up your fridge with lots of vegetables and greens:
So, what are the foods you should be having? Lots of vegetables, for sure. When I once interviewed Swami Ramdev, asked him what his daily diet comprises, he had said he has more of vegetables for his lunch. For that, your fridge has to well stocked up - if you want to have healthy food, then organising it is very important. It is easy to rattle off a recipe of Green Smoothie but to accumulate the ingredients together needs thorough planning otherwise half of the time you would be forced to skip this vital food. I have brought a range of air-tight good quality plastic boxes to store all ingredients - please do the same. Unless you organise your fridge well, it is not possible for you to have the right kind of food.

Earlier, my fridge used to be stuffed with butter, cheese, curds, milk, pastries, ice-creams and processed foods. Now, it is decorated with so many greens and an array of vegetables. Because if you are having smoothie everyday, you need to have your betel leaves, curry leaves, corriander leaves, palak leaves, corriander leaves and bananas - all right there! If you are having Nitric Oxide salad everyday - you gotta have your tomatoes, beetroot, sprouts, lemon, coconut (freshly grated) all in place, beforehand! If you have Rainbow Salad (which I have very often for lunch) then you must have your capsicum, french beans and tomatoes readily available in the fridge. Then if you have Dudhi (bottle gourd) and carrot soup before your dinner, then you must have dudhi and carrots in place (I have this soup before dinner with two teaspoons of flax seed oil or til oil in it). Besides, I ensure green leafy vegetables are included in the diet. So, you must have a couple of green leafy vegetables available in your fridge. I buy different kinds so that you get different kind of nutrition. By this you can see that how heavily my fridge is loaded with vegetables. I also include Pak Choy leafy vegetable (which is so tasty) once or twice a week in my diet (look up google for its fantastic qualities). I include Leeks but don't get them very often. 

Besides these, please do not restrict your diet only to bhindi, cauliflower, cabbage only. Potatoes are a NO NO but you can have sweet potatoes. So stuff your fridge with the following vegetables which are rich in nutrients and please try and make simple vegetables - do not make too much of gravies. Enjoy the individual taste of each vegetable instead of currying it - of course you can have the gravy ones too once in a while but during your working days try and keep your meals, simple. So, do ensure you buy the following vegetables and stock up in the fridge:
Bottle gourd, Snake gourd, Yellow pumpkin, French beans, Flat beans, Cluster beans (gavar), turai (ridge gourd), Suran (yam), sweet potatoes, bhindi (lady finger), cauliflower, cabbage and so on.

Giving accent on eating greens and vegetables is a great way to beat Diabetes. But remember - if you do not chew properly then even these vegetables will not get digested and as I have found out by my experience and I will keep mentioning this - indigestion also spikes your blood sugar levels.

Now, if you have lots of such vegetables and greens included in your diet, then having methi seeds or karela juice will help you further in your mission to drive away Diabetes. Poor things, they can't do it on their own - help them by bringing in their other friends. (chuckle).
Please check your fridge everyday
Last but not the least - Please clean your fridge off stale food. Like a house which has so many unwanted things lying in storeroom and shelves, you will find stale and even spoiled food occupying corners of the fridge and people not bothering cleaning it everyday. Please make it a habit to check every shelf of the fridge everyday - I do that before the cook comes in 7 a m. Firstly, do not make too much food. If you do, like for parties, then store it with care. Remember, too much stale food stored in the fridge is detrimental to your health. If you have Diabetes, you have to take care on many fronts and one of them is having fresh food and natural food most of the time, if not 100% of the time.

Tomorrow: Simple and delicious recipes of vegetables





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