Eating a well-balanced diet is essential in taking care of yourself. Regular physical activity is equally important for maintaining a healthy and balanced life. Combining a well-balanced diet with physical activity is extremely important for those who have diabetes and are at the risk of diabetes.

Food

People with diabetes have the same nutritional needs as anyone else. The key is to plan your meals to help manage diabetes. After all diabetes shouldn’t keep you from eating a wide variety of foods including some of your favorites.

So what can I eat?

Living with diabetes does not mean giving up all your favorite types of foods. It’s all about planning and making healthy food choices. Replace some of the key ingredients in your meals to make your favorite dish a healthy one.

Basics

Here are some of the basic healthy meal choices that we can make.

Rice – Replace white rice with high-fiber red rice. If you use rice flour try using rice flour that is made out of red rice.

Non-starchy vegetables – Vegetables classified as non-starchy are full of minerals and vitamins, and they contain very few calories and carbohydrates. Here are some of the most popular non-starchy vegetables:

• Asparagus
• Beans
• Beetroot
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrot
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Eggplant (Brinjals)
• Greens (gotukola, mukunuwenna, spinach, kankung, kathurumurunga)
• Leeks
• Mushrooms
• Ladies fingers (Okra)
• Onions
• Tomato
• Turnips
• Yams
• Yard-long beans (maa karal)
• Raddish
• Drumsticks (Murunga)
• Bittergourd

Fruits: Fruits are a great source of vitamins and minerals just like vegetables. But they do contain carbohydrates, so you must count them as part of your diet. Having a slice of fruit as a dessert can be a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Meats: Switch to fish or chicken. Fish is high in proteins and low in fat. Prepare chicken without the skin for less saturated fat.

Grains: Green gram, cowpea, gram, red rice, mineri, olu rice, whole wheat flour, soya, uludu, kurakkan.

Dairy: Dairy products are high in calcium and vitamin D and protein. Best choices are non-fat milk, non-fat yoghurt, unflavoured soy milk.

Drinks: Water, unsweetened teas, coffee, unsweetened fruit juice

Fitness

Physical exercise does not mean dragging yourself to a gym and forcing yourself to workout. Physical activity is essential and anything that gets you moving and burning calories can be considered as such. Dancing, walking, jogging, working in the garden, bicycling can be fun ways of incorporating physical activity into your daily routine. Here are some of the benefits of regular physical activity:

• Lowers blood sugar
• Lowers blood pressure and cholesterol
• Lowers risk of heart disease and stroke
• Burns calories and helps you to lose and maintain weight
• Increases your energy for daily activity
• Relieves stress
• Improves blood circulation