Celery Diabetes Diet

According to information from the Mayo Clinic, diabetes occurs where the body is either unable to produce (type I) or unable to utilize (type II) the storage hormone insulin. Insulin is a hormone that acts to normalize blood sugar levels, leaving a diabetic's body prone to developing conditions like hypoglycemia. Avoiding this means controlling carbohydrate intake. Low glycemic-index carbs such as celery can form an important part of most any diabetic's diet.

Diabetes Dieting

• According to information from the Mayo Clinic, diabetes can be controlled through adherence to a dietary approach that regulates the glycemic content of foods. The glycemic index is a scale that measures how significantly consumption of different carb types affects blood sugar levels, with faster-digesting carbs causing a larger spike in glucose levels (as the fast digestion forces nutrients into the bloodstream quicker). To control diabetes with a low-glycemic approach, simply limit your consumption of carbs to only those items which are slow digesting. Generally speaking, the slow digesting categories of carbs include fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, with the fast digesting categories including sugars and refined flour. Thus, consume only carbs from the former category while avoiding consumption of carbs from the latter category to balance your diabetic diet. According to information from the website SouthBeach-Diet-Plan.com, celery ranks low on the glycemic index, with a nominal score of 15. Therefore, celery can be safely consumed at all meals while eating to control diabetes.

Rounding Out the Diet

• Balance your diet with consumption of both healthy fats and lean protein, according to information from the American Diabetics Association. This means avoiding excess consumption of both saturated and trans fats while aiming to consume mostly unsaturated and natural fats like coconuts, avocados, nuts, seeds and cooking oils. Regarding protein, you should base your diet around consumption of low-fat beef, other lean red meats, poultry, and seafood. Ideally, each meal you consume while dieting for diabetes should be balanced, containing a protein source, low-glycemic carbs, and healthy fats. Therefore, a sample meal for someone on a diabetic diet incorporating celery might include grilled chicken (lean protein) served with brown rice (low-GI carb) and celery with natural peanut butter for dessert (low-GI carbs and healthy unsaturated fat).