Diabetes and Diet

I just heard about a family with 4 children, three of which are diabetics. This is a disease that is on the rise in this country very much due to our diets. I'm not going to give you a diabetic diet here, but I am going to make some suggestions about things you should eat and things you should avoid.

I want to mention some of the latest research on polyphenols. These are potent antioxidants found in green tea. They are also in black and oolong tea, but in lesser amounts. There is recent research that demonstrates that polyphenols increase the sensitivity of cells to insulin. In type 2 diabetes there is an increased insensitivity to insulin resulting in higher sugar levels in the blood.

So green tea in particular assists in increasing insulin sensitivity and thereby decreasing blood sugar levels. Now, a word of caution. Teas all contain caffeine and in come cases tea contains more caffeine than coffee. Caffeine in excessive amounts can result in impairing the metabolism of carbohydrates and actually increasing blood glucose levels. So caution is needed here. There are sources of green tea that are decaffeinated. However, investigate what process was used, because most tea that is decaffeinated is done with a high heat process and this actually destroys the polyphenols, so you lose the benefit of the tea.