Diabetes diet swaps – with five of the best breakfast foods to avoid symptoms

Breakfast is often described as the most important meal of the day, but some traditional foods are packed with sugar and fats. And there are many tasty alternatives to help avoid diabetes or for people already with the condition.

“Type 2 diabetes is a common condition that causes the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood to become too high,” states the NHS. “It can cause symptoms like excessive thirst, needing to pee a lot and tiredness. It can also increase your risk of getting serious problems with your eyes, heart and nerves.” The NHS states that a healthy diet and keeping active will help you manage your blood sugar level, as well as feeling generally better. People should aim to eat fruit, vegetables, and starchy foods like pasta, while keeping sugar, fat, and salt to a minimum. Diabetes UK has revealed a list of healthy swaps for patients at breakfast.

Five breakfast swaps

Cereal for porridge

While cereals may look healthy, especially with the packaging, they are often full of added sugars and unhealthy fat. That includes cereal bars. A healthy switch would be to porridge, whether oats or the instant option, as long as they don’t have added sugars. Wheat biscuits and muesli are other alternatives.

Wholegrain for white bread

Wholegrain bread has the advantage of being healthier and more filling than white. It is best to choose options like seeded batch bread, multi-seed, granary, soya, and linseed.

Mashed banana instead of jam

As jam is rich in sugar, it is better to switch to an alternative like mashed banana. Other options to have on your toast would be low-fat cheese, cottage cheese, freshly chopped dates, or nut butter.

Oily fish instead of sausages and bacon

It is important to avoid eating a lot of red and processed meat. They could be switched at breakfast time to salmon or kippers, which are good for the heart. They are tasty alternatives that could be served with scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, and wholegrain toast. Occasional sausages and bacon rashers are okay, but it is better to grill than fry them.

Choose whole fruit instead of juices

Even pure fruit juices and smoothies contain added sugars, so it is better to eat whole fruits and vegetables. If drinking fruit juices, it is better to limit it to 150ml a day, advises Diabetes UK. Meanwhile, If you’re buying coffee, be on the lookout for added syrups and purees, which contain a lot of added sugar.

But as well as eating healthily, exercise is also important to help lower your blood sugar level. You should aim for 2.5 hours of activity a week. You can be active anywhere as long as what you’re doing gets you out of breath.

Source: bing.com