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High blood sugar is a main component of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. This is what occurs when your body’s cells resist insulin, which causes your pancreas to go into overdrive making more insulin. After a while, this causes your blood sugar levels to rise significantly.
To maintain healthy blood glucose levels, experts recommend exercise, not smoking, limiting your drinking, and adapting a diabetic-friendly diet.
While we highly recommend that you talk with your doctor first in order to have them create a meal plan for you, there are certain foods that people with diabetes can benefit from including in their diet.
For example, research studies suggest that consuming seeds, specifically chia seeds, can help you manage your diabetes or prediabetes.
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Chia seeds are full of health benefits. These seeds, which are high in fiber and protein, are known to help with digestion, weight control, and heart health. And along with these common benefits, recent studies show that chia seeds can also help with diabetes management.
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The British Journal of Nutrition found that consuming chia seeds can help you manage insulin resistance, which is a common problem associated with diabetes.
Another recent study from 2021 researched what happened when adults with diabetes consumed 40 grams of chia seeds every day for 12 weeks. At the end of the 12 weeks, along with other factors such as healthy eating, exercise, and medications if needed, the group who consumed chia seeds had significantly lower blood sugar levels than the group that did not.
These positive effects of chia seeds are due largely to their high-fiber content, specifically their soluble fiber. This type of fiber, which is also found in oats, apples, and beans, helps to slow the digestion process and therefore helps to keep blood sugar levels at bay.
So, if you’re sold on chia seeds and are looking for creative ways to eat them, you can try making a healthy chia seed jam, using them as an oatmeal topping, creating an overnight pudding, or even mixing them in your water!
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