Home Remedies For Lowering Blood Sugar Levels: 10 Best Natural Foods

If you have diabetes, managing blood glucose levels should be your top priority. Mastering your blood sugar not only increases energy levels, improves memory, lightens your mood and controls your appetite, it also helps in managing your weight as well as managing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Healthy eating is one of the best ways to manage diabetes effectively. And simple home remedies for diabetes can help you manage blood sugar effectively. Some foods raise blood sugar levels quickly. These are high glycemic index foods. Some other foods release glucose very slowly and are low glycemic index foods.

Eating the right natural foods for diabetes can help regulate your blood sugar levels.

Foods that lower blood sugar

1. Oats

• Oats for breakfast are a good choice if you're trying to balance your blood sugar. They have a low glycemic index value and high fibre content.
• According to a 2015 study published in the journal 'Nutrients', eating whole oats with at least 3 grams of soluble fibre daily can help Type 2 diabetes patients control blood glucose levels by increasing insulin sensitivity.

How to eat:

• Choose steel-cut or rolled oats, which are less processed. This means they are absorbed into the bloodstream more slowly.
• Avoid heavily-sweetened instant oatmeal. Also, if you're mixing in fruit or other ingredients into your oatmeal, be mindful of their added sugar and total carbohydrate content.

2. Apple Cider Vinegar

• Research published in the journal 'Diabetes Care' shows that those who consume ACV have increased insulin sensitivity and significantly reduced post-meal blood glucose and insulin levels.
• This is because the primary compound in ACV is acetic acid and its anti-glycaemic effects led to reduced starch digestion and/or delayed gastric emptying.

How to take:

• Taking 2 tablespoons before bedtime can reduce your morning fasting sugar levels.
• Also, 1-2 tablespoons of ACV taken with meals can decrease the glycaemic load of a carbohydrate-rich meal.
• When buying ACV, look for a product that's raw, unfiltered, and 'comes from the mother' 'Mother' is the beneficial bacteria that is the healthiest part of the vinegar.

3. Water

• When your blood sugar levels are running high, your body will try to flush excess sugar out of your blood through the urine.
• As a result, your body will need more fluids to rehydrate itself. Drinking water can help the body with flushing out some of the glucose in the blood. Don't overdo it though.
• A condition called 'water intoxication', which can result in death, is possible if you drink a number of litres water in a short space of time. This is rare but it pays to be aware of it.

Drink up:

Aim at intaking three-four litres of water a day.

4. Cinnamon

• An intake of 1 gm of cinnamon for 12 weeks reduces fasting blood glucose and glycosylated Hb among poorly controlled type 2 diabetes patients, says a 2016 study that appears in the 'Journal of Intercultural Ethnopharmacology'.
• There is an improvement in the oxidative stress markers, indicating the beneficial effect of cinnamon as anti-diabetic and antioxidant along with conventional medications to treat poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus."

How to use:

Add it to your every day tea for maximum benefits once a day.

5. Ginger

• Research shows that ginger supplements lower blood sugar and could help reduce the risk of future complications from diabetes.
• Ginger has been shown to possess anti-diabetic activity, observes a 2015 study published in the 'Iranian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research'.
• Ginger inhibits the induced hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia. Other investigations have also shown the hypolipidemic effect of ginger. Says the study, "Ginger supplementation significantly reduced the levels of fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I and malondialdehyde. "

6. Fenugreek seeds

• Fenugreek seeds are high in soluble fibre, which helps lower blood sugar by slowing down digestion and absorption of carbohydrates.
• Several clinical trials showed that fenugreek seeds can improve most metabolic symptoms associated with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in humans by lowering blood glucose levels and improving glucose tolerance.
• According to Diabetes UK, in a controlled trial, incorporating 15gms of powdered fenugreek seed into a meal eaten by people with type 2 diabetes reduced the rise in post-meal blood glucose.
• A separate study found that taking 2.5 grams of fenugreek twice a day for three months lowered blood sugar levels in people with mild, but not severe, type 2 diabetes.

How to use:

Incorporate powdered fenugreek seed into your meals once a day.

7. Herbal tea

• According to a 2019 study published in the journal 'Antioxidants', studies have demonstrated that tea has protective effects against diabetes and its complications via several possible mechanisms, including enhancing insulin action, correcting insulin resistance, activating insulin signalling pathway, protecting islet β-cells, scavenging free radicals, and decreasing inflammation.
• Says an earlier 2017 study published in the journal 'Molecules', tea contains abundant polyphenols and caffeine which showed antidiabetic activity. Tea may improve insulin resistance, suppress hyperglycaemia, boost immunity, and lessen diabetes-induced nerve cell damage.

8. Legumes

• Legumes include chickpeas, lentils, beans, peas, and dried pulses. They are known to help dampen blood sugar responses and lower blood pressure.
• According to Harvard Health, a cup of beans or lentils each day, when combined with a low-glycaemic diet, may help lower blood sugar levels and coronary artery disease risk in patients with type 2 diabetes.
• Says a 2020 study in the journal 'Nutrients', legumes are a rich source of dietary fibre, plant protein, and low-Glycaemic Index (GI) carbohydrate.

How to use:

A regular legume consumption, for a duration of at least six weeks, have been shown to have statistically significant effects among those with type 2 diabetes.

9. Probiotics

• By reintroducing healthy bacteria in your intestines, probiotics may be able to help with inflammatory and metabolic issues. And there's a chance those tiny bacteria can help bring your blood sugar down.
• According to a 2016 study published in the journal 'Medicina', it has also been demonstrated that probiotics can decrease the blood glucose through improved inflammation and prevented β-cell destruction.

How to use:

Include foods such as yogurt, tempeh (fermented soy bean), kimchi (fermented spicy cabbage dish), kombucha (fermented black or green tea drink) in to your diet plan.

10. Extra virgin olive oil

• According to a study published in the journal 'Diabetes Care', the addition of extra-virgin olive oil to a high-glycaemic meal 'blunts' the blood glucose response after the meal in people with type 1 diabetes, helping to and prevent blood sugar fluctuations.

Conclusion

Making healthier food choices is important to manage your blood sugar levels and to reduce your risk of diabetes complications.

To be effective at lowering your blood sugar you must become aware of the blood-sugar-raising potential of the foods you consume. The best way to manage your blood sugar is to avoid a spike in the first place. You can achieve this by regularly practising home remedies for diabetes.

If you want to get your blood sugar under control, cut back on foods like potatoes, rice, processed, sugary foods and trans fats and choose healthier alternative already present in your kitchen.

Natural home remedies for lowering blood sugar play an important role in ways you can control diabetes without medication. Making significant lifestyle changes can help you regularise your sugar levels, control and even reverse diabetes naturally!