Is it possible or not to eat beets for type 2 diabetes: arguments for and against, restrictions on use

Type 2 diabetes is most common in older people. This sounds like a sentence: just yesterday you could eat anything, but today the doctor prescribes a strict diet. Does this mean that now you can’t eat anything sweet?

A favorite vegetable of many, beets, also has a sweet taste. Is it also contraindicated for type 2 diabetes? Let's figure out whether it is possible or not to eat root vegetables with this disease.

Beets in the diet for type 2 diabetes

When diagnosing type 2 diabetes mellitus, doctors first prescribe a rather strict diet for the patient. It’s hard, because overnight you have to give up your usual delicious and favorite dishes.

In fact, it turns out that there are not many foods that a diabetic patient should absolutely not eat. The main thing is to know when to stop, calculate the grain units and not forget about the prescribed medications (tablets or injections).

Beetroot is not a forbidden food, but there are some nuances of its use and limitations that you need to carefully read and not forget about. It turns out that this vegetable can even be used to treat type 2 diabetes.

Benefits and harms

Among vegetables, beets are among the leaders in terms of beneficial properties. It removes toxins, heavy metal salts and radionuclides from the body, strengthens the walls of blood vessels, and improves the functioning of the digestive system.

The vegetable contains a huge amount of vitamins, minerals, macro- and microelements.In addition, beets give the body strength and energy, increase performance and relieve hangovers.

The root vegetable has a strong laxative effect, it used for weight loss. Doctors advise pregnant women to include vegetables in their diet. Beetroot also helps cope with menstrual irregularities, menopause and mastopathy. It is useful for men because it increases their sexual activity.

Has a separate list of useful properties beet juice. It is consumed in a mixture with the juices of other vegetables, fruits and herbs. Everyone can find a mix recipe for themselves that will help achieve the desired effect.

Beetroot and its juice help in the treatment of a variety of diseases. These include oncology, angina, runny nose, anemia, hypertension, asthma, cataracts, hormonal imbalances, macular degeneration and constipation.

Despite such an abundance of beneficial properties, beets can cause harm to the body. This is due to the fact that it contains a large amount of fiber and glucose, and also has a diuretic and laxative effect.

If you know and follow all the restrictions and contraindications, consuming this vegetable will not negatively affect your health, but will only give a positive result.

Composition and glycemic index

The composition of beets can be called truly rich. In addition to vitamins A, B1, B2, B4, B5, B6, B9, C, E, K and PP, the vegetable contains betaine and beta-carotene, as well as potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, iron, manganese, copper , selenium and zinc.

The nutritional value of raw and cooked beets is slightly different. 100 g of raw vegetable contains 1.6 g of protein, 0.2 g of fat and 9.6 g of carbohydrates. Energy value – 43 kcal.100 g of boiled vegetable contains 1.7 g of protein, 0.2 g of fat and 10 g of carbohydrates. Energy value – 44 kcal.

However, the glycemic index of cooked beets is twice as high as that of raw beets. The glycemic index is a measure of a food's ability to raise blood sugar levels. For patients with diabetes, all products are conventionally divided into three zones: green, yellow and red - depending on the glycemic index.

Important! The higher the glycemic index, the more and sharply the consumed product raises sugar, which means the more harmful it is for a diabetic.

As for beets, its glycemic index when raw is 30, and when cooked it is 65. Thus, raw beets fall into the “green” zone; they break down slowly in the body and practically do not cause spikes in blood sugar.

Boiled beets are at the very top of the “yellow” zone (since products with a glycemic index of 70 and above fall into the “red” zone). It breaks down in the body much faster than raw milk and can cause a spike in blood sugar levels.

It's obvious that It is healthier and safer for diabetics to eat raw beets rather than boiled ones.. This is especially important for type 1 diabetes.

For patients with type 2 diabetes, the diet turns out to be more gentle, so sometimes they can afford a little boiled beets. The main thing is to know the limit and remember its high glycemic index.

Does sugar increase

Based on the glycemic index of raw and boiled beets, we conclude: the vegetable in its raw form almost does not raise sugar and certainly will not cause a sharp jump.

The same cannot be said about boiled root vegetables. Diabetics need to use it with great caution.The glycemic index of the vegetable is 65, which indicates the ability of boiled beets to sharply raise blood sugar levels.

Rules for eating beets

Patients with diabetes know firsthand that it is necessary to consume any product correctly so as not to harm their body. This also applies to beets.

Let's look at the three most common ways to consume this vegetable: raw and boiled, as well as in juice form.

Raw

Raw beets have a low glycemic index, which means they can be included in the diet of a diabetic. It contains more useful elements that disappear during heat treatment.

At the same time, fresh beets have a stronger effect on the body; excessive consumption of the vegetable in its raw form will cause even more harm to it than, for example, boiled. Therefore, you should carefully consider the contraindications and restrictions regarding the inclusion of fresh beets in your diet.

The diet for people with type 2 diabetes is not as severe as for insulin-dependent diabetics. Doctors recommend eating no more than 70 g of raw vegetables per day for type 1 diabetes, and no more than 150 g for type 2 diabetes.

Boiled

Although the glycemic index of cooked beets is higher than raw beets, the restrictions on their consumption for type 2 diabetes are approximately the same: up to 100-120 g per day. But type 1 diabetics should consume this boiled vegetable as little as possible.

There are different ways to reduce the risk of a sugar spike when adding cooked root vegetables to your food.

For example, you can remove boiled potatoes from a vinaigrette recipe, then the dish will contain fewer bread units and will not significantly affect blood sugar levels.

Cooking borscht without potatoes and with the addition of lean meat (rather than fatty meat) will also eliminate the risk of side effects when eating this dish for diabetics.

Adding such dishes to your diet will help not only level and control blood sugar levels, but also maintain normal weight. Indeed, often with type 2 diabetes, people begin to gain weight and it becomes more difficult for them to keep in shape.

Beet juice

The beneficial properties of beet juice are especially appreciated: it can cure sore throat and runny nose, save from heartburn and hangover, and help in the treatment of oncology, hypertension and liver diseases.

Beetroot juice is also beneficial for the body of patients with type 2 diabetes. It is believed to have an anticonvulsant effect, and also increases hemoglobin levels and cleanses the walls of blood vessels.

In this case, of course, you need to be very careful in preparing and drinking this drink. There are two ways to prepare beet juice. The easiest way is to use a juicer. If you don’t have one in the kitchen, you will have to use the second method. We take gauze, a grater, a strong and bright root vegetable. We wash and peel the vegetable, cut into slices, grate and squeeze through cheesecloth.

Important! Be sure to put the resulting juice in the refrigerator for two hours: you cannot drink it freshly squeezed!

For patients with type 2 diabetes, there are several rules for drinking beet juice:

1. After infusion it is recommended remove the foam and pour the drink into another container without sediment.
2. The daily intake of juice for diabetics is up to 200 ml. You can drink a maximum of 50 ml at a time. Therefore, you should divide your intake of beet juice into at least four approaches throughout the day.
3. You need to introduce the drink into your diet gradually. Start with 1 tsp.per approach and every day increase the portion a little until you reach the required 50 ml.

Quantity and frequency of use

It is impossible to fight type 2 diabetes without a specific diet. Even if it is not as strict as with type 1 diabetes, it is still necessary to know when to stop when consuming any product.

As already mentioned, doctors recommend that type 2 diabetics eat no more than 150 g of raw beets per day, 100-120 g of boiled beets and drink no more than 200 ml of beet juice (divided into four 50 ml doses). For type 1 diabetes, these dosages should be reduced by approximately half.

As for the frequency of consumption of beets by diabetics, doctor’s recommendations also vary depending on the type of disease. Insulin-dependent diabetics should eat beets as rarely as possible, while very carefully monitoring the body's reaction.

Things are much better with type 2 diabetes. Doctors allow beets to be included in the daily diet, while very carefully observing the above restrictions.

In addition to raising blood sugar levels, beets have a large number of other side effects. Carefully read the restrictions and contraindications before eating red root vegetables in any form.

Contraindications

Diabetes mellitus can often be seen among the contraindications to consuming beets. But we have already figured out that there is no need to completely deprive yourself of red vegetables. It is enough just to follow the measure prescribed by endocrinologists. What about other contraindications?

Beets (especially raw ones) should not be consumed for gastritis and urolithiasis, as well as for other kidney diseases. Due to its strong laxative effect, beets are contraindicated for people with chronic diarrhea, duodenal ulcers and other intestinal diseases.

The increased acidity of the stomach does not allow adding raw vegetables to food, but it can be replaced with boiled ones. Obviously, even if you are individually intolerant to the components of the red root vegetable, you should not consume it under any circumstances.

Tips and tricks

For type 2 diabetes mellitus, it is best to consume beets as part of dietary dishes. Below are recipes for some of them.

Cabbage and beet salad

Ingredients:

• cabbage, 150 g;
• beets, 1 pc.;
• vegetable oil, 10 g;
• salt;
• xylitol;
• lemon acid.

Chop the cabbage, salt it and squeeze out the juice. Add finely grated boiled beets. We dilute citric acid with a small amount of water. Season the salad with a mixture of vegetable oil diluted with citric acid and xylitol.

Beetroot, cucumber and horseradish appetizer

Ingredients:

• cucumber, 1 pc.;
• beets, 1 pc.;
• horseradish, 10 g;
• sour cream, 10 g;
• greenery.

Cut the cucumber in half and scoop out the pulp. Grate the beets on a fine grater, mix with cucumber pulp and horseradish. Spread the resulting mixture onto the cucumber halves, pour in sour cream and add herbs.

Beetroot

Ingredients:

• beet broth, 0.5 l;
• beets, 1 pc.;
• cucumber, 1 pc.;
• potatoes, 2 pcs.;
• egg, 1 pc.;
• sour cream;
• salt;
• lemon acid;
• xylitol;
• greenery.

Cool the beet broth and bake the beets. Grind the greens (parsley, dill, onion), potatoes, cucumber and baked beets. Season the resulting mixture with sour cream, citric acid and xylitol. Add the ingredients to the cooled broth and salt to taste.

Conclusion

Despite the widespread belief that diabetics should not eat beets, there is no need to get upset ahead of time. It turns out that with this disease you can eat red root vegetables. And for type 2 diabetes, doctors even allow it to be included in the daily diet.

The main thing is to carefully study the restrictions, contraindications and daily intake of this vegetable. It is also important to remember about the various side effects that raw and cooked beets and beet juice can cause. Before including vegetables in your diet, consult your endocrinologist.