Reduce your Blood Sugar Spikes with Spices
Did you know you can help manage and reduce your blood sugar spikes with spices? Now you do!
First, we will give an overview of why it is so important for us to reduce and manage our blood sugar:
Managing blood sugar levels is crucial for overall health because it affects how our body functions on multiple levels. Here are the main reasons why it's so important:
- Preventing Diabetes: Uncontrolled blood sugar can lead to prediabetes and, eventually, type 2 diabetes. Diabetes increases the risk of complications like heart disease, kidney damage, and nerve problems.
- Protecting Vital Organs: High blood sugar over time can harm blood vessels, which affects the heart, kidneys, eyes, and brain. For instance, it can lead to conditions like heart disease, kidney failure, and vision loss.
- Maintaining Energy Levels: Stable blood sugar helps maintain consistent energy throughout the day. Fluctuations can cause fatigue, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.
- Supporting Weight Management: High blood sugar often correlates with weight gain and fat storage, especially around the abdomen. Managing it can help maintain a healthy weight.
- Reducing Inflammation: Elevated blood sugar contributes to chronic inflammation, which is linked to many diseases, including arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers.
- Improving Mood and Brain Health: Blood sugar swings can influence mood, memory, and cognitive function. Stabilizing it may improve mental clarity and emotional well-being.
Importantly, by making thoughtful lifestyle choices—such as eating a balanced diet, staying active, and managing stress—you can significantly improve blood sugar control and overall health.
But in addition to many delicious plant-based foods that one can eat to help manage blood sugar, do spices help? Yes, spices do!
Whether as a spice or in a sauce, there are beneficial spices to help manage blood sugar in your body. These spices can be added to your food, sprinkled on top, consumed as a side, and even added to your drinks such as low-sugar smoothies or juices.
Here's a list of spices that can help manage and reduce your blood sugar spikes:
- Cinnamon: May improve insulin sensitivity and lower fasting blood sugar.
- Turmeric: Contains curcumin, which can help reduce blood sugar levels.
- Ginger: Known to improve glucose control and insulin sensitivity.
- Fenugreek: Its seeds are rich in soluble fiber, which can help lower blood sugar.
- Garlic: While often thought of as an herb, it’s technically a spice and may help improve blood sugar regulation.
- Cloves: Rich in antioxidants and may enhance insulin function.
- Black pepper: Contains piperine, which could improve glucose metabolism.
- Cumin: May help lower blood sugar and improve cholesterol levels.
- Cardamom: Known for its antioxidant properties, it may support blood sugar control.
- Mustard seeds: May improve insulin sensitivity and aid in blood sugar management.
But is there one spice that is better than the others? It appears so. According to a dietician mentioned in EatingWell1, ginger contains polyphenols like gingerol, which combat inflammation. And accordingly, balancing inflammation with plant-based foods and spices like ginger may have a beneficial effect on blood sugar.
Specifically, cited from a dietician in this EatingWell post1, “Some research indicates that ginger can positively impact blood sugars by improving insulin sensitivity and slowing down the digestion of carbohydrates, which leads to less of a spike in blood sugars after a meal,” says Colette Micko, RD, a registered dietitian and diabetes educator at Top Nutrition Coaching.
And by keeping blood sugar levels steady, you not only feel better day-to-day but also significantly reduce your risk of chronic illnesses in the future.
For recap, we all need to try to manage our blood sugars because reducing blood sugar spikes is crucial because frequent and extreme fluctuations in blood sugar levels can lead to various short-term and long-term health issues. Here is why we need to manage our blood sugar:
Short-Term Benefits
- Avoiding Fatigue and Mood Swings: Blood sugar spikes often result in a rapid drop afterward, causing fatigue, irritability, and brain fog.
- Maintaining Steady Energy: Stable blood sugar levels prevent the "roller coaster" effect, keeping your energy consistent throughout the day.
Long-Term Health Impact
- Preventing Insulin Resistance: Repeated spikes can overwork the pancreas and lead to insulin resistance, which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
- Protecting Heart Health: High blood sugar contributes to inflammation and damages blood vessels, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
- Reducing Risk of Chronic Conditions: Prolonged blood sugar spikes are associated with complications like nerve damage (neuropathy), kidney disease, and eye issues (retinopathy).
- Managing Weight: Spikes in blood sugar can lead to increased fat storage, particularly around the abdomen.
And here's the best part, beyond consuming delicious plant-based foods, we use these spices in many of our meals or sides! You can see these ingredients listed in many of our meals! So, including these spices in your diet can help your blood sugar and enhance the flavor of your meals!
At Garden of Goodness, we have amazingly tasty meals that include beneficial spices.
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All of our meals, snacks, and sides are certified organic, preservative-free, additive-free, gluten-free, and super healthy—no need to worry about the quality of the food. Plus we also clearly indicate any health or allergy considerations, the ingredients, and all of the nutrition information.
Check all of our healthy food menu here.
We can also help you save money and time with our Product Bundles.
And if you are an NDIS participant, we can help you get healthy meals delivered to you as well. Plus we have dedicated, knowledgeable Garden of Goodness NDIS support agents available to answer your questions and help you with your documents. Let us help you become healthier! - We can help you plan your meals:
Leave the meal prep to us. Try our meal plans which are all specially designed for different goals. And you don't have to worry about the portion sizes. We take care of that for you!
- We can help you with healthy snacks and sides:
Love to snack or make small dishes. We can help you with the staples to fill your pantry, including fresh fruit boxes or vegetable boxes.
We can help you with staples. Keep a variety of vegan staples like beans, lentils, grains, nuts, seeds, and spices. We offer a range of super-nutritious staples to help your meals.
And we can help you snack healthier. Have healthy vegan snacks on hand for when cravings hit. And yes we also have delicious and nutritious snacks.
Remember we are ready to help you take control of your health with healthy plant-based meals, meal plans, nutrition information, and more. Plus, you can earn meals, discounts, and other rewards with our Loyalty Program.
And, we help you stay on top of the health news as we highlight the health benefits of a plant-based diet with nutrition information and medical studies throughout our blog
Start taking control of your health today. It is never too late to make improvements!
Garden of Goodness wants you to know:
- We deliver fresh food!
We pride ourselves on delivering you the freshest and healthiest plant-based meals in Australia. So, there is no need for additives, preservatives, or anything synthetic!
- We believe in great-tasting natural foods using 100% plant-based seasonings and sauces.
There is no need to add anything unnatural to change the taste, color, or texture, as our food is as nature intended!
- We know exactly what is in our food and want you to know as well.
We believe in transparency. We list our food ingredients, calories, fats, and more. In addition, we clearly list any potential ingredients that could be considered as allergens. We want you to make great choices in what you put in your body and to always enjoy fresh and great-tasting plant-based food.
- We can help you start your health journey.
Whether you are an NDIS participant or need a meal plan to help you on your health journey, we can help you start improving your health!
At Garden of Goodness, our mission is clear: to promote human and planetary health through delicious, organic plant-based meals. Every ingredient we use is certified organic, meaning it meets rigorous standards set by Australian Certified Organic (ACO). Our choice to go organic stems from our commitment to quality, sustainability, and health.
Ready to experience the super-nutritious plant-based foods for yourself?
Explore our menu today and discover the delicious, nourishing meals we've created just for you. In addition to full organic meals, we offer 100% organic sides, pantry items, desserts, soups, and much more. Let's work together to make a positive impact, one organic bite at a time!
Let's all stay healthy and inspired.
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References:
1. The #1 Spice to Help Lower Blood Sugar, According to a Dietitian - EatingWell
