Your blood sugar will be higher on a morning. This is normal for anyone. As you sleep, you fast. Your body needs to create glucose to keep everything running properly. There is nothing to worry about if you’re a healthy person and not at risk of diabetes.
However, many of us are at risk. Even if we currently have normal blood sugar levels, our diets are putting us at a higher risk of developing Type II diabetes later in life. We want to do as much as we can now to prevent blood sugar levels from becoming a major issue.
Those who already have diabetes will also have cause for concern. The blood sugar is naturally much higher on a morning in diabetic patients because the body creates more glucose.
Of course, the main way for the body to tackle high blood sugar is through the use of insulin. The body will create more insulin, and soon it becomes used to those levels.
You want to lower all the risks. The best way to do that is through eating the right foods. Vegetables are extremely low in sugar, even natural sugars. You want to add these to your diet, especially first thing in a morning. Here are nine that you want to add to your mornings to lower the blood sugar levels at the start of the day.
Add Some Broccoli to Your Morning Meals
Let’s start with broccoli. This is one of the most powerful vegetables for all types of needs, but especially when it comes to blood sugar levels. You can help to lower blood sugar by adding more fiber to your diet. It helps to keep the metabolism working and encourages it to stop metabolizing the sugar as quickly through your system.
This is why complex carbs are good for you. The complex carbs like brown pasta and potatoes have fiber as well as sugars. The fiber helps to balance out the sugar levels, making it harder for the sugars to metabolize quickly into the bloodstream.
While you can’t completely override the body’s natural way of working, you can make it healthier for yourself. Broccoli is packed full of fiber, vitamin A, and other nutrients to offer that.
Broccoli will also offer more iron to your diet. You’ll get a more energetic start to your day, which will start you off with a clear head. Add it to scrambled eggs or an omelet or you could just opt for a bowl of mixed vegetables that include broccoli as the main component.
Opt for a Spinach Smoothie
Another vegetable that is worth adding is spinach. Like with broccoli, this is packed full of nutrients that will help to balance out the naturally made glucose. It’s full of iron to get you started, and there’s plenty of fiber to keep the digestive system and metabolism in good form.
A major benefit of spinach is that it’s a non-starchy vegetable. That means it has very little in the way of carbohydrates but has enough to keep your energy levels up. The focus is in the fiber and nutrients to help support the system. With few carbohydrates, you’re not adding any extra sugar to the body that will end up in the bloodstream to metabolize.
Spinach is delicious with some scrambled eggs. However, you can opt for a spinach smoothie. Do watch out for the other ingredients that you add in. If you put in too many fruits, you will add the extra natural sugars that will cause your blood sugar to increase. Try blueberries with the spinach if you want some fruits, as they’re full of antioxidants and fiber to help balance out the natural sugars better.
Put Sweet Potatoes into Your Frittatas
Frittatas are a popular breakfast option. They can be good for you, but it will depend on the ingredients that you add to the eggs. Many people will put potatoes into their frittatas, but you want to think about the right types.
Try out sweet potatoes. While they sound like they should have more sugars, they have fewer than normal white potatoes. They taste sweeter, which helps with kicking the sugar cravings first thing on a morning.
Don’t opt for the pre-cut and packages sweet potatoes. Get your own to wash, peel and chop. You have more control over the additives within the vegetable. You could even grow your own or buy organic from the store for a healthier lifestyle.
Use Garlic in Your Cooking
Whatever you make on a morning, make sure you add some garlic. You could even create garlic tea to help reduce your morning blood sugar! Just brush your teeth afterward or your breath will stink out the office.
If you’re not a fan of garlic, you could use onion instead. The two vegetables are from the same family and offer many of the same benefits. Studies have shown that these type vegetables help diabetic patients use the smaller amounts of insulin more effectively. There’s less chance of developing more resistance to the natural chemical that is trying to remove the blood sugar.
You can’t just rely on either of them, but they are auseful first thing in a morning. They are also extremely easy to add to your morning routines, whether you want to drink them or add them to your omelets, cooked breakfasts, and more.
Not only will you help lower your blood sugar with onion and garlic. The two are full of antibacterial and antiviral properties, helping to support your immune system and get over even small illnesses like a cold.
Opt for Squash in Your Meals
Remember how sweet potatoes were good for you? Well, the same applies to other fall and winter vegetables. Squash is one of the most commonly ignored but is highly useful. It doesn’t matter what type of squash you have. If you hate preparing a large butternut squash, you can opt for a small acorn or spaghetti squash instead.
The benefits are offiber. You’ll feel full quickly, keeping your calorie intake down, and boost your digestive systems. The metabolism will slow down the work on the glucose, balancing out the system completely.
Squash is another very simple ingredient to add to your meals. You can chop it up and add it to a frittata, or you could blend it with the spinach to create a slightly sweeter and creamier smoothie.
Pile in the Mushrooms to Your Omelettes
Mushrooms tend to be popular additions to omelets. They’re inexpensive and easy to use. They also don’t take too long to cook.
You can keep using them. In fact, you want to keep using them on a daily basis. Add them to your cooked breakfasts or into your breakfast burritos. Find any way to use them on a morning to help lower your blood sugar.
Mushrooms are full of fiber, but more specifically soluble fiber. That fiber dissolves into the water and makes its way into the bloodstream. This helps to balance the sugars that are currently there causing an issue and helps to avoid the need for more insulin to balance out.
You’ll also find mushrooms are filling. You don’t need to eat as much, keeping your calorie intake down. At the same time, they have very little in the way of natural sugars, despite having a slightly sweet taste.
Use Avocado Throughout the Morning
Okay, so avocados are a debated item. Are they a fruit or vegetable? In this case, we’ll include them as a vegetable that you need to eat on a morning.
Avocados get an unfairly bad reputation. They’re known as the fatty vegetable. After all, you can get nutritious avocado oil in the stores, so it’s understandable why people view them as fatty. The different is the type of fat. Remember that I said nutritious avocado oil.
There is one thing to be said for healthy fats. They support the liver and include plenty of good cholesterols. They help to line the arteries and lower the risk of various diseases, including Type II diabetes. That morning blood sugar will be reduced and remain at a healthy limit.
You can chop up avocados to add to a breakfast salad. However, you can also mash it and add it to some wholegrain toast or opt for mixing it into the middle of your morning burrito. It’s also delicious with other ingredients in a smoothie. This is one of the most versatile vegetables out there.
Don’t Forget the Carrots
Carrots will help you see in the dark. Okay, so they’re not quite miracle workers on the eyes, but they do help to starve off various eye problems, including macular degeneration disease and cataracts. Did you know that eye diseases are linked to diabetes and high blood sugar by the way?
Eating carrots will help to add more beta carotene to your diet. This is a protein that is essential in building various tissues within the body. It’s also useful for lowering the blood sugar levels, helping to starve off various eye problems in the future.
We also can’t forget the fact that carrots are low on the glycemic index. You may not have heard about this as much recently as you would have in the past. It used to be included in so many diets – crash diets and healthy ones. The glycemic index gives an indication of a number of sugars within food. This includes natural sugars. It determines the amount that will end up in your bloodstream.
Of course, when your blood sugar levels are already increased, the last thing you want to do is add more. So you want to find foods that are low on the glycemic index, and carrots are one of the best.
Try adding carrots to your spinach smoothies. You’ll find that they take the bitterness away from the dark leafy greens. Just peel them first, as the skin can be a little bitter.
Throw in Some Chickpeas with Any Meal
Chickpeas are another debatable food when it comes to vegetables, but you can’t debate the benefits to your blood sugar. Because of this, you need to make sure you add them to your morning routine.
There are just so many ways that you can use chickpeas. One of the most common is by creating your hummus. For more info on hummus and diabetes, click here. You could make a healthy dip for your broccoli and carrots on a morning if you want something light that you can pick at! It will also work as a filling for your breakfast burrito, packed with spinach and avocado.
How do chickpeas help? They’re packed full of proteins, which help to balance out the carbohydrates in the body. They are also full of insoluble fiber. While soluble fiber will help to get into the bloodstream to work directly on the blood sugar levels, the insoluble fiber will slow down the body’s whole process. Your body doesn’t absorb as much sugar on a morning through your other foods, so your insulin can work effectively.
It’s Not All About the Vegetables
While the nine vegetables above will certainly help to balance out your blood sugar and reduce the levels, it’s not all about them. You will need to follow an overall healthy diet. Sometimes you’ll want to look at the food that you eat on a night to help keep your glucose production to a minimum.
By eating more fiber and protein filled foods on a night, you will find that your digestive system works for longer. There isn’t as long of a fasting period, so the body doesn’t have to create as much glucose on a morning. Consider eating some of the vegetables above the night before as well as on a morning.
It’s also important to limit the amount of sugar you eat throughout the day. This will help to lower the risk of Type II diabetes, so your overnight glucose production remains within a normal and healthy range.
