Drink Responsibly: 5 Healthy Drinks for Diabetics

1. Milk:


Pros: Rich in vitamins and calcium, milk contains healthy culture that improves the digestive tract.

Cons: This liquid is rich in calories and carbohydrates.

Tips:
- Milk contains calories but you can always shift to skim milk or low cal milk.
- Almond and soy milk are good alternatives to full cream cow milk.
- Apparently camel milk helps reduce insulin level, but you can try this at your own risk.


2. Water:


Pros: The best part about water is that it is free from calories, fat and carbohydrates. It will not affect your weight and sugar level.

Cons: Too much intake can result in water intoxication and hypnatermia

Tips:
- Spice up water with natural sweetners like honey.
- You can also add a squash of sour lime to your water. Lemonade always gets thumbs up on any day.


3. Tea:

Pros: Even with the dawn of coffee shops, tea-loving Indians will always opt for tea on their journeys. It definitely refreshes you and brings you back to life. It is an antioxidant that can make you younger too.

Cons: Consume tea without sugar. If it’s not your cup of tea, add a dash of artificial sweetners.

Tips: To avoid calories, drink your tea with skimmed milk.


4. Juices:

Pros: Common sense will suggest drinking fresh juice over packaged juice for obvious reasons. Fresh juice is a store house of nutrients that helps the body in several ways.

Cons: Drinking fruit and vegetable juice should be enjoyed in moderation and keep a note on the calories, carbs and sodium intake. Eating fruits and vegetables whole, is important too as these contain more fiber, which is better for health.

Tips: Vegetable juice scores better than fruit juice in terms of carbs and calories.


5. Coffee:


Pros: Coffee is now a preferred drink to kick-start the day. Diabetics can also drink coffee, but…

Cons: …diabetics should opt for black coffee, without cream and sugar.

Tips: If black coffee does not make the cut, skimmed milk and sugar alternatives are a fine option.

Alcohol guidelines for diabetics:

- Consult your doctor, if you can consume any amount of booze.
- Alcohol can shoot or drop your blood sugar level.
- Low blood sugar can lead to hypoglycemia.
- For those whose diabetes is in check, moderate consumption is permissible.

What’s allowed:
Two units for women
Three units for men
- A glass of wine contains two units
- One pint of beer contains three units.







by Trina Remedios
Read this article in Times of India