It’s useful to know about the glycemic index (GI) if you want to understand what food does to your blood sugar. The GI is a way to tell how quickly carbs in food make your blood sugar levels go up. Foods are given a score from 0 to 100, with the score showing how they compare to pure glucose.
Foods that have a high GI can make your blood sugar go up quickly. Examples include white bread, sugary drinks, and potatoes. Foods with a low GI make your blood sugar increase slowly. These include things like whole grains, nuts, beans, lentils, and vegetables that don’t have much starch.
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Glycemic Load Considers How Much You Eat
While the GI tells us about how fast food impacts blood sugar, it does not consider how much we eat. That’s why we also look at the glycemic load (GL), which thinks about how many carbs are in a normal serving of food.
Even if a food has a high GI, if it doesn’t have a lot of carbs, its GL will be low. The GL helps us get a fuller understanding of a food’s effect on blood sugar levels.
Cucumbers and Blood Sugar Control
Cucumbers are a smart choice for controlling blood sugar since they have a very low GI of only 15. Their GL is also almost zero. That means cucumbers are great for keeping blood sugar levels stable.
One cup of sliced cucumbers has:
- Calories: 16
- Total carbs: 3.6 grams
- Sugar: 1.9 grams
With only about 0.8 grams of carbs that impact blood sugar per cup, eating cucumbers should not make your blood sugar or insulin levels jump around. This is true for both regular garden cucumbers and the long, unwaxed ones called English cucumbers.
Why Cucumbers Are Good When Managing Diabetes
For managing diabetes or preventing it, cucumbers have a lot to offer:
1. High in Water and Not Starchy
Drinking enough water is important for keeping blood sugar in check because not having enough water can make your glucose levels rise. Since cucumbers have a lot of water but not many calories or carbs, they’re ideal for staying hydrated.
2. Full of Good Stuff
Cucumbers have low calories and carbs, but they are full of good nutrients like vitamins C and K, and the mineral manganese. They also have small amounts of vitamin A, magnesium, potassium, and copper.
3. Helps Curb Your Appetite
Crunchy cucumbers can satisfy your hunger for something with a bit of a bite. This crunch helps you feel full, so it can help control your appetite.
4. Easy to Eat in Different Ways
Cucumbers are great in salads and sandwiches, blended into a smoothie or juice, or even just as a quick snack. They’re simple to prepare – just rinse and maybe peel them.
Tips for Adding Cucumbers to Your Diet if You Have Diabetes
Here are some simple ways to include cucumbers in your diet which is good for blood sugar:
- Mix cucumber slices into salads, bowls, or tacos. You can pair them with protein like chicken, fish, or beans.
- Add cucumbers to smoothies, cold soups like gazpacho, or juices for a nutrient boost without a surge in blood sugar.
- Enjoy cucumber slices raw with dips like hummus, tzatziki, or some balsamic vinegar and olive oil as a nutritious starter.
- Put cucumber slices on your sandwiches instead of higher-carb options like bread or wraps.
- Flavor your water with cucumber slices, mint, and a bit of citrus for a drink free of added sugar.
- Quickly pickle cucumbers for a snack rich in probiotics.
When buying cucumbers, choose ones that are firm and smooth. Store them uncleaned in the crisper section of your fridge, and they should last about one to two weeks. Eating cucumbers can help manage diabetes and they’re quite versatile, so you can enjoy them every day as part of a balanced diet. a>
Conclusion
Cucumbers, with their high water content and essential nutrients, are a great addition to a diet for blood sugar management. They’re especially low on the glycemic scale.
Studies also show that components in cucumbers might help control blood sugar by making insulin work better, slowing down how the body absorbs sugar, reducing inflammation, and providing antioxidant benefits.
Adding cucumbers to your meals, like in salads, drinks, and snacks, can not only make your diet more nutritious but also support healthy blood sugar levels. As a refreshing and hydrating choice, cucumbers can be a delicious part of a diet that looks after your blood glucose levels when eaten with other balanced foods.
