Diabetes and Vegetable Juicing

by Dave
(Maine)

Q: I am looking for resources on Juicing and Diabetes. I understand that fruit juices will increase my BG; however, how will veggie juices impact my BG? Are there veggies better at maintaining a slow rise than others? I guess this also goes into a vegetarian diet for diabetics, but that's Mt Everest for this weekend walker right now.

A: Hi Dave, Glad you found us! Juicing is really great for diabetes conditions and many people find it helps them.

I would limit the fruit juices, yes, but most people find vegetable juices work fine. There are vegetables that would have less sugar/carbs and would be better. Think of juicing just like food, if grapes are too much sugar and you can't eat a lot of them, then don't juice them because the juice is more concentrated.

At the end of the day, everything you eat and all juices will effect you, so you'll have to experiment for yourself, and best of all, ask your doctor or health practitioner.

I can say that brussel sprouts and string beans are great to help regulate your pancreas, so if you could juice them once a day you might really see an improvement in your health.

Whenever I'm asked about a juicing recipe for diabetes, I always like to recommend Jay Kordich's recipe I came across years ago:

• 10 Carrots
  
• 1/4 Head of lettuce
  
• 5 Brussel sprouts
  
• 6 String beans
  

Of course, this is a big recipe, so you might want to cut some of the ingredients down a bit.

If you find that juices aren't working so well for your body, defintely try smoothies as they contain fiber (to slow the introduction of nutrients and sugars into the bloodstream) and might be more gentle for someone with blood sugar issues.

Here are some Smoothies recipes for you.

Last but not least, here is an article on juicing for diabetes that you might find helpful.