Functional Foods Or Foods to Help Heal Type 2 Diabetes and Lead to Lower Blood Sugar Levels!

A functional food is a component of the diet that can be used in place of medicine. Although the field of functional foods is relatively new and still controversial, there is growing evidence that minor changes in diet can result in major advantages in your blood sugar control.

Certain foods modify inflammation in fatty tissue. Up to 1/3rd of the bulk around the average Type 2 diabetic's waistline usually is not fat at all. Instead, a lot of "fat" is actually a subset of the white blood cells known as the macrophages. These large, bulky cells specialize in removing dead or diseased tissue, and they are 'fueled' by cholesterol. Macrophages can get literally stuck in fatty tissue and interfere with your circulation.

That is important in Type 2 diabetes because the fat cells absorb blood sugar. If blood cannot circulate to reach fat cells, insulin cannot reach them either. Cells in other parts of your body become increasingly insulin-resistant because fat cells cannot do their job. Also your appetite control signals your fat cells to message your brain when they are full, but they never enter the circulation either. So the Type 2 diabetic tends to want to eat, eat, eat... even when full.

A number of food chemicals are known to modify this kind of inflammation, and may have an indirect effect on blood sugar levels. These food chemicals are:

• anthocyanins, found in red or purplish fruits and berries,
• capsaicin, found in chili peppers,
• diosgenin, found in fenugreek and yams,
• naringenin, found in citrus fruit,
• naringenin chalcone, found in tomato peels, and
• 6-Gingerol and 6-shogaol, found in ginger.

Eating these foods may reduce inflammation and indirectly lower weight and assist blood sugar control. There may also be considerable advantage in consuming citrus peel. Bitter orange peel has been used as a drug by practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine for over 1,000 years, and for reasons modern science can understand. The auraptene in citrus peel activates a gene called PPAR-gamma in the fat cells, the same gene that is activated by Actos and Avandia.

Auraptene modulates the activity of the gene so that it reduces inflammation and increases blood sugar uptake but without, as is the problem with Actos and Avandia, causing the transformation of bone and connective tissue cells into baby fat cells. Auraptene gives lower blood sugar levels without encouraging weight gain. The capsaicin in hot peppers and the 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol in ginger have a similar effect.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids also reduce the inflammation that causes swelling in fatty tissue. A great source of these essential fatty acids is any kind of cold-water fish that can be identified by its blue skin:

• tuna
• sardines
• herring, and
• mackerel

all contain anti-inflammatory fatty acids.

There is no way to exactly equate servings of food and doses of medication but regular consumption of functional foods, may make management of type 2 diabetes and lower blood sugar levels easier over time.

Would you like more information about alternative ways to handle your type 2 diabetes?

To download your free copy of my E-Book, click here now: Answers to Your Questions... its based on questions many diabetics have asked me over recent months.

Beverleigh Piepers is a registered nurse who would like to help you understand how to live easily and happily with your type 2 diabetes.
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