Your New, Diabetic Grocery List

So now that you learned about the sugars, the ingredients list and the nutrition facts, it’s time to go shopping! Where should you go shopping? What should your grocery list contain?

First of all, you should know that industrial marketing is doing anything possible to make you buy! Packaging designs with special words to make you believe you’re buying the best product in the world, cartoons for children, flavors to incite your brain, even the noise a bag makes is attentively studied so it will evoke a special feeling when you’re opening it! Everything is made to sell! Everything is made to make you addictive to the product so you’ll buy it again and again! And the way the products are positioned in a supermarket is also very well designed for the same reason!

So where should you go shopping?

What should you buy? Well, let’s make a shopping list!

As you already might know, I am sustaining a healthy, omnivorous diet, so please, do not feel horrified when seeing some items that will be listed here! Remember that diabetes can be reversed if you stick to a healthy diet plan that does not include ultra-processed industrial foods and drinks! If you have other conditions as well, like kidney failure for example, you should consult your nutritionist before you consume certain foods.

• Fruits : all fruits except the grapefruit, pomelo and Sicilian oranges. These interfere with your medication and you definitely don’t want that! Best fruits are the local ones and the season fruits! Always eat fruits during the first part of the day, on empty stomach and paired with protein : cheese, nuts, yogurt etc.
• Dried fruits: plums and apricots are the best. However, dried fruits have higher sugar content so go easy on them and pair them with seeds and nuts. Keep moving afterwards. They are a perfect alternative to calm the sweet tooth!
• Vegetables : all vegetables are a go for! Best vegetables are the local ones and the frozen ones. The latter keep most of their vitamins. Potatoes are also a go for, the “younger” they are, the better, but you need to know how to cook them and how to pair them to avoid the spike.
• Legumes : again, no exceptions especially if you’re a vegetarian! You do need that protein! If you prefer canned legumes, make sure that the ingredients list is very short and contains the legume, water and salt, eventually ascorbic acid as a preservative. If you eat legumes, eat less starchy products.
• Seeds and grains : the best are chia seeds and ground flax seeds, pumpkin seeds as well as sunflower seeds. Again, no restrictions for seeds nor grains!
• Nuts : best for insulin resistance are macadamia nuts and walnuts. Go easy on the rest as they have an imbalanced Omega 3 / Omega 6 ratio and it can enhance inflammation. To balance that, get another Omega 3 source.
• Cereals : try to avoid wheat! Instead, search for the ancestral wheat like einkorn, kamut and emmer. Oats, millet, barley, spelt, rye and buckwheat are very good! Try to get them in their whole form. Same goes for rice : whole rice or brown rice, wild rice as well as basmati rice are also well accepted by diabetics.
• Flour : again, go for the less processed flour. You can also combine several types. My favorite ones are oats and chickpea flours, but there are also buckwheat flour, rye, spelt and barley, pea and lentil flour as well as coconut and almond flour. Corn flour to make polenta occasionally.
• Sugar : vanilla, stevia and acacia honey, monk fruit, agave syrup and maple syrup. Go as naturally as possible! Use them carefully, in limited amounts only for your coffee or tea. Make sure you counterbalance the spiking effect with cinnamon or ginger and have enough fiber and protein during breakfast time. Try to avoid consuming sweetened drinks between meals.
• Salt : only unrefined sea salt or mine salt.
• Spices : all spices have green light! Best are : cinnamon, turmeric always paired with black pepper, next is ginger and cayenne pepper. But there are no restrictions for any spices!
• Herbs : all herbs are good! Especially thyme and rosemary!
• Oils and fats : extra-virgin, non refined, cold pressed olive oil, avocado oil, macadamia oil, rapeseed oil and coconut oil, and if you do not have cholesterol issues animal fat is okay in limited amounts. It’s a question of insulin resistance of the cells…
• Vinegar : unfiltered, natural/ organic apple cider vinegar with no sulphites.
• Vinaigrette : only home-made! Easy to make: oil, vinegar or lemon juice, herbs and spices of your wish and mayo or sour cream if you please!
• Meat : lean meat, preferably 5 times a week – poultry, pork, go easier on red meat.
• Cold cuts : make sure they are absolutely nitrates free, low in sodium and with natural ingredients that you know or recognize! Better to avoid if possible…
• Fish : The lower on the food chain, the better to avoid mercury poisoning. Also go for wild fish, avoid the farmed fish! Tuna and sardines are a great choice for breakfast. Seafood has green light so go for it!
• Dairy : fermented whole milk dairy is the best option. If they are skimmed, low fat products, they will contain other ingredients that are not healthy for your microbiome. Dairy should contain only milk and lactic ferments. Aged cheese doesn’t contain lactose, ricotta and cottage cheese are lower in sugars.
• Vegetable milk: organic soy milk only! Again it is about Omega 3 and Omega 6 balance!
• Coffee : substitutes like chicory are the best, next decaff coffee and if you cannot do it otherwise, go for the natural coffee. Avoid drinking coffee when you have to take your medication.
• Bread : only organic whole grain bread with sourdough, maximum 5 ingredients!!!
• Pasta : only occasionally (!) like once or twice a month! Go for whole grain pasta, lentil flour pasta or pea or chickpea flour pasta. Make sure you eat a good salad before and you have enough protein with it!
• Mayonnaise is best if made at home, mustard important to check the ingredients list, ketchup and other sauces are to avoid completely!
• Chocolates : 75% and above dark chocolate.
• Keep away from bonbons, cookies and other junk foods even if they are sold as sugar free! They will increase your blood sugar and give you gastrointestinal issues!
• Alcohol : organic red wine with no sulphites, 1 glass for women, 2 for men. For special occasions: lager or ale beer in limited amounts as well as dry alcohol, not mixed with other sodas also in limited amounts, make sure to eat before as alcohol drops your blood sugar to hypoglycemia!!!
• Beverages : tea, herbs infusions, water, natural spring sparkling water enriched with magnesium and other minerals. At home you can add fruits, vanilla or mint leaves to flavor water and keep it in the fridge…
• Home made popcorn and vegetable chips (in an airfryer for example) are good for a movie night!
• Supplements: berberine (it will have an effect after about two months of use), buckthorn oil, apple cider vinegar capsules, brewer’s yeast, and if you do not absorb as much from food, you might want to consider the following minerals and vitamins: chromium, magnesium, manganese, vanadium and zinc, vitamins: B1, B2, B3, C, E and D
• Cooking book : find a diabetic friendly, low GI or even a Mediterranean diet cooking book. The healthiest Mediterranean cuisine is the Cretan one.

Bottom line : the key to healthy diet and reversing diabetes is to eat home cooked from natural ingredients, using lots of vegetables and healthy fats. You will probably note that I did not add any granola bars or protein drinks! Anything that is obtained from the process of cracking is not healthy for your microbiome, for your cholesterol and arteries, for your body in general! You can obtain the daily necessary protein intake from food: legumes, nuts, dairy, fish and meat.

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