Foods that help normalise blood sugar levels

Either high or low blood sugar causes a person to feel "off" and not able to fully enjoy life. The disease diabetes (any type) means that you have too much sugar in your blood. Peaks and valleys in blood sugar is usually caused by the consumption of carbohydrates and/or glycogen release from the liver. Both carbohydrate foods and glycogen release cause blood sugar to rise. In turn, a rise in blood sugar triggers insulin release.

You can help normalize your blood sugar naturally as needed with some of these foods in your diet.  In fact, these foods can be considered as "neutral" when it comes to blood sugar readings. Make them central at your meals and snacks with a dash of carbohydrate on the side.

• Eggs or egg whites = protein
  
• Low fat cheese (made from 2 percent milk), cottage cheese, ricotta cheese = protein
  
• Lean beef (sirloin, 85-93 percent lean ground beef, flank steak, London broil, round steak) = protein
  
• Lean pork (pork roast, trimmed pork chops, ham) = protein
  
• Fish or seafood = protein
  
• Lamb, venison = protein
  
• Poultry (skinless white meat is best) = protein
  
• Natural peanut butter or almond butter = protein
  
• Soy , tofu, edamame = protein
  
• Avocado = healthy fat
  
• Nuts (no honey coating or added sugar)= healthy fat
  
• Olives = healthy fat
  
• Seeds (sunflower kernels, pumpkin seeds) = healthy fat
  
• Neutral veggies such as green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, all types of lettuce, spinach, bean sprouts, Brussels sprouts, kale, 1 tomato, .5 cup tomato or vegetable juice, onions, all types of peppers, cucumbers, mushrooms = free veggies
  
• Foods with net carb of 5 grams of less. Total carbohydrate - dietary fiber = net carb grams. Some examples include low carbohydrate protein shakes, low carb breads or wraps, low carb yogurt, Greek yogurt.