Those who have been diagnosed with certain types of diabetes must find it really hard to manage their diet. It is because patients with diabetes should manage the blood sugar level really well if they don’t want to suffer the side effects. Though fruit is rich of vitamins, minerals and natural, still diabetic patients should be super careful in choosing the best fruits to consume. How about dragon fruit? Dragon fruit is an exotic fruit which is rich of fiber which considered as one of the fruit good for diabetes.
Why Dragon Fruit is Good for Diabetic Patients?
Dragon fruit is one of the exotic fruit commonly found in Asia and well known for its juicy and sweet flavour. So, how dragon fruit could be good for diabetic patients when this fruit has distinctive sweet flavour since diabetic patients should avoid anything that has sweet flavour? This article will tell you more about the dragon fruits benefits for diabetic treatments with one important thing to note that this fruit is consumed in proper amount only.
- Excellent Source of Potent Antioxidants
The main function of antioxidant is to fight free radicals that could cause oxidative stress. In diabetic patients, oxidative stress could lead to several more severe conditions. That is why most of diabetic patients are not only struggling to the diabetic condition but also some complications from cardiovascular problems up to kidney problems.
- Rich of Fiber
Diabetic patients should consume a lot of fiber. The health benefits of fiber for diabetic patients are closely related to heart health and cholesterol. Soluble dietary fiber will bind the excessive cholesterol inside the intestine and wash it off from the body system. That is why dragon fruit is also considered as one of the foods that lower cholesterol level.
- Packed with Vitamin C
During a strict diet management, sometimes is very difficult for diabetic patients to fulfil the essential nutrients required for normal body metabolism. However, consuming vitamin c is mandatory because the main vitamin c benefits are ensuring all the nutrients that enter the body will be absorbed optimally to avoid deficiency.
- Assists in Stabilizing Blood Sugar Level
As one of the foods with low calories and has low glycemic index is possible for dragon fruit to assist in stabilising blood sugar level. In diabetic patients, having a good management to have blood sugar level in normal pace is not an easy job however some studies have found out that consuming dragon fruit regularly may be helpful.
- Maintains the Glycemic Index
There must be the time when diabetic patients cannot control their appetite and consuming foods that may high glycemic index. Consuming those kinds of food may cause the blood sugar level to spike. Consuming dragon fruit regularly may help maintaining the glycemic index especially right after you consume foods with high glycemic index, the active compounds found in dragon fruit will stabilize it.
- Excellent Immunity Booster
When a person has been diagnosed with diabetes, maintaining their health is really important because even a common flu could lead to disaster. That is why consuming foods that rich of essential vitamins and minerals such as dragon fruit may help boosting the immunity system to provide additional protection from viruses or viral infections.
- Good Snack Choice
Most people though that once they have been diagnosed with diabetes, they should rely on healthy but not tasty foods for the rest of their life. Well, it is actually not true because there are a lot of options of tasty but healthy foods highly recommended and considered safe to be consumed by diabetic patients in daily basis.
- Effective as Diabetes Preventive Solution
For some people might be too late to deal with diabetes but for those who haven’t finding a way to prevent diabetes is a must. Consuming dragon fruit after consuming foods that contain high glycemic index may help preventing diabetes in natural but in the most effective way.
- Promotes Healthier Heart
One of the complications that may be suffered by diabetic patients is heart problems. The key to promote healthy heart is consuming foods with low calories level but containing all the essentials vitamins and minerals for heart. Dragon fruit is rich of fiber and also potassium. It is a common knowledge that the health benefits of potassium are to eliminate the excessive amount of sodium to promote healthier heart.
- Excellent for Digestion
Having healthy digestion is the main key to healthy metabolism. A diabetic patient should have healthy metabolism to make sure all the nutrients absorbed optimally while at the same time blood sugar level is always under control.
Cautions of Consuming Dragon Fruit for Diabetic Patients
Though there are some dragon fruit benefits for diabetes treatment especially for those who are willing to prevent it, still there are some cautions you should know about consuming dragon fruit when you have been diagnosed with diabetes.
- Consulting your diet schedule with your doctor is essential especially when you are about to add dragon fruit as part of daily diet. It is because each person has unique condition and it is closely related to the dosage suggested for you to consume in order to get the best result.
- One important thing you should know as well is though there are a lot of scientific studies related to dragon fruit and diabetes but most of those studies are animal studies while human studies are still limited and strongly required. Though in animal studies showed positive result but the result could be different when it is applied to human study.
- It is better to only consuming fresh dragon fruit. It is not recommended to consume dragon fruit that has been processed into packed juice, jam or anything else because you would never know about the additional ingredients like refinery sugar or preservation that added to the product. So, just stick to the fresh dragon fruit if you want to get all the health benefits of dragon fruits for your health.
Dragon fruit is not only well known for its exotic appearance and sweet flavour but also well known for its amazing benefits for human health. Some scientific studies have been conducted not only about the fruits but also about other parts of the plant such from the vines up to the health benefits of dragon fruit flowers have been studied.