Diabetics have to keep track of everything they ingest, including food and drinks. Thus, there are important guidelines to follow in the preparation of diabetic drinks.
What are the Best Diabetic Drinks?
Generally speaking, diabetics have to control their blood glucose levels. This they can do by consuming drinks that will not significantly impact their blood glucose levels. Water is obviously first among those drinks. Plain drinking water contains no sugar. So there is no chance of a simple drink of water sending one’s blood sugar levels sky rocketing. Flavored water could be an entirely different story. So it is best to avoid it altogether, or to read the labels and do the necessary research to determine whether the additives pose any threat.
Other ideal diabetic drinks include tea and coffee, which one can drink without sugar, or sweetened with sugar substitutes. As before, it is imperative for diabetics to do research on the available sugar substitutes to determine their suitability. Diet soft drinks include sugar substitutes, so these may be ideal diabetic drinks. Fortunately for diabetics, soft drink containers typically come with nutritional information which can be reviewed to determine their suitability.
It may come as a surprise to some that there are limited situations within which diabetics can drink alcohol. Thus, the term “diabetic alcoholic drinks” is not a misnomer. First of all, diabetics must ask their doctors if they are allowed to drink alcohol. If the doctor says yes, then they must limit their consumption to 2 standard drinks on a given day for women, and 3 standard drinks on a given day for men. A standard drink is equivalent to 300 ml of beer, 30 ml of spirits, or 100 ml of wine.
Alcoholic drinks are not healthy diabetic drinks. Thus, they must not be ingested daily. Diabetics should avoid alcohol several days a week. Furthermore, they should never consume it on an empty stomach. Pre-mixed drinks are to be avoided at all costs. In their place, diabetics should use diet drinks as mixes when drinking spirits.
As far as diabetic nutritional drinks go, fruit juices could be problematic, especially if they have high levels of sucrose or glucose. It is better to avoid these and to eat diabetic-friendly fruits, or to make smoothies from these fruits. For those looking for healthy diabetic drinks, recipes such as that for the sugar-free Strawberry Smoothie are excellent. For this recipe, one needs a cup of whole strawberries, a cup of sugar-free plain yoghurt, and a cup of crushed ice. Blending all these ingredients together in a blender will yield a healthy and delicious smoothie.
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