These healing easy diabetes friendly recipes taste amazing and will help get your blood sugar under control. Make some time for cooking and get started with these simple healthy meals for type 2 diabetics including recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.
The focus is on antioxidant-rich high-fiber and lower carb recipes to make sure you get everything you need from your diet to manage and improve diabetes.
It’s More than just Sugar
Diabetes is a chronic disease, which means you need to take consistent action to manage it (and possibly reverse it, if I’m allowed to say that, social media masters?).
A lot of people talk about sugar and simple carbs when it comes to diabetes, because they want to simplify it. But there’s a whole lot more to this chronic condition.
Sugar and simple carbs are a no no, I agree, but to really make a change you need to know some of the basic processes going on when you have diabetes. I don’t want to make this too long, as I want to get to the recipes, but here are a few basic problems at a molecular level with diabetes we need to address (with diet):
- high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) – this can damage blood vessels and proteins in your body, making them “stiff” and basically causing loss of function of the molecules and eventually organs
- increased oxidative stress and chronic inflammation: both of these processes affect your body in a negative way and ultimately can lead to, again, loss of function and other chronic diseases including autoimmune
- nutrient deficiencies – for example, with diabetes you might need more vitamin C, as well as the vitamins E and D
Best Foods To Eat For Diabetics
All of these basic effects of diabetes then can lead to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, liver and kidney problems and so on.
But we can address all of these by changing what and how we eat. See simply removing some carbs from your diet is a step in the right direction, but it might not help you heal properly (the diabetes-friendly recipes below will be a good start).
Anyway, here’s what we’ll focus on for healing and managing diabetes:
- Lots of raw vegetables, herbs and low-carb fruits. Including kale, spinach, cabbage, arugula, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini peppers and berries. These foods should make up the bulk of your meals. They’re rich in antioxidants (thus reduce inflammation and oxidative stress), have lower glycemic index than cooked (thus won’t cause a sugar spike) and are full of vitamins and minerals that will nourish and heal your body.
- Protein including fish, seafood, meats and tofu. This will help keep the blood sugar stable and will increase satiety, so you don’t need to snack all the time and you can leave space between meals.
- Omega-3’s and other healthy fats. Omega-3s are essential for diabetics and non-diabetics, because they’re anti-inflammatory and are structural components of our cell membranes. Unfortunately, we’re not getting nearly enough omega-3’s these days. So we need to make sure we have some flaxseed, chia seeds, sardines, salmon or mackerel in our diet. Also add raw almonds, olive oil and avocado to your diet – they all have healthy fats and almonds are rich in the antioxidant vitamin E.
- Fiber and Prebiotics. Including beans, some whole grains, high-fiber vegetables, sauerkraut and yogurt. To keep your blood sugar stable and to enhance your gut microbiome, which is often damaged with diabetes and insulin resistance.
22 Easy Diabetes-Friendly Recipes
Honestly, I am making this list of diabetes friendly recipes for me and my family to get a bit more organized. Because, well, almost everyone in my family gets or has this condition once we hit 35. And I want to prevent it for whoever I can and help manage or reverse it for the others. I think we can all do better with a healthier diet either way. And so, let’s start with the healthy meals for diabetics and pre-diabetics.
1. Mediterranean Breakfast Egg Scramble
Simple and super flavorful! I like to serve this with some salad on the side for a full breakfast.
2. Easy Breakfast Veggie Wraps
These lettuce wraps are filled with hard-boiled eggs, olives, avocado and basil among other things. Surprisingly filling they will fuel you and keep you energized throughout the morning.
3. Yogurt With Berries And Nuts
If you can’t have eggs or want to start your day on a “sweeter note” grab your favorite unsweetened preferably probiotic yogurt, some berries (fresh or frozen and thawed both fine), nuts and enjoy! I would leave the honey out for a while.
4. Crustless Tuna Quiche
You can enjoy this simple quiche recipe for breakfast or lunch, have it with some leafy greens, avocado and tomatoes or carrots on the side for a super healthy and I hate to say it, but – balanced meal.
5. Chia Pudding
Try a different sweetener or add more berries to make this lower-carb. You can enjoy the chia pudding for a small healthy breakfast or for dessert – it’s packed with essential nutrients like omega-3’s, protein, fiber and vitamins.
6. Savory oatmeal feta muffins
Now these savory feta muffins are my “guilty” pleasure, they’re quite addicting. They’re not exactly full of healing foods. But whenever you crave something butter-y they’re the perfect recipe to lean on, as they’re unlikely to spike blood sugar and are packed with protein. However, keep it in moderation, especially if you’re dealing with high blood pressure, because of the higher sodium content. I recommend having a small salad like this one on the side too to balance it all out.
7. Healthy Overnight Oats
Similar to the chia pudding, you can make the overnight oats before you go to bed. They’re perfect when topped with some berries and some nut butter of choice.
8. Easy Avocado Shrimp Salad
Super easy to prepare with shrimp, avocado, radishes, onion, herbs and olives. For a diabetes-friendly version choose lower-carb bread or tortillas or even better – lettuce leaves for wraps.
9. 30-Minute Anti-Inflammatory chicken soup
Surprisingly satisfying, flavorful and super easy to make! Everyone in your family will love this delicious chicken soup with cauliflower and spices.
10. Healthy Shredded Chicken Salad
You will love this colorful chicken salad, the special part is the dressing! It’s SO tasty, make sure to soak raw cashews overnight to make things quicker.
11. Mediterranean Black Bean Salad With Herbs
This vegetarian salad is super tasty, high in fiber, protein and packed with vitamins!
12. Mediterranean Salmon Bowl
The salad for this one sounds unusual, but it’s SO tasty. 10/10 must try recipe for dinner. You can even meal prep some salmon for the week ahead and put it together in no time.
13. Super Fresh Arugula Shrimp Salad
You need no more than 15 minutes to make this delicious salad for lunch or dinner. It is one of my go-to meals when I have frozen shrimp at home!
14. Easy Chopped Chicken Salad
I did mention we’ll be eating lots of raw vegetables, right? Whenever I make this chicken salad I like to whip up a quick yogurt garlic sauce made out of 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 minced garlic love and some salt. Mix it, fill in lettuce leaves and enjoy these energizing lettuce chicken wraps for lunch.
15. Healthy Chickpea Tuna Bowls
Cabbage and tuna probably don’t sound like your dream combo, but they are SO good together. Trust the process, I’m pretty sure you are going to love these super affordable healthy bowls!
16. Clean Eating Salmon Lettuce Wraps
If there’s a recipe I’d always be in the mood for, it’s these flavorful salmon lettuce wraps with asparagus, scallions and herbs!
17. Pesto Chicken Cauliflower Rice
If you’ve never had cauliflower rice before the idea probably sounds like a sad attempt. I know, because I thought that. Well, surprise! This easy dinner recipe tastes incredible and it’s ready in 15 minutes when you already have chicken.
18. Easy Coconut Curry Shrimp Soup
No need to add any sugar to this coconut curry soup! It’s ultra-satisfying and one of the best meals you can have for dinner. Feel free to switch things up and use broccoli or cauliflower when in season instead of zucchini.
19. Mediterranean Fish Soup
You probably never thought of making a soup with sardines, but once you try this recipe, you will realize you’ve been missing out. This Mediterranean soup is packed with flavor, antioxidants, omega-3’s, protein and it’s low in carbs. All that makes it a wonderful diabetes-friendly dinner idea!
20. 15-Minute High-Protein Chicken and Chickpeas
Another delicious healthy dinner idea for diabetics that’s packed with fiber and protein. I usually serve this one with a raw side dish salad of whatever vegetables are in season and the yogurt garlic sauce I mentioned earlier (1/2 cup yogurt, salt and 1 minced clove of garlic).
21. Healthy Chocolate Peanut Clusters
Now if you’re craving something chocolatey for dessert, these peanut clusters are the answer. Grab some 80+% dark chocolate, peanut butter and peanuts and make these in 10 minutes. Leave for an hour to firm up in the fridge and enjoy for dessert! If you want to, you can use other nuts and nut-butters as well.
22. Lower-Carb Cheesecake
If you’re a fan of cheesecake, this easy no-bake recipe will satisfy your cravings. We’ll use cottage cheese instead of cream cheese and nuts, cinnamon and oats to make the crust instead of cookies. Top with whatever berries you have available and refrigerate for an hour or so.
Other Things
I really hope you enjoy these healing easy diabetes-friendly recipes if you decide to try some of them! Remember that diabetes is not only about diet, so to help improve this condition it’s best to:
- move more (make sure you’re getting your daily 10k steps in),
- get enough sleep
- do more of the hobbies that make you happy (excluding eating unhealthy food!) to release stress!
22 Easy Diabetes Friendly Recipes
A collection of healing easy diabetes friendly recipes! These simple healthy meals for type 2 diabetics taste amazing, can help manage your blood sugar and include recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert!
Ingredients
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 2 tbsp vanilla
- stevia to taste*
- ¼ cup almonds
- ¼ cup walnuts
- ¼ cup oats
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- mixed frozen berries
Instructions
- Using a hand blender combine cottage cheese, vanilla and sweetener, blend until really smooth (takes me about 4-5 minutes).
- Grind oats and nuts in a food processor or a nut-grinder. Add some cinnamon if you want.
- Spread the oat and nut mixture in a large glass container that you can put in the freezer/fridge. Press the mixture down, so that it starts to look like a crust.
- Then layer the cottage cheese filling and spread well.
- Top with berries of your liking – I used mixed frozen berries, because that’s what I had at home.
- Let sit in the fridge for about 30 mins and enjoy.
Notes
* I used 1 tsp of stevia, but I found there are types where this might be too much/too little. The recipe I made with honey I used 2 Tbsp honey, which is around 3Tbsp sugar. You can either convert to the stevia brand you'll be using, or taste.
For a more low carb version of the crust - use 1 tbsp ground flaxseed instead of the oats, or add more almonds & nuts leaving the oats out.
If you don't need the recipe to be low-carb, you can also use 2 tbsp honey.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 170Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 12mgSodium 293mgCarbohydrates 10gFiber 2gSugar 4gProtein 11g
This article is cool I am just trying to lowering my blood Glucose as I am pre Diabetic and have a sweet tooth.
I there a book to accompany these recipies?