Being an Indian we don’t need to talk a lot about the love of sweets and deserts, we just love anything sweet and make a variety of desserts during our festivals and other occasions but the sad part is that our family members who suffer from diabetes often feel left out because diabetes diet is strict and needs to be followed precisely.  

Let us take one step further into knowing diabetes before we get into what sweets a diabetes diet consists. Diabetes is probably the most common disease which has affected more than a million of people around the globe, it won’t be wrong to call it serious issue when it comes to health plus it affects people of all ages be it kids or our elderly. Diabetes is caused by various reasons but the most common one is sedentary lifestyle.  People who do not follow a healthy diet or are overweight also get diabetes easily.  Our genes also play an important part in getting type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes diet consists of meals between meals to avoid sugar cravings which leads to a spike in blood sugar levels as well as obesity.  Type 2 diabetes is said to be the culprit but there are other types of diabetes as well which can lead to major health issues like diabetes mellitus and Gestational diabetes. Diabetes mellitus is a disorder, when our body is not able to either produce or respond normally to insulin resulting in an increase in the blood sugar then a person urinates frequently or tends to get thirsty more often.  It also results in weight loss without trying to do so. Diabetes mellitus is also a leading cause of high blood glucose levels which ultimately is excreted through urine and you might find ants in your toilet after you pee. 

When it comes to gestational diabetes is a different story.  It is a condition when the blood sugar levels rise up during pregnancy.  Gestational diabetes is often seen is around 10% of pregnant women even when they have not been diagnosed by diabetes.  Generally pregnant women make enough insulin but those who can’t tend to develop gestational diabetes. 

Yes, but since we started out with Makhana let us get back to this wonderful high protein food. Makhana or fox nut comes from a plant called Euryale Fox and it is cultivated in still waters in ponds. When it comes to Makhana nutrition, it has been in use in the last 3000 years in Chinese medicine as well as in Ayurveda too.  Not only that, it is one of the major ingredients in desserts, curries, snacks, religious ceremonies, weight loss recipes and in diabetes diet plan in India.

Fox nut is one dry fruit you can indulge into without having to fear of those extra pounds that you may acquire from other nuts as it is low in calories.  A 50 grams of dry roasted Makhana gives you about 180 calories without any saturated fat or sodium.  This excellent high protein food is rich in carbohydrates and is known as a low glycemic food which results in managing your blood sugar levels.  Its high value of magnesium and low sodium content makes it a perfect snack for people combating with diabetes and obesity. 

So, if you are looking for something delicious and healthy as a diabetic person or someone suffering from either diabetes mellitus or gestational diabetes then eating Makhana either raw or grounded into powder can work wonders and off course dry roasted Makhana can also be eaten as a remedy to manage diabetes. 

There are end number of ways through which you can include Fox nut in your daily diet.  You can put them in your soups, add them in your salads or even in your gravy.  You can also use Makhana in kheer, puddings or simply roast them into a nice and crispy snack.   Another interesting way of using Makhana for managing diabetes is by grinding it and adding it with soybean, bajra and jowar flours and feed it to your family by making nutritious rotis and turn it into a high protein food. 

Still confused as to how to benefit from Makhana nutrition?  Fret, not, here are some easy and simple ways through which you can do that. 

1.  Dry roast Makhana by putting it on a nonstick pan without any oil and roast them on low flame till they get slightly brown.  
2. You can also roast it with ghee by simply adding a tablespoon of ghee in the pan and roast the Makhana in it.  You can add some salt of chat masala if you want a little tang in your snack. 
3. Simply soak a handful of Fox nut in water overnight and add it in soups, salads, kheer, puddings etc. 

So, at the end of it all we can say that Makhana is a high protein food which helps in controlling blood sugar levels during diabetes, mellitus diabetes and in gestational diabetes. One very important thing to remember if you have diabetes of any form is that like any other nut makhana should also be eaten in moderation or can cause constipation, bloating etc therefore before including it in your diabetes diet consult and doctor and then enjoy makhana nutrition at its best.