Blood Sugar Control Tip – Lettuce

Lettuce is a great vegetable for those who are on a diet. Not only do lettuce fills up our stomach, it also provides some essential nutrients that our body needs, such as Vitamins A and K, and folate. However, the greatest benefit of lettuce in blood sugar control for diabetes is its low carb, low fat and more importantly, low calories content. The low calorie content of lettuce allows you to fill your salad bowl to the brim without having to worry about overeating. It is also why most salad uses lettuce as a base to give an illusion of a big amount but yet contain low calories.

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A certain study published in Diabetes Care found that people who eat more green and leafy vegetables, including lettuce, are less likely to develop diabetes than people who do not eat any vegetables at all.

Lettuce and other non-starchy veggies have very low glycemic index score which makes them great for blood sugar control for diabetes. Thus, there is no need to worry about blood sugar spikes even if you consume big amounts of lettuce. According to the ADA, or the American Diabetes Association, the recommended amount of lettuce and other non-starchy vegetables for diabetes is about three to five servings a day. This means you can safely eat around 1/2 to 2/3 a head of lettuce a day.

Always Go For Dark Colored Lettuce

Choosing the type of lettuce to eat is also important. Lettuces which are darker in color, like the romaine, radicchio and green leaf lettuce are far more nutritious than the lighter colored ones, such as the iceberg lettuce. Lighter color lettuces contains more water content and has less nutrients. For instance, one cup of romaine lettuce contains 20 times more vitamin K than one cup of iceberg lettuce. Hence always go for dark colored lettuce when possible.

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