When you have diabetes, you need to alter eating habits and perform more physical exercises. Diabetics need to be more responsible about their lifestyle. For their diet, it is a good idea to consult with a doctor or dietician. Herbal treatments alone may not be enough to fully treat diabetes, but their regular consumption should significantly improve your situation and full recovery is much more likely to happen.
- Fenugreek: Fenugreek is a plant that can be used as herbal remedy or spice in cooking. There’s little clinical test on the benefit of fenugreek on our health. However, it is confirmed that fenugreek stimulates the secretion of insulin from cells in pancreas. This should contribute in lowering you blood sugar level.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon is commonly used in desserts and beverages. Regular use of cinnamon lowers the level of blood glucose, but it takes some experimentation to know about the ideal dosage.
- Banaba: Banaba is a tree species native to South East Asia. Tests have been performed in the US and Japan, showing that banana has an active substance called Corosolic acid. It is able to lower the level of our blood sugar.
- Asian ginseng: Asian ginseng or panax ginseng is a herb that can be used for remedies and cooking. You may take it as a tincture and supplement. Chinese traditional medicine often emphasizes on the benefits of ginseng as a general booster and cure ingredient. Regular consumption of ginseng should be able to lower the overall level of glucose and the blood pressure level can also be lowered.
- Turmeric: Turmeric contains an active ingredient called curcumin and tests on rats have shown that the compound is able to make glucose level lower in test animals. Turmeric is often used in South Asian and South East Asian cuisines; so you need to incorporate such recipes in your daily diet.
- Stevia: Stevia is also known as sweet leaf and common in Central and South American countries. It is an alternative sweetener to sugar and safe for diabetics in moderate amount.
- Neem tree: Neem tree is a member of the mahogany family and its usage has an effect on blood sugar level.
- Ginkgo biloba: The extract of gingko tree leaves contains a substance with antioxidant properties, the flavonoid glycosides. It is able to improve blood circulation, especially for smaller capillaries. For people who have diabetes, it is quite common for them to have poor circulation. It means that ginkgo biloba extracts should help to aid complications like diabetic retinopathy and diabetic neuropathy.
- Kino tree: Kino tree or Pterocarpus marsupium should be useful for people who have symptoms of diabetes. The tree bark can soaked in water for a period of time to dissolve its active compound, epicatechin. It is able to affect pancreas and normalize the production of insulin.
- Bitter melon: Bitter melon is edible and used as cooking ingredient in South and South East Asian cuisine, despite its bitter taste. It contains “plant insulin”, a type of protein that is identical to bovine insulin. The active ingredient of bitter melon or Momordica charantia is believed to be polypeptide-p or p-insulin.