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Ans: Hey, if you want to work on brining down your fasting sugar levels, focus on these things:

1. Make sure your dinner meal is balanced. If you don't have a balanced meals you might see a dip in blood sugar levels in the middle of night which can lead to higher fasting sugars. Include complex carbs, proteins and fibre for sustained release of glucose into blood.

2. make sure you are exercising in the morning. Avoid exercising in the evening or night, since this will sensitise insulin and lead to a dip in blood sugars at night. Which can be a possible reason for higher fasting blood sugar levels.

3. if your dinner is early you can add a bed time snack which is a combination of carb and protein for example: roasted channa with a cup of milk or a cup of milk with nuts & seeds

These are a few reasons we see higher fasting sugars. Find out what is the possible reason for your high fasting sugars and work on it accordingly.

Ans: Hey, there are several factors that affect weight loss. Definitely exercise will help you creat more calorie deficit and restricting fast food will ensure you do not consume more calories. Here are a few things you need to check for:

1. Check if you are in a calorie deficit. (consuming less than what your body needs) Most of my clients feel that they are eating home cooked meals and yet not able to lose weight. And they fail to understand is that calories count, not only the kind of food. If you're eating more calories, it will not allow you to lose weight. So, re evaluate your caloric intake.

2. Check your hormonal profile: Hormonal imbalance (reproductive hormones or thyroid hormones) will not allow weight loss to happen. Solution here is to correct your hormonal imbalance. When your primary focus shifts to managing hormones, weight loss becomes simple. Because you're working on the root cause of your weight loss.

3. Stress: Manage your stress levels with yoga, meditation, etc. Cortisol (stress hormone) is responsible for depositing fat around your abdomen. So, managing stress becomes important to lose weight in such case.

4. Lack of sleep: Studies have shown that insufficient sleep leads to more calorie consumption and this can be one of the reason for not seeing desired weight loss. Clock in 7-9 hours of good quality sleep to avoid this.

Check from the above points what is the reason for you not losing weight, and try to rule out one by one to see results :)

Ans: Hey, I understand how challenging it must be for you to manage all this. You need to work on a few things here.

1. Work on managing your diet. Start your meals by 1 tsp of chia seeds soaked in water (20 min before meal) Add a good portion of salads, cooked vegetables in your diet. This will make you feel full and stop you from relying on carbohydrates to satiate your hunger. And this trick will help you keep your blood sugars under check.

2. You also need to exercise at the same time to have sugars under control. Check with your doctor which exercises are allowed since you get vertigo attacks. Simple walks should also work.

Having your sugars under control is very important to have your inflammation under check. Other things that you can focus on to keep your inflammation under control are:

1. Add anti inflammatory foods in your diet like fresh turmeric (in salads/vegetable juices) or turmeric supplements, 1 tsp of goji berries, ginger (in herbal tea or just in warm water), colourful fruits and vegetables (especially dark green leafy vegetables).

2. Avoid fried foods, sugary foods/beverages that can trigger your inflammation.

3. Clock in 7-9 hours of good quality sleep. Sleep is very important to heal you.

4. Practice yoga, meditation - this will help you manage stress. Stress triggers inflammation too.

Following these basics consistently with discipline should help you to manage sugars and put your auto immune into remission. All the best :)

Ans: Hi Ayesha,

Managing blood sugar levels depends on what you are eating along with exercise. Weight loss can also be because of uncontrolled blood sugar levels. Also, check if your hormones are fluctuating, sugars can go hay-wire because of hormonal shift too. However you need to focus on:

1. Lowering glycemic load: Work on balancing meals like one serving of complex crabs (whole grain roti) + 1 serving pulse + 2 servings fibre (salads/cooked vegetables) This will take care of your post meal blood sugar levels
2. Go for 10 min quick walk post meals, to help sensitise insulin for better blood sugar levels
3. Avoid going for exercise in evening. This can create a dip in blood sugar levels at 3am and a spike in morning
4. Make sure your dinner is balanced for sustained release of blood sugar.
5. You can include a bed time snack (carb + fat + protein combination) to avoid a dip at 3am and which should take care of your fasting sugars. Some examples are a cup of milk with handful nuts/seeds or roasted channa or date roll (with nuts and seeds)
6. Clock in 150 min of exercise in a week with focus on weight training exercises at least 3 times a week. This is proven to show better blood sugar control throughout the day.

I totally understand that working so much and not seeing results can be demotivating but don't feel. Remember, every step you're taking is moving you closer to better health, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now. Please reassess basis the pointers mentioned above and see how you can work on your plan to achieve your goals. You've got this :)

Ans: Hey, to gain weight you need to be in calorie surplus. Which means you need to eat more than what your body burns. If you are pure vegetarian you can focus on caloric dense foods to exceed your caloric requirements like seeds, nuts, etc. Along with this focus on engaging in weight training at least 3 times a week + focus on increasing protein intake to support muscle growth. You can increase protein by protein rich foods/supplements.

Remember, focusing on improving muscle should be the goal when trying to gain weight. Muscle will keep you healthy. Verses focusing on increasing only fat (cheese, butter, etc.) Since this will lead to fat gain which will put you at risk for developing diseases.

Also, try to understand why don't you gain weight. Is it stress, or any other habit hindering this. If you work on correcting your root cause, it becomes easier to achieve your goals.

Ans: Hello,

Decaf coffee contains significantly lower caffeine compared to regular coffee. However decaf coffee retains antioxidants and certain bioactive compounds that are beneficial for health. For Diabete, both decaf and regular coffee have shown to improve glucose metabolism. However when it comes to heart health, decaf can be a better choice. Since caffeine is known to spike blood pressure. If you are sensitive to caffeine, which means you experience jitters, anxiety after consumption, then decaf is a gentle alternative.

The choice depends on the following:
Caffeine sensitivity: if you experience anxiety, palpitations, restlessness, sleep disturbances, etc. after consuming regular coffee. In such case, decaf can be a better alternative.

Specific conditions: high blood pressure, irregular heart beats (arrhythmia), insomnia, acidity, etc. then a decaf would be a better choice.

To conclude, both decaf and regular coffee offer health benefits but to choose wisely basis the points suggested above. Decaf coffee allows individuals to enjoy coffee’s antioxidant and disease-fighting properties with less risk of caffeine-related side effects.

Ans: Hey Dileep, you are feeling tired lazy because of high blood sugar levels and insulin resistance. Please work on managing the glycemic load of your meals. Which means try to include one serving on complex carbohydrates, one serving of proteins and 2 servings of fibre (salads/cooked vegetables) on your plate. This will ensure your blood sugar/insulin levels are well controlled, and the symptoms like feeling lazy and tired will significantly go down.

Along with this, it is also important to include some form of exercise into your routine. Focus more on strength training. Studies have shown weight training/strength training helps to sensitise insulin and help in better blood sugar management.

Ans: Both bitter gourd and cluster beans are well-researched for their blood glucose-lowering properties, making them excellent additions to a diabetes-friendly diet. However, how you prepare them significantly impacts their nutritional value.

For instance, frying these vegetables or adding excessive salt, jaggery, or oil can strip away their health benefits and may even increase bad cholesterol or blood pressure, doing more harm than good.

To maximize the benefits:
Include bitter gourd and cluster beans 2-3 times a week in their simplest form—lightly cooked as a regular vegetable dish.

Also, always remember one food/ingredient will not positively impact her overall blood glucose levels. It's her overall diet (which should be low in glycemic load), stress, sleep routine and exercise which impacts her glucose reading. Make sure everything is well managed.

Ans: If you have uncontrolled blood sugar levels, you need to work on managing overall glycemic load of the meal. You can eat rice but here are a few tips to incorporate:

1. Cook rice a day prior. Refrigerate it for 8-12 hours and reheat it microwave the next day. Resistant starch is formed by overnight refrigeration of rice which doesn't allow blood sugar levels to spike.
2. Add a tea spoon of ghee/coconut oil to this rice. This will further slower down absorption of glucose and help you manage post prandial blood sugar levels
3. Eat in a balanced way to lower the overall glycemic load of the meal. Which means along with one serving of rice include 1 serving protein (dal/non veg), vegetable, and salad. This will also help you manage post prandial blood sugar levels.

Along with this, please try to find out the root cause (diet & lifestyle habits) for your uncontrolled blood sugar levels and work on that to see better results.