Food for Diabetes and High Cholesterol: What a Nigerian Diabetic With High Cholesterol Can Eat

You go to the clinic for your sugar, and the doctor looks at your blood test and says your cholesterol is high too. Now there are two things to watch, and you are not sure what is left to eat.

If that is you, you may be wondering: what food is good for diabetes and high cholesterol?

The short answer is vegetable soups, beans, moi moi, oats, fish and chicken with the skin taken off, eaten with one small ball of swallow or half a cup of rice, and cooked with much less palm oil. The longer answer matters, because a food that is kind to your sugar can still be hard on your cholesterol.

Why Do Diabetes and High Cholesterol Come Together?

They are very common partners. In a study of 322 people newly found to have type 2 diabetes in Zaria, about 7 in every 10 already had cholesterol or blood fat outside the healthy range.

Diabetes changes the way your body handles fat. Your blood can carry more of the "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and more of another blood fat called triglycerides, and less of the "good" cholesterol (HDL).

Cholesterol you cannot feel. It builds up slowly inside your blood vessels, and over the years it can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. People with diabetes already carry a higher risk of both, so high cholesterol on top of it is something your doctor takes very seriously.

Is the Food for Diabetes Different From the Food for High Cholesterol?

Partly, yes, and this is the part most people miss.

For your sugar, the question is how fast a food turns into sugar in your blood. Swallows, white rice, white bread, sweet drinks and pastries do this fast.

For your cholesterol, the main question is the kind of fat in the food. Palm oil, coconut oil, butter, full cream milk, fatty red meat, organ meat and fried food all carry a lot of the fat that raises bad cholesterol.

So a food can be fine for one and bad for the other:

• Pomo, shaki and liver do not push your sugar up, but they are organ meat, and they are hard on your heart.
• Egusi and banga soup are fine for your sugar, but they are often cooked with a lot of palm oil.
• Fried chicken and fried fish are body-building foods, but frying soaks them in oil.

When you have both conditions, you need a food that passes both tests.

Is Palm Oil Good for Diabetes and High Cholesterol?

Palm oil does not raise your sugar. But it is full of the type of fat that raises bad cholesterol. When researchers put the clinical trials together, palm oil raised bad cholesterol more than oils like soya, sunflower, olive and groundnut oil did.

You do not have to give up palm oil soups. Egusi, ogbono, banga, efo riro and ofe akwu are part of the Nigerian table, and the vegetables in them are good for you. The problem is how much oil goes into the pot.

Try these:

• Use about half the palm oil you normally use.
• When you dish the soup, leave the layer of oil on top behind.
• Do not fry the pepper in a big pool of oil first. Boil it into the soup instead.
• For stew and fried rice, use groundnut, soya or olive oil instead of palm oil, about one teaspoon for each person you are cooking for.

What About Coconut Oil, Butter and Margarine?

Many people now cook with coconut oil because they hear it is healthy. The science does not agree. A review of 16 clinical trials found that coconut oil raised bad cholesterol more than other plant oils did.

Butter is the same story. Spread one thin scrape on your bread, not a thick layer.

Can a Diabetic With High Cholesterol Eat Eggs?

Yes. Eggs do not push your sugar up, and boiled eggs are one of the easiest Nigerian breakfasts there is.

The cholesterol inside an egg yolk raises blood cholesterol much less than palm oil, butter and fatty meat do. The American Heart Association says up to one whole egg a day can fit into a healthy diet for most people. It also says people with diabetes or high cholesterol need more care.

So boil or poach your eggs. Do not fry them in a lot of oil, and do not eat them with sausage and fried bread. If your cholesterol is very high, ask your doctor how many eggs a week is right for you.

Which Nigerian Foods Help Lower Cholesterol?

Some foods do more than stay out of the way. They help your body clear bad cholesterol.

Oats. Oats carry a soft, sticky kind of rough part that helps take cholesterol out of your body. In 28 clinical trials, people who ate it every day lowered their bad cholesterol. Make oats with water and no sugar, about half a cup of dry oats (40g).

Beans and moi moi. Beans are good for your sugar, and eating about one serving of beans or peas a day lowered bad cholesterol by about 5% in clinical trials. One wrap of moi moi, or beans porridge with little palm oil, is a good choice. Our post on whether a diabetic can eat beans every day explains more.

Okra, ewedu and other leafy soups. They are full of the rough part of food and do almost nothing to your sugar. Our post on okra for diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney problems goes deeper.

Oily fish. Titus (mackerel) and other oily fish carry a good kind of fat that is kind to your heart. Grill, boil or cook them in pepper soup. Do not fry them.

Groundnuts, walnuts (asala) and avocado (pear). These carry good fats too. Keep to about 20 groundnuts (30g), or about seven walnuts, or half of a medium avocado.

If you are not sure how much of a food is right for you, you can check GluFloat for personalised food guidance. If you tell it you have high cholesterol, it keeps red meat, organ meat and salty dried fish off the meals it suggests for you.

What Foods Can a Diabetic With High Cholesterol Eat?

Better choice:

• Leafy vegetables and vegetable soups: efo riro, ugu, ewedu, okra, afang, edikang ikong, cooked with less oil
• Garden egg and cucumber, as much as you like
• Beans, moi moi and beans porridge, cooked with little oil
• Plain oats made with water
• Fish, grilled or boiled, about one piece as wide as your palm (100g)
• Chicken with the skin taken off, about one chicken lap (90g)
• Boiled eggs, not fried
• A swallow that raises sugar more slowly, like oat swallow or plantain amala, one ball the size of your fist (100g)
• Water as your main drink

Less suitable choice:

• Soups swimming in palm oil, with pomo, shaki and assorted meat
• Fried food every day: dodo, akara fried in deep oil, puff puff, fried yam, fried chicken
• Sausage, sausage rolls, meat pie, egg roll and scotch egg
• Butter and margarine spread thick on bread
• Full cream milk and evaporated milk used freely
• Cooking with coconut oil
• Sweet drinks, malt, cake and biscuits

Does Sugar Raise Cholesterol Too?

In a way, yes. Sweet drinks, white bread and big plates of swallow or white rice do not carry fat themselves. But when your sugar runs high, your body turns the extra into triglycerides, the blood fat that often sits high alongside bad cholesterol in people with diabetes.

So keeping your sugar steady helps your blood fats as well. Swap malt and soft drinks for water. Keep your swallow to one ball the size of your fist. Our post on which Nigerian foods raise blood sugar the most shows how the common foods compare.

What If I Also Have High Blood Pressure?

Many people with diabetes have high cholesterol and high blood pressure together. The good news is that the same plate helps all three: plenty of vegetables, beans, fish and chicken, small starch, and less oil.

The extra rule for blood pressure is salt. Keep all the salt in your food under one level teaspoon (5g) for the whole day, and use fewer seasoning cubes. Our post on food for diabetes and high blood pressure explains how to cook soup with less salt.

Can I Stop My Cholesterol Tablets If I Eat Well?

No. Do not stop or change any tablet on your own. Many people with diabetes are given a cholesterol tablet (a statin) to protect the heart, even when their cholesterol is not very high. Good food works together with it. It does not replace it.

One warning that many people do not know: grapefruit and pomelo (shaddock) can make some cholesterol tablets far too strong in your body. Ask your doctor or pharmacist before you eat them. Oranges and tangerines do not do this.

The Bottom Line: Food for Diabetes and High Cholesterol

When you have diabetes and high cholesterol, a food has to pass two tests: it must be slow on your sugar, and it must be low in the fat that raises bad cholesterol.

The plate that does both is simple:

• Plenty of vegetable soup, cooked with about half the palm oil you normally use
• Fish, chicken with no skin, beans or boiled eggs
• One ball of swallow the size of your fist, or half a cup of cooked rice (90g)
• Water to drink

Go easy on palm oil, coconut oil, butter, organ meat and fried food. Eat oats, beans and okra often. Get your cholesterol checked when your doctor asks. And keep taking your tablets. Food helps, but it does not replace your medicine.

For the rest of the plate, see what is the best food for diabetics in Nigeria.