📌 This post is a continuation of our story. You can read the previous part here: How Many Eggs Can You Eat with Diabetes? Eye Benefits, Daily Norms, and Cooking Tips.
✍ Pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, and barrel-aged tomatoes are a traditional, delicious, and familiar part of our diet. However, when we faced type 2 diabetes and macular edema, an important question arose: how do these foods affect blood glucose levels, blood vessels, and vision?
We looked closely into all the nuances of consuming pickled foods to keep them on our menu without harming our health.
By themselves, vegetables after pickling or fermenting do not contain dangerous carbohydrates and do not cause sudden blood sugar spikes. However, they contain a lot of salt and acids, which directly affects the state of the vascular system.
🥒 The Difference Between Fermented and Marinated Vegetables
For us, it was an important discovery that from a health perspective, these are two completely different types of products:
- Fermented vegetables (sauerkraut, barrel pickles, and tomatoes) — a great choice: They are prepared through natural fermentation without added vinegar or sugar. For example, sauerkraut is a rich source of vitamin C and healthy fiber. Finely chopped, it becomes soft, easy to digest, and does not cause digestive discomfort.
- Marinated canned vegetables (from store jars) — require great caution: Commercial and many home recipes for canned marinades always include vinegar and added sugar. Sugar from the marinade quickly penetrates the vegetables and can insidiously raise blood glucose levels.
⚠️ The Main Danger of Pickled Foods in Macular Edema
The main hidden threat in any pickled food is excess salt (sodium).
Salt tends to retain fluid in the body. Excess water increases blood pressure and worsens swelling in blood vessels throughout the body, including the small capillaries of the retina. Since our main goal is to reduce swelling in the macula (the central zone of the eye), excess salt works against us by increasing this edema.
💡 How We Properly Consume Pickled Foods
- Portion control: Pickled foods should not be eaten in large quantities. For our menu, 1 small pickle or 2 tablespoons of sauerkraut per day is quite enough, and strictly during the first half of the day.
- Rinsing with water: If sauerkraut or pickles seem too salty or sour, we place a portion in a colander and rinse it with cool boiled water. This washes away excess salt, makes the vegetables softer, and significantly safer for the eyes.
- Checking labels: When buying fermented vegetables in the store, we always carefully read the label — there should be no added sugar in the ingredients.
- Never eat pickled foods for dinner: Any salty food eaten in the evening is guaranteed to cause fluid retention overnight. In the morning, this shows up as swelling under the eyes and increased edema inside the retina. Therefore, we consume all pickled foods only for breakfast or lunch.
We happily add half a finely grated pickle to our pearl barley soup or a couple of spoons of rinsed sauerkraut to our lunch buckwheat with hake medallions. It remains delicious, affordable, and safe for both blood sugar and eye health!
👉 Read the next part: Can You Add Sugar to Borscht with Diabetes? Flavor Secrets Without the Sugar Bowl