Let's Put our Heads Together: Suggest Diabetes-Friendly Foods for Indian and South Asian Vegetarians

Cutting carbs is quite easy for people eating meat-based western diets, and very effective for cutting carbs. But periodically I hear from people with diabetes diagnoses who for religious or cultural reasons can't eat the kinds of food we westerners do.

My usual suggestions are to eat more cheese, eggs (if allowed), nuts, yogurt, certain dals, papadums, green vegetables, lower carb fruits, and to chose beans over wheat and rice flour-based products. I warn people to avoid soy protein because of it's negative effect on the thyroid. Soy also, because it damages the inner lining of the intestine, makes it much more likely that large proteins from vegetable sources will get into the bloodstream and provoke allergies. (I'm convinced the current increase in gluten allergies we hear so much about of late is a byproduct of the soy that has been in our diet for a generation.)

I'm not sure what the availability is of protein powder in other countries, or if it is affordable. One of the big challenges of a lower carb diet is that all the cheaper foods most people in the world can afford are very high in starch.

So I'm asking for some other suggestions especially from anyone who has made a vegetarian diabetes diet work for more than a year. What are your ideas. Please post them in the comments section.