Foods for type 2 diabetes
What APEX holds on the table for type 2 diabetes: the foods it leads with, each with where it comes from and why it is ours. Not a treatment plan — the food, and the reason it is on the list.
Compiled by APEX Legacy from published research and documented food
history, under the editorial direction of
Jonathan Jackson, Founder .
How we write and review these pages →
Beans & Peas
Butter Beans (Small Lima Beans) Butter beans are what a lima bean becomes when it's grown with intention and cooked with… Calico Crowder Pea A handsome speckled crowder pea — cream splashed with maroon and brown — that cooks into… Colossus Pea A big, meaty purple-hull crowder pea — the giant of the field-pea world. Nyebbe Cooked cowpeas (black-eyed peas) stewed with onion, palm or groundnut oil, and chili… King of the Garden Pole Lima A big, flat, creamy white pole lima famous for its size and rich, buttery texture. Lima Bean Heirloom Christmas Limas are what butter beans look like before they got converted to the small…
Vegetables
Collard Green Sandwich Wrap A large raw collard green leaf used as a low-carb wrap to hold fillings in place of… Okra Okra crossed the Atlantic in the hands of enslaved Africans. It is the ancestor of gumbo. Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl Roasted or mashed sweet potato as the breakfast base, topped with nut butter, seeds, and…
Fermented & Pickled
Fermented Okra Fermented okra combines the documented benefits of okra's mucilaginous compounds (blood…
Rice, Grains & Starch
Hayman White Sweet Potato A pale, translucent-fleshed sweet potato that turns deep amber and syrupy-sweet when… Black-Eyed Pea Flour Black-eyed pea flour is the ancestral batter — the base of moi moi, akara, and every… Bhutanese Red Rice A semi-milled red Himalayan rice grown in mineral-rich glacial water, with a russet bran… Ash Cake The enslaved people's cornbread — a stiff dough of cornmeal, water, and salt patted into… Sourdough Cornbread Cornbread leavened and flavored by wild fermentation — a cornmeal batter soured overnight… African Yam The sacred staple crop of West Africa — the true yam (Dioscorea rotundata) whose…
Dishes & One-Pots
Limpin' Susan Okra and rice cooked together with a little smoked pork — the lesser-known sister dish to… Okra Perloo Rice cooked down with tomato, okra, and a little smoked pork until the okra all but melts… Sweet Potato Breakfast Hash Diced sweet potato pan-crisped with onion, pepper, and greens, topped with an egg — the… Daraba A thick, drawing stew of okra and leafy greens bound with peanut butter and tomato… Grits and Eggs Breakfast Plate A bowl of grits with two eggs — scrambled, fried, or folded in. Split Pea Soup with Smoked Turkey Yellow or green split peas cooked down to a velvet purée with smoked turkey, carrots, and… Ayaraya Ji Ayaraya ji is a one-pot pottage of white yam cooked down with pigeon peas (fio-fio), red… Black-Eyed Pea Hummus Base Black-eyed pea hummus is what happens when the South figures out what the Levant already… Draw Soup Ila alasepo — Yoruba okra soup — is the ancestral mother of American gumbo. Akara / Koose (Yoruba-Hausa Black-Eyed Pea Fritters) Akara crossed the Atlantic in the hands of enslaved Yoruba people and became acarajé in…
Drinks
Okra Water Whole or sliced okra pods soaked in water overnight, releasing their characteristic slick…
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APEX Legacy is an AI intelligence layer for Black Americans — the food,
the history, and what the research says, in one place.
Wellness and educational information only. It is not medical advice, and
it does not diagnose or treat any condition. Talk to your own clinician
about your care.