Diabetes Diets

Diet plays an important role in controlling the diabetes. The diabetic diet may be used alone or can be grouped with insulin doses or with oral hypoglycemic drugs. The main motive of a diabetic diet is to maintain ideal body weight, by providing sufficient nutrition along with normal blood sugar levels in blood. The diet plan for a diabetic is based on the person's height, weight, age, sex, physical activity and nature of diabetes. When planning diet, the dietician has to keep in mind the complications such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.

keeping in mind various health related factors a dietician will calculate the calories to be given, like scheming the carbohydrates, proteins, fats, type of carbohydrate, amount of fiber. Exchange meal plan is a diet program that balances the amount of carbohydrate that we consume per day. Glucose is a sugar released from carbohydrate therefore if we want to control blood sugar we have to limit the consumption of simple carbohydrate. Carbohydrate foods are regarded as value per portion, called the exchange.

This plan helps us to decide on the type of food to be consumed, the amount of food and also the time to eat. We can plan for more flexible meals as we acquire more knowledge about the diet for a diabetic patient, may be like the counting carbohydrate meal plan or constant carbohydrate. But there is no universal diet that works for everyone. Nor is there any specific diet that works perfectly for any diabetic for a long period of time. While planning diabetes diet we should abide by certain important factors.

The fiber intake should be at least 1.4 oz everyday. Instead of 3 heavy meals, we should opt for 4-5 small mini meals. We should replace bakery products and fast foods by simple whole cooked cereals, and we should not eat carbohydrates 2 hours before bedtime. We should take in a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables at least 5 exchange per day. Having a piece of fruit or two as a snack, or adding vegetables to stir-fried dishes or stews can cut down on sweet temptation. We can also pack raw vegetables for lunch or snacks.

If we smoke and have been diagnosed with diabetes, the doctor will suggest that we quit because smoking makes problems caused by diabetes worse. People suffering from diabetes can experience blood flow problems in their legs and feet, which can often lead to amputation. Smoking can reduce the flow of blood further. Alcohol too can contribute to complications of diabetes.

Diabetics at all times have to take care of their diet and also about the food they intake. Care has to be taken because all foods contain not only carbohydrate, but also some amount of energy value. Protein and fat present in the food are converted to glucose in the body. This glucose has some consequence on the blood sugar level, which has to be taken care of. We need not eat only the bland boring diet. Instead, we can eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. All it means is that we need to select foods that are high in nutrition and low in calories.

• Janny Raines
• 12/05/2009, 12:59 AM
• 0 Comments