Posts Tagged ‘diabetic’

A diabetic diet can not only help decrease the effects of diabetes, but in certain cases can reverse the disease. In general this type of diet restricts calories, while controlling the ratio of carbohydrates and fats. Here’s some more facts on diabetes in general, and the diabetic diet.

Before discussing the diabetic diet it’s helpful to try to understand the two types of diabetes. There is the more common type two, or adult onset diabetes, as well as Type One or juvenile diabetes. With type I diabetes the body does not produce insulin, whilst with type II diabetes the cells generally ignore the insulin. Both forms of the disease respond well to a diabetic diet, although it is more likely that type II diabetes can actually be avoided or reversed in early stages.

The diabetic diet is themed around maintaining a perfect body weight. There is a easy formula for calculating the estimated ideal body weight for any individual. For a woman begin with 100 pounds at 5 feet tall, at 5 pounds for every inch over 5 feet, while if less than 5 feet deduct 5 pounds for each inch under 5 feet. For example a 5′2 woman would ideally weigh 110 pounds. For men start with 106 pounds for a height of 5 feet than add 6 pounds for every inch exceeding 5 feet. So for a 6 foot tall man best weight would be 178 pounds.

The perfect formula for a diabetic diet varies, but there are some common basics. A type I diabetic should ideally consume 16 calories per pound of their weight. Therefore a 150 pound person could eat as many as 2400 calories in a day. Type II people should lose weight by eating as little as 1500 calories daily, then refer to the type I formula to maintain ideal weight.

Carbohydrates account for about 50% of the calories consumed in a diabetic diet. It is often believed that even lower card-levels are healthier for Diabetic patients, but higher percentages of fat in the diet has its own problems. People who avoid saturated fats, even if they take in overall more mono and poly unsaturated fats, also do well.

Type 2 diabetes is a serious health condition that, if not managed properly, can lead to severe complications. A well managed diet for diabetes is essential to controlling this disease. Your physician may prescribe medications to help regulate your blood sugar levels, as well as medications that help protect your heart and kidneys. Understanding how to manage your diet can be complex. Here we try to put it all in plain language, to help you make sense of all the charts in the standard booklet of counting your carbs.

At first glance, it seems that carbs are your enemy. The usual proscription from the medical people is that you limit your intake of carbs to no more than 195 per day. The trouble starts when you see that two pieces of sandwich bread runs around 30-40 carbs, while one plain bagel is almost 50 carbs! If you’ve been a sandwich eater all your life, this is dismal news indeed.

What you want to do, to set up a healthy diet for diabetes, is to start reading those food labels carefully. When buying bread, look for whole grain breads. You’ll notice two things. Whole grain breads have fewer carbs and more fiber. Some newer brands on the market have added fiber, in addition to that contained in the whole grain flour. Whole grains are complex carbohydrates, which is a good thing in a diet for diabetes patients. Complex carbohydrates break down slowly, so you never get a sugar spike, whereas refined flours contain little fiber and often, more simple sugars.

To arrive at the total number of carbs per serving, subtract the fiber grams from the total carbs. Your physician or nutritionist has doubtless emphasized the importance of getting a sufficient amount of fiber in your diet. Why? Fiber helps keep your digestive tract clean and free of toxins, which in turn, helps protect your kidneys from damage. This makes the picture a lot better, in terms of what you can eat and how much, while having a perfectly healthy diet for diabetes management.

Don’t shy away from eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. When you see that a half cup of chopped onions has about 15 carbs, you may feel that you’d rather use up your carb allotment on that sandwich! However, when you picture putting a half cup of onions on a salad, you realize that a sprinkling appropriate for a salad probably adds up to just a few carbs. Not a big deal.

Most produce are heavy on the antioxidants too, leading to better overall health and packing a preventative punch for all of your organs, a definite plus in a healthy diet for diabetics.

Foods that are encouraged in a diet for diabetes patients include meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. This means that you can make a meal of a big juicy burger on a whole grain roll, loading it up with lettuce, tomatoes, a couple of sauteed mushrooms and a fat chunk of Swiss to top it all off, all for less than 40 or 50 carbs. Not a bad deal.

In a nutshell, it’s simple sugars you want to avoid. A single soda or candy bar can wreak havoc with your blood sugar levels. In fact, a healthy diet for diabetes can be a healthy diet for non-diabetics as well.