One of the most important things when it comes to diabetes management is to watch your diet. Having a specific diet is necessary to help maintain the blood glucose level and ensure that they are under control. Contrary to what many believe, there is nothing special or expensive about a diabetic diet. It comprises mainly normal food that we eat on the daily basis. The main differences are the careful selection of carbohydrate foods, frequency and quantity of food intake.
The first thing you should know about custom diet for diabetics is that they are tailored to give you a healthy weight. All the servings are low in fat and won’t increase your cholesterol levels. To some extent, it’s a diet that can help you lose weight, but not exponentially if it’s used in isolation. Diabetic diets are usually comprised of 3 main servings, which are breakfast, lunch and dinner. Including mid-morning, afternoon and evening snacks is important, to ensure your glucose levels stay somewhat constant.
The best diets for diabetic will consist of a variety of fruits, vegetables and high starch foods, and discourage the consumption of fats, more so unsaturated fats. Try to reduce your meat intake. It is a never ending debate as to whether carbohydrate is beneficial or bad for blood glucose management. While it’s true that eating carbohydrates can elevate your blood sugar reading, some diets encourage this, but with some conditions.
One example is the Pritikin Diet which emphasizes on the intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and regular servings of carbohydrates as well. A lot of roughage has to be included in the diet as well as exercise. The extra energy from the carbohydrates is expended this way. There are low carb diets that encourage on the replacement of carbohydrates with healthy fat (unsaturated fat is highly discouraged as it increases cholesterol levels in the body) sources like nuts, fish, eggs, and high intake of fruits and vegetables.
It’s hard to draw a conclusion on which precise diet for diabetics to follow. The best plan is to however understand your requirements. You should take more carbohydrates if you lead an active lifestyle. On the other hand, if you are less active, a diet with lower carbohydrates would be better. The constant thing in all the diets is the requirement for fruits and vegetables, more preferably those rich in fiber and roughage. These will help to keep your digestive system to perform better, while at the same time slowing the rate at which glucose is absorbed into the body.
As far as the unhealthy junk foods and snacks are concern, they have to be reduce as much as possible. Everything you eat, more so if it is rich in carbohydrate and sugar, will have an impact on your blood sugar. But if your cravings are too much, you can try an exchange scheme as a way of compromising. For instance, if you want to take a piece of dessert, you can take half a serving of rice or pasta during the main course. Following a diabetic diet is not rocket science, just a simple routine that you will get used to pretty fast.
