Information about Diabetes Diet
Diet plays an important role in the treatment of diabetes. The diet may be used alone or in combination with insulin injections or oral hypoglycaemic drugs.The diet plan of an individual is based on height, weight, age, sex, physical activity and nature of diabetes. One should consider the following points while planning a diabetic diet:
Determining energy requirements
Determining the type of carbohydrates, fibre and food preparations
Presence of any other complication such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels etc.
Diet is the cornerstone of all therapeutic regimens for type 2 diabetes. Proper dietary choices are important for all people with diabetes. Unfortunately, dietary habits are the most difficult to change. Therefore, dietary management must be an ongoing process that seeks to improve compliance through continuous education and monitoring of progress report.
The diet most often recommended for people who suffer from diabetes mellitus is high in dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber, but low in fat (especially saturated fat). Patients may be encouraged to reduce their intake of carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index. However, in cases of hypoglycemia, they are advised to have food or drink that can raise blood glucose quickly, followed by a long-acting carbohydrate (such as rye bread) to prevent risk of further hypoglycemia.
A diabetes diet plays an important role in maintaining your body healthy. So, it is essential for you to pay careful attention towards diabetes diet and nutrition as part of your diabetes treatment course. On the other hand, nutrition experts state that there is no standard diabetes diet designed for all diabetes patients. But, there are general nutrition guidelines that everyone can follow. It is most important for you, as a diabetes patient, to have same quantity of food at the same time every day to maintain your blood sugar levels constant in order to prevent the complications of diabetes.
Healthful eating helps keep your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, in your target range. Physical activity and, if needed, diabetes medicines also help. The diabetes target range is the blood glucose level suggested by diabetes experts for good health. You can help prevent health problems by keeping your blood glucose levels on target.
People with diabetes have twice the risk of developing heart disease as those without diabetes, and high blood cholesterol levels raise the risk of heart disease. Losing weight and reducing intake of saturated fats and cholesterol, in favor of unsaturated and monounsaturated fats, can help lower blood cholesterol.
Carbohydrate counting can be a helpful meal-planning tool, especially if you take diabetes medications or insulin. Eating the same amount of carbohydrates at each meal or snack will keep your blood sugar from going too high or too low throughout the day. If you’re taking insulin, your diabetes educator can teach you how to count the amount of carbohydrates in each meal or snack and adjust your insulin dose accordingly.
Dietary Fibre: It is an important part of a diabetes diet and is present in cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables. Intake of 25 g of fibre per 1000 calories is considered to be optimum for a diabetes diet. Long-term consumption of insoluble fibre (present in cereals) also improves glucose control.
