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What Is Diabetes Diet?
Food is the main source of nutrition that your body can rely on. If you have diabetes, then the concern doubles automatically. It becomes very critical for some people with diabetes to choose what is best for them. But, a wise decision can prevent a person from diabetes, or if you are already a prey of it, a good choice of diabetes diet can reverse the effect of diabetes.
Some people refer to visit a nutritionist or dietitian to get the best advice, while in other cases, the health hazards go unnoticed for a long time. You must be very cautious about monitoring your blood sugar levels regularly, and you can try to check them after every meal. This way, you will be able to inspect the food items that are good or bad for you. Know that it is definitely going to help you with the planning procedure of your healthy diet in the longer run.
We will reap as you sow; what a person does initially is what comes before him later. Make it healthy from the beginning.
What Does A Healthy Diabetes Diet Look Like?
While planning your healthy diet, you must follow a series of 10 simple steps, which is written below:
Try To Check All The Boxes
Make a list of all the food items that you think are healthy for you. This should contain your likes and dislikes. Having diabetes does not mean that you will have to eat bland food all your life. You can surf for the nutritional content in certain food items and add them to your diet plan. You can have a few CHEAT DAYS in between too.
Begin From The Basics
Never try to do the hardcore dieting from the beginning. You will lose your morale at the beginning itself. Start slowly so that it can last long. Start cutting down on fried food items or sugary things that may cause fluctuations in your blood sugar levels. Add some suitable veggies to your diet and make it a healthy one. Also, do a lot of research before adding any veggies or fruits to your diet, as some may accelerate the blood sugar levels.
Make It A Low Carb Diet
If you have diabetes, you must know that you do not have to cut on carbs entirely in your diet. But, you must limit them accordingly. For the same, you can refer to a nutritionist so that he can guide you well. You can optimize the intake of carbohydrates according to the diet plan suggested by your nutritionist as it can reliability control high blood glucose levels.
Pairing Up The Diabetes Diet
Diabetes diet majorly focuses on fruits, vegetables, and other things like nuts, legumes, and many more. To balance the taste buds, you can add a glass of wine after consulting your nutritionist. However, unlimited wine can trigger your blood sugar levels, so it is preferred that you must take one drink if you are a woman and two glasses if you are a man.
Balanced Diet
According to many leading dietitians and nutritionists, a diabetes diet should contain 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fats. Food items that contain carbohydrates are monitored according to their Glycemic Index. You should also note that this kind of diet can be a good option as it has observed many cases experiencing low glycemic risk and reduced waist size.
Weight Watching
You might consider it a cranky habit, but it is always a good move for a person with diabetes to do the weight watching regularly. After having every meal, all you need to do is stand on the weighing machine and check your weight. This is how you can quickly check up on the fat content in your body that accelerates your weight to grow and get down on specific food items responsible for the same.
A Big NO To Packaged Foods
There is a long list of ingredients behind packaged food items, and they are not always made with diabetes-friendly methods. You can narrow down your choices by consulting the nutritionist about the healthy food items that you can have. However, or reference, you can have food items from the brands called Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig. They can provide you with food items that have been tailored and altered with diabetes-friendly methods.
Gluten-Free Diabetes Diet
Gluten is a protein that you can easily find in wheat, rye, and barley. You can easily cut down gluten from your diet by eradicating a few food items. Going gluten-free will help you improve your digestion as well as in losing weight. If you are on a salad diet, know that its dressings may also contain gluten. You must always consider consulting a doctor while going on such a diet.
Vegetarian, Non-vegetarian, or Vegan
There is a considerable difference between the three categories: vegetarian, non-vegetarian, and vegan. Vegetarians are those who eat everything except the things that come from the animal kingdom. Vegans prefer to take only plant-related food items. Non-vegetarians can eat anything, irrespective of whether it comes from the plant kingdom or the animal one. Some studies say that vegans have more fiber content as compared to nonvegetarians because of their diet. You should always consult your doctor before eating and drinking anything.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is when you decide not to eat at certain pre-decided intervals of time. You can also facilitate your diet plan with intermittent fasting. But, you must know that your diet plans should not contain fasting for long durations. It may cause adverse fluctuations in blood sugar levels, and ultimately worsen diabetes. Taking occasional breaks can help you lose weight and fight off the disease effectively.
Following the steps mentioned above, you can quickly prevent your diabetes from worsening even reverse it over time. Moreover, people should always consider a nutritionist to avoid the word to come.
Myths and Facts About Diabetes Diet
Everything comes with understanding. There is nothing wrong with this statement that everyone has a piece of unique knowledge. You must care about yourself by knowing all the relevant information that keeps a relationship with diabetes. Many myths can easily be found in a book about a person with diabetes. We have listed a few of them here in the given points so that you can know about the truth behind them.
Myth: If you have diabetes, then you must cut down on your sugar.
Fact: Yes, it is essential to cut down sugar but to an extent only. It does not mean that you cannot have your favorite sweet dishes. As long as any food item is a part of your healthy meal plan, you can have it but not off-limits.
Myth: You need to cut down on carb content.
Fact: It is a matter of choice of the type of carbohydrate you prepare for your diet. Starchy carbohydrates may have an adverse effect on your diabetes diet, whereas whole-grain carbohydrates are well-versed with nutritional components.
Myth: You may need a particular diet plan after some time.
Fact: There is no need to have a particular diet plan. But A person should have exceptional choices on what they have to eat. If they follow your healthy meal, there is no need to have a unique diabetes diet plan.
Myth: Diabetics must take a high-protein diet.
Fact: High protein content can cause insulin resistance in the blood, which can lead to complications of diabetes. Therefore, a person should optimize the protein content in the diabetes diet and keep it at 30% only.
What More and What Less In A Diet?
It is very important to know what food items optimize the food content according to the diabetes diet so that one can discuss it with the doctor about the same:
|
Instead of having these food items |
Try these |
| White rice | Brown or wild rice, riced cauliflower |
| Corn | Peas or leafy greens |
| White potatoes (including fries and mashed potatoes) | Sweet potatoes, yams, cauliflower mash |
| Sugary breakfast cereal | High-fiber, low-sugar cereal |
| Regular pasta | Whole-wheat pasta, spaghetti squash |
| White bread | Whole-wheat or whole-grain bread |
| Instant oatmeal | Steel-cut or rolled oats |
| Cornflakes | Low-sugar bran flakes |
How Can You Optimize Sugar Content In The Diabetes Diet?
A person must optimize the sugar content in the diabetes diet that he is following:
- The patient with diabetes should cut on various juices, sodas, and soft drinks.
- Do not replace the sugar content in food saturated fat or added sugar.
- Never let the other person sweeten your food items because he might not know the appropriate amount of sugar you would like to add.
- A person with diabetes should always say no to packaged food. It may contain hidden sugar content.
- If you are following a recipe, then cut down the sugar content by one-third or one-fourth. You can always add some alternative food items like cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.
- There is always room to start by taking half of the amount of dessert that you were taking earlier.
- You can always try to find some alternatives to the food items like ice cream, and one can eat banana slices frozen in cream. One can also have a bar of dark chocolate instead of having a milky compound of chocolate.
- Take control of the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes as it can trigger blood pressure and worsen diabetes. You can do this by researching the low-calorie mixers or taking drinks only with the food to balance itself.
These are a few methods into which a person can simply cut down sugar content from his diabetes diet. However, your dietitian can also tell you better about the techniques that you can use to lower the sugar content at the bottom.
A Word From Mantra Care
If you are looking for more information on this topic or on Diabetes treatment, Online Therapy, Hypertension, PCOS treatment, Weight Loss, and Physiotherapy, please visit mantracare.org or feel free to reach out to us at +91-9711118331 or email at [email protected]. You can also download our free Android App or IOS app.
Here at Mantra Care, we have an incredibly skilled team of healthcare professionals and coaches who will be happy to answer any questions and provide further information so you know what’s best for your unique needs.
