The American Diabetes Association, or ADA, Diet is a commonly prescribed medical meal plan for individuals with type 2 diabetes. The diet includes a wide variety of healthy foods and beverages, and it allows you to consume balanced meals that will minimally impact your blood sugars.
Benefits
The ADA Diet has many potential health benefits. First, it combines carbohydrate with other nutrients, such as unsaturated fat, protein, and fiber, to ensure that you do not experience high blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, after you eat. The ADA Diet can also limit your caloric intake, depending on your calorie level, and can assist you with moderate weight loss. Weight loss is particularly beneficial to those with obesity-induced type 2 diabetes. The ADA Diet is also high in fresh fruits and vegetables, and this can contribute to a high antioxidant load and help to prevent some cancers.
History
The ADA Diet was originally designed to help those with diabetes control their blood sugar. Years ago, the number of insulins and oral medications available to diabetic individuals was quite limited, so diet played an extremely important role in controlling blood sugar. By following an ADA Diet, you could better control your blood sugar and, in some cases, your weight, and thereby reduce your risk of diabetic complications, such as heart and kidney disease. Today, there are myriad diabetes medications on the market; however, because of the side effects of many of these meds, it is still advantageous to follow the ADA Diet if you have diabetes.
Physiological Function
The main function of the ADA Diet is to control how high your blood sugar peaks one to two hours after you take your first bite of a meal. When you eat foods containing carbohydrates, they will immediately begin to break down and digest. Once they reach your small intestine, they get absorbed into your bloodstream as glucose and, in turn, raise your blood sugar. If you eat too much carbohydrate, your sugars will become elevated too high, and your post-meal blood sugar reading will be greater than 140mg/dl. On most ADA diets, you should eat about 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal, which will only cause a slight increase in blood sugar.
Types
There are several types of ADA diets. For example, many physicians put their patients on calorie-restricted diets, and these ADA diets include the 1,200, 1,500, 1,800 and 2,000 calorie ADA diets. Your doctor or dietitian may also ask you to follow a protein-restricted ADA diet if you are having any signs of compromised kidney function, or renal disease. A 60 gram protein ADA diet is commonly prescribed for individuals with chronic kidney disease and diabetes.
Carbohydrate Counting
One of the newer recommendations from the ADA is to follow an ADA-style diet that also includes carbohydrate counting. Carbohydrate counting simply means that you track the number of carbohydrates in the foods and drinks that you consume at each meal. Carbohydrate counting can be done by reading nutrition labels, using an online calorie and carb counter, or estimating your carb intake using the foods and portions on the ADA's list of 15 gram diabetic exchanges.
