A medical diet guide is designed to help you manage a chronic illness and improve health. A doctor usually prescribes the diet and provides diet guidelines. A doctor may also refer you to a dietitian for more in-depth instruction.
Diabetic Diet
Diabetes is a chronic medical condition characterized by elevated blood sugars. Because food contributes to your high blood sugars, diet plays an important role in disease management. Following a medical diet guide for diabetes can prevent diabetes related complications, according to Medline Plus.
The diabetic diet is a healthy diet that includes a variety of foods from each of the food groups. An important component of the diabetic diet is to be consistent with the amount and timing of your meals, especially the amount and timing of your carbohydrate intake. Foods with carbohydrate have the greatest effect on blood sugar. The diet also encourages you to eat more fiber and less saturated fat. Eating more fiber may help you have better blood sugar control, while limiting saturated fat can help reduce your risk of heart disease.
Renal Diet
You may need to follow a renal diet if you have chronic kidney disease and need to be on dialysis. The renal medical diet guide aims at helping you maintain fluid and electrolyte balance between dialysis treatments. When following the renal diet, you need to limit the amount of fluid, sodium, potassium and phosphorus in your diet, while you eat enough calories and protein to maintain weight and preserve lean body mass. If you are on dialysis, you will have regular access to a dietitian to help you with your meal choices and planning.
Gluten-Free Diet
The gluten-free diet is another medical diet guide required for people with celiac disease. People with celiac disease cannot tolerate a food protein called gluten. Eating gluten causes damage to their digestive system leading to malabsorption and malnutrition.
A gluten-free diet means you cannot eat any foods that contain wheat, barley or rye, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders. This means you need to eliminate most breads, cereals, pasta and crackers from your diet. Instead, your starch choices include potatoes, rice and other nongluten containing grains. Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, unprocessed meats and dairy foods are naturally gluten free and allowed on the gluten-free diet.
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