Travel causes shifts in eating schedules that may affect your diet, especially if you have diabetes. A diabetic diet involves sticking to regular mealtimes and eating nutritious foods that keep your blood sugar under control to prevent complications. Finding foods that adhere to your diet on restaurant menus or at business meetings and events is difficult. When traveling, eat low glycemic, high fiber foods that contain healthy fats to maintain a healthy blood sugar level.
Low Glycemic Foods
Managing diabetes involves choosing foods that prevent extreme changes in your blood sugar levels. High glycemic foods, such as white bread, cakes, cookies and many processed foods, rapidly increase your blood sugar levels and should be avoided. Low glycemic foods, such as whole grains, legumes, nuts, pears and apples, contain sugars that are slowly absorbed into your blood and maintain blood sugar levels.
High Fiber Foods
Dietary fiber includes the parts of plant foods that you cannot digest or absorb into your body. Soluble fiber may reduce your blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Foods that contain soluble fiber include fruit such as berries, apples, peaches, tangerines and prunes, carrots, peas, barley, oats, wheat bran, beans and lentils. Diabetics with high blood sugar increase the risk of complications that include heart disease, kidney dysfunction, neurological damage, loss of vision and amputations; maintaining normal levels of blood sugar reduces these risks. If you are taking diabetes medication and you experience elevated blood sugar levels while traveling, psyllium supplementation may reduce your blood sugar levels, according to Sarah Bajorek in "Annals of Pharmacotherapy."
Foods With Healthy Fats
All fat is not the same. Many foods at restaurants, particularly fast food restaurants, contain saturated fats and are cooked with trans fats. Red meat, pork and poultry contain saturated fat, whereas many fried and processed foods such as margarine, breads, cakes, cookies and salad dressings are made with trans fats. Saturated fats and trans fats are unhealthy fats that increase your risk of heart disease. Healthy fats include monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids. Foods with healthy fats include olive oil, avocados and walnuts that should be consumed during travel.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Diabetes Diet: Create Your Healthy-Eating Plan
- University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Center for Integrative Medicine: Glycemic Index
- "Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders"; Dietary Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Are Associated with Metabolic Control in Type 2 Diabetes; Esposito, K.; Jun 2010
- Cleveland Clinic: Glycolated Hemoglobin Test (Hba1c) for Diabetes
- MayoClinic.com: Diabetes
