Living with diabetes requires constant monitoring of your blood glucose levels, as well as dietary adjustments to keep your levels within a healthy range. It does not mean that you live a life in a proverbial dietary jail cell. You can still enjoy delectable, tasty foods, but you must use these foods to the advantage of your condition rather than its disadvantage.
Significance
Eating the right foods when you are a diabetic is the key component to controlling and maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Too much of the wrong food, or not enough of the right, can result in dangerous fluctuations of your glucose levels. Over a period of time, these constant fluctuations can lead to complications of your diabetes such as kidney and nerve damage, skin damage or damage to the retina of your eyes, which leads to glaucoma, cataracts or blindness.
Purpose
Medical nutrition therapy, or MNT, is the main treatment for diabetes. Its basis is adjusting your dietary intake to prevent or reduce drastic fluctuations in your blood sugar levels. This therapy teaches you to make healthier food choices, while stressing the importance of moderate portions. Doing so controls your weight, or helps reduce your weight; the greater control you have over your weight, the less resistant your body is to insulin.
MNT also emphasizes eating six meals through the day, dividing your calories evenly between your meals. Eating the right foods regularly at the same time every day stabilizes your blood sugar, preventing unhealthy highs and lows.
Whole-Grains
Whole-grain foods contain fiber, taking longer to break down during digestion. They keep your blood sugar stable, and have less calories. Healthy options in this category are whole wheat pasta, brown rice and rolled oats. You can start your day with a bowl of oatmeal or whole-grain cereal, enjoy a tuna sandwich on whole-grain bread for lunch and a vegetable stir-fry with brown rice for dinner.
Complex Carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates contain sugar, just as simple carbs such as soda and candy, but the chain of sugar is longer, taking more time to break down. They have little, if any, impact on your blood sugar. Although whole-grains fall within this category, some complex carbohydrates deserve mentioning that are not whole-grains. These include fruits, vegetables and legumes.
Fruits are a good source of the nutrients your body needs, but take heed -- they also contain natural sugar your body must absorb. Limit your intake of these treats to three or four servings a day, or as your doctor recommends.
Vegetables are one of the healthiest food choices you can make; they contain the nutrients and vitamins you need, and the right types digest slowly. These include carrots, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers and green beans. The American Diabetes Foundation recommends eating a variety of colors to maximize variety.
Kidney, pinto, navy and lima beans are all acceptable, along with black-eyed peas and lentils.
Proteins
HealthCastle.com explains proteins can comprise 15 to 20 percent of your calories if you do not have kidney disease, a complication for some people with diabetes. A diet high in protein provides certain benefits for you when trying to control your blood sugar. First, eating more protein and less carbohydrates means your body needs to make less insulin. Second, the less insulin you make, the less glucose your body stores as fat, the less weight you gain.
When you choose your protein source, choose wisely. Red meat is high in saturated fat, which is high in calories and can increase your cholesterol. If you must eat steaks or burger, opt for the lean cuts.
Chicken and turkey are healthier than red meat, but only when skinless. The white meat portion contains less fat than the dark.
The best choice is fish such as tuna, salmon, cod, halibut and mackerel. They contain less fat and cholesterol than both red meat and poultry, and protect against heart disease. This is due to the omega-3 fatty acids they are synonymous for. Eat two to three servings per week for optimal health benefits.
Studies have not been done to determine the long-term effects of high-protein diets on diabetics, however, too much protein can place a burden on your kidneys.
Warning
Consult with a registered dietitian regularly concerning your diet and blood sugar levels; adjustments might be necessary according to the results of your daily blood glucose monitoring.
Ask your doctor or dietitian what your daily caloric, carbohydrate and protein needs are, and strictly abide by these numbers. Enjoy a variety of foods, but not at the risk of your health.
