A healthy diet can have a number of beneficial effects for your body. If you have diabetes and are concerned about heart disease, you need to be even more careful about what you eat. Fortunately, heart-healthy and diabetes diets have a lot of areas of overlap, which means that it is not too complicated to design a diet that serves both purposes.
Diabetes and Heart Disease
One of the major complications of poorly controlled diabetes is atherosclerosis, which can increase your risk of developing heart disease. Elevated blood glucose levels can damage the blood vessels and accelerate the progression of atherosclerosis, which causes arteries to become clogged with cholesterol. As a result, many of the dietary recommendations made for diabetes also help to reduce your risk of heart disease.
Calorie Proportion
One of the most important aspects of having a healthy diet is to make sure that you eat a balance of foods, which will also help you get the right amount of fat, carbohydrates and protein in your diet. Although the number of calories that you consume may vary depending on your weight, you should aim to get between 40 and 60 percent of your calories from carbohydrates, less than 30 percent of your calories from fat and the rest from protein, FamilyDoctor explains.
Fats
In addition to limiting the amount of fat that you eat, you can protect your heart by controlling what kinds of fat you eat. You should keep your saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent, the Mayo Clinic notes, and minimize your consumption of trans fats. Instead, try to consume unsaturated fats, such as olive oil and avocados. Eating two servings of fatty fish each week, such as mackerel, salmon and herring, can also provide you with omega-3 fatty acids, which can further protect your heart.
Fiber
Fiber is important part of both a heart-healthy and diabetes diet. Fiber can help you lower your cholesterol levels, which can decrease your risk of developing heart disease. Fiber is also important for people with diabetes, as fiber slows the rate at which carbohydrates are broken down by the digestive tract, which keeps blood glucose levels lower. Fiber can be found in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, the Mayo Clinic reports.
Calorie Restriction
Being overweight increases your risk of having high cholesterol and diabetes. As a result, a diet that helps you lose weight is important for protecting your heart and lowering your blood glucose levels, the American Diabetes Association states. This means controlling your portion size and avoiding foods that are very calorie dense. When combined with an exercise program, a low-calorie diet can allow you to lose weight and protect your heart and also make managing your diabetes easier.
