Diabetes is a condition characterized by the inability to produce insulin and resistance by cells to respond to the hormone. Under normal conditions, insulin helps your cells absorb blood sugar. With diabetes, you must monitor blood sugar and prevent levels from getting too high. Eating low-glycemic foods can help you manage diabetes, because your body slowly digests and absorbs sugar from these foods, whereas high-glycemic foods may rapidly increase your blood sugar.
Breakfast
Breakfast is a very important meal because of the length of time between meals. Consuming a breakfast with low-glycemic carbohydrates can help you to slowly increase your blood sugar, particularly if your sugar levels dropped overnight. A healthy low-glycemic carbohydrate breakfast is barley or a whole-grain cereal. Whole grains differ from refined grains in that they contain the bran, germ and endosperm of the plant, components that contain all the nutrients that get stripped away in the processing of refined grains. Adding low-glycemic fruits such as apples or peaches to your breakfast increases your intake of antioxidants. Since cardiovascular disease is a complication for people with diabetes, you should consume low-fat milk in your cereal because it contains minimal amounts of saturated fat, a risk factor for heart disease, or soy milk, which contains healthy fats that can protect you from cardiovascular disease.
Lunch
A healthy lunch for diabetics is a salad composed of garden vegetables, such as romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell pepper, celery, beets, carrots, avocado, beans, such as red kidney beans and garbanzos, olives and walnuts mixed with an olive oil dressing. Vegetables contain vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. Eating plentiful amounts of a variety of colors of vegetables will enhance your health. Beans contain protein and fiber, particularly soluble fiber, which can slow down the absorption of sugar from food and control your blood sugar and lower the amount of cholesterol that your body absorbs from food. Avocados, olives and olive oil contain monounsaturated fat, and walnuts contain alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid. Monounsaturated fat and omega-3 fatty acids are healthy fats that can reduce your risk of heart disease.
Dinner
Grill halibut, a fatty fish that contains proteins and omega-3 fatty acids, for dinner. Eat this along with steamed Brussels sprouts, a vegetable that has highly concentrated nutrients, acorn squash with cinnamon and brown rice, a low-glycemic whole grain. Cinnamon is especially healthy for diabetics and may help you to reduce your blood sugar and cholesterol, according to research by scientists at Agricultural University in Peshawar, Pakistan, and published in the journal "Diabetes Care" in 2003.
Snacks
A healthy snack for diabetics is peanuts, a low-glycemic food. You can also eat fruits and vegetables, such as grapefruits or carrots. Consult your doctor about the best snack foods to eat as part of your menu plan.
References
- Harvard Medical School; Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load for 100+ Foods; 2010
- Harvard School of Public Health; Health Gains from Whole Grains; 2010
- American Diabetes Association; Fat and Diabetes; 2010
- Harvard School of Public Health; Vegetables and Fruits: Get Plenty Every Day; 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Dietary Fiber: Essential for a Healthy Diet; 2009
- Eat Right America; Full List of Andi Scores; 2010
