If you pay any attention to nutrition, you've probably heard these five tips about a healthy diet: Eat more vegetables and whole grains. Choose complex over refined carbohydrates. Practice portion control. Maintain a healthy weight. Eat a balanced diet that includes items from all food groups. This advice proves especially important for persons with diabetes.
Balanced Diet
No single, universal diabetes diet exists, but the healthiest diabetes diets are well-balanced. A healthy diabetes diet includes a combination of starchy foods, such as whole grains, beans, oats, barley and rice, fruits, vegetables, protein such as fish, chicken, beef or tofu, calcium-rich dairy products and healthy fats. Including all these food groups in your diet will help stabilize your blood sugar levels. In order to help you find the appropriate balance, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that you draw an imaginary line down the center of your plate. Fill half your plate with nonstarchy vegetables. Split the other half in two, and fill one small section with starchy foods and the other small section with protein. Add a piece of fresh fruit and have an 8-oz. glass of milk with your meal.
Superfoods
The ADA created a list of the top 10 foods it deems healthiest for persons with diabetes. These diabetes "superfoods" measure low on the glycemic index, meaning they should not create a substantial impact on your blood sugar levels. The diabetes superfoods are beans, dark leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, sweet potatoes, berries, tomatoes, fish, whole grains, nuts, and fat-free milk or yogurt. The superfoods are also rich in essential nutrients, such as fiber, calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamins A, C and E.
Portions and Schedule
Persons with diabetes should eat numerous small-sized portions of food throughout the day. Rather than eat three large meals, eat five or six small ones. Frequent meals help keep your blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly or falling too low. The ADA recommends that persons with diabetes consume about the same amount of food every time they eat. This too may help stabilize your blood sugar levels.
Benefits
A proper diabetes diet will not only help stabilize your blood sugar, it may also provide you with other health benefits. A diabetes diet promotes weight-loss because it involves eating low-calorie foods such as fresh fruits and lots of nonstarchy vegetables. Also, a diabetes diet requires that you limit your intake of high-calorie processed sugars, like those found in most cookies, cupcakes, and other desserts. Weight loss can improve symptoms of diabetes. You can lower your blood pressure and cholesterol if you lose 5 to 10 percent of your body weight. Healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels are especially important if you have diabetes, since the disease puts you at a greater risk for heart disease and stroke.
References
- American Dietetic Association, Eat Right: Diabetes and Diet
- American Diabetes Association: Create Your Plate
- American Diabetes Association: Diabetes Superfoods
- American Diabetes Association: Setting Realistic Weight Loss Goals
- American Diabetes Association: Diabetes Statistics -- Data From the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet
- American Diabetes Association: Non-Starchy Vegetables
