Healthy Food Choices for Type 1 Diabetes

Type one diabetes can arise in early adulthood and require careful management of carbohydrates. Learn more about type one diabetes and how to eat healthier in this video.

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Type 1 diabetes arises in early adulthood
15g of carbohydrates equal 1g of insulin
Choose carbohydrates high in fiber

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Alice Merritt is currently the Campus Dietitian at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She has a masters degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in public health with a concentration on nutrition. Alice has worked as a registered dietician for four years, and believes that helping people reach their nutritional goals will lead to a long and healthy life.

ALICE MERRITT: Now I'm going to talk to you about type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes typically has an early onset in adolescents or young adulthood, and when you have type 1 diabetes, it means that your body does not make insulin sufficient enough to lower your blood sugar levels down. Carbohydrates are the food that mostly affect your blood sugar levels. So carbohydrates are found in food such as breads, pastas, cereals, any other kind of grain, fruits and fruits juices and dairy products have some carbohydrate in them. So when you have type 1 diabetes, typically, you have to follow some kind of insulin regimen in order to cover for the carbohydrates that you eat. Most of the time, it's 15 grams of carbohydrate for every one unit of insulin. So important things to think of when you have type 1 diabetes with nutrition is you want to choose carbohydrates that are higher in fiber, things like whole wheat bread, brown rice, looking for cereals that are higher in fiber, and trying to avoid a lot of sugary foods such as sugary cereals and also softdrinks, candies, those things really spike up your blood sugar levels. Also when you have type 1 diabetes, you want to make sure you follow good balanced nutrition. You want to choose leaner sources of meats and you want to lower your saturated fat intake, so choosing things like chicken, turkey and fish, choosing low fat or fat free dairy products, because when you do have diabetes, it puts you at a higher risk for developing heart disease later on in life. So especially when you have type 1 diabetes, you want to eat your carbohydrates consistently throughout the day, you want to make sure you consult your physician about appropriate insulin regimen in collaboration with your carbohydrates, you also want to make sure you follow a balanced diet, eat regularly throughout the day and eat low-fat meats and dairy products. These are all healthy things to follow with type 1 diabetes.

Healthy Food Choices for Type 1 Diabetes Video

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