Healthy eating through diabetic meal planning is an important aspect of diabetes management. In most cases, your doctor is likely to recommend a dietitian or a diabetes educator to help you with your diabetic meal planning. A meal plan will be developed according to your specific needs such as the kinds of foods that you enjoy and current lifestyle. In addition, your meal plan will also focus on controlling calories to help you lose excess weight if you are facing obesity issues.
When you have type 2 diabetes, the type and amount of food you eat and when you eat affects your blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels go up after eating. You should try to eat about the same amount of food at about the same time each day to keep you blood glucose near normal levels. If you eat a big dinner one day and a small dinner the next, your blood glucose levels may fluctuate too much.
You should note that there is no single diabetes diet that is right for everyone. However, there are a few points that you should remember during your diabetic meal planning. Firstly, carbohydrates are especially important because they have the largest influence on blood glucose. You should eat about the same amount of carbohydrate-rich foods at about the same time each day. For instance, you can consume foods such as fruits, milk, starches (whole-grain bread, cereal or rice) and starchy vegetables (corn or potatoes) during your meal times. In addition, ensure that your starches come from whole grains because they contain fiber and many other nutrients and are digested and absorbed by the body more slowly than refined starches. This can help to maintain a steady glucose level in your body.
Another important aspect of diabetic meal planning involves the appropriate ratio of total calories to nutrients such as proteins and healthy fats. Depending on you circumstances, your dietitian may recommend slightly different percentages for you. The typical recommendations for the ratio of total calories to nutrients are as follows:
1. 45 to 65 percent consisting of carbohydrates
2. 12 to 20 percent consisting of proteins
3. 10 to 30 percent consisting of fats
In addition, you should limit your intake of foods that are high in cholesterol, such as egg yolks. Avoid high-fat foods and sweets because they provide a lot of calories but few nutrients. Keeping track of your calories intake can help you keep your blood sugar at as steady level and help you make adjustments for reaching weight goals.
By following the above guidelines, you should be able to easily develop an appropriate meal program to control your glucose level. Most important of all, you really have to diligently follow the plan for effective results to be seen from diabetic meal planning!
By: Sky Joe
Posts Tagged ‘Healthy Eating’
Diabetic Meal Planning Is A Must For All Diabetes Sufferers!
March 4th, 2010Diabetes Food List for Healthy Eating
October 17th, 2009
Diabetes food list? Since blood sugar levels and food are closely linked, it is good to know what to eat in order not to be vulnerable to diabetes. It will be easier to control the glucose level if knowledge on what one eats is there to guide the choices that are made.
The basic key to good health is a good diet for everyone. As a matter of fact, eating the healthy diabetes food list is not only for the diabetics but for everyone as well. If everyone ate the way the diabetics should eat, the vulnerability to the disease will be less.
Healthy eating is a matter of the wise choice of a variety of food with a well balanced quantity of proteins, carbohydrates and fat. It does not mean one can only eat special foods or follow a complicated meal plan. It just means to eat a variety of food in moderate quantity at regular mealtime.
The diet should highlight whole grains, fruits and vegetables accompanied by smaller portion of lean meat and low-fat dairy products. This is the kind of meal everyone should eat not only because this type of diabetes food list is nutritious but also it is low in both calories and fat.
The diet has to fit the needs of the individual. It depends on whether one has to lose weight or on one’s blood sugar level. In addition, the person’s personal health problems will have to be considered. The specifics therefore may be different but the fundamentals are the same, that is, eat a variety of the right balance of three nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy. One has to eat at least 130 grams of carbohydrates each day in order to supply the organs with enough energy to function. The organs such as the nervous system, kidneys and the brain depend on the glucose to keep them working. Carbohydrates provide this for all of these break down into glucose during digestion.
Not all carbohydrates are the same. The two main types are simple and complex. The simple carbohydrates are the natural sugars found in fruits, milk and milk products and some vegetables. Make sure to choose low-fat and fat-free dairy products. The complex carbohydrates are the starches in legumes and grains. Then there is fiber. Half of the calories each day should come from carbohydrates.
Choose healthy proteins that do not have unhealthy fats. The recommended dietary allowance for protein is forty-six to fifty grams each day for healthy women and fifty-eight to sixty-three grams for men. The amount of protein one eats is important. Why?
Eating too little protein can make one feel tired and if this goes on for a longer period of time, it could lead to malnutrition, anemia, reduced organ size and muscle mass, hair loss and a compromised immune system. Eating too much protein is not good either because it can strain the kidney and liver that have to process the protein intake. It can also increase the risk for calcium loss and gout.
As for fat, there are healthy and unhealthy ones. Contrary to what people say, not all fats are unhealthy. Fat in the diet provides the fuel for the cells of the body to build the membranes around each cell. So keep the healthy fats like the monounsaturated ones found in peanut, olive and canola oils and polyunsaturated ones that are essential because the body does not make them. Only the diet can provide this from such sources as corn and soybean oil, whole grains and fatty fish.
So here are some guidelines in choosing the diabetes food list:
Include food one likes. The healthy diet should have a balance amount of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Consider one’s schedule of activities. Should help maintain a healthy weight. Help maintain blood sugar level. Be flexible. Watch serving sizes.
By: Roger Guzman, M.D.
