Helpful Tips for Planning a Diabetes Diet

Helpful Tips for Planning a Diabetes Diet

The prevalence of people with diabetes is increasing worldwide. With this, diabetes is considered one of the leading causes of death around the world.  It is time that you give this importance especially if you are at risk. First, you have to understand what is diabetes before you consider changing your eating habits.

Introduction to Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease that happens when your blood glucose is too high. Keep in mind that blood glucose is the main source of energy and it is generated from the food that you eat. There is one hormone that helps glucose – insulin. It assists the glucose from entering into the cells to be used for energy.

There are times that your body does not use insulin well or it does not make enough. When this happens, the glucose will only stay in the blood and it will not reach the cells. If this continues, having too much glucose can lead to health problems like diabetes. You should know that diabetes has no cure but you can take measures to manage your diabetes.

The most common types of diabetes are type 1, type 2 and gestational. Type 1 refers to a condition when the body does not make insulin. For this, people with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin to stay alive. Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, refers to a condition when the body does not use insulin well. Finally, the gestational diabetes is developed in some women during pregnancy and it usually goes away after giving birth.

Cyrus Khambatta from Matering Diabetes

Now you have the basic understanding of diabetes, the next thing that you need to do is to change your eating habits. Cyrus Khambatta from Matering Diabetes reveals that a diabetic diet does not have to be complex – you just need to make smarter choices. Here are some tips:

Avoid refined carbohydrates
You should be aware that carbohydrates have a huge impact on your blood sugar levels. With this, you need to be smart when consuming carbs. You have to limit refined carbohydrates like rice, pasta, white bread, soda, candy, and snack foods.

Choose slow-release carbohydrates
The best solution is to consider high-fiber or slow-release carbs. These types of carbs are digested more slowly thereby preventing the body from generating too much insulin.

Be smart about consuming sweets
A diabetic diet does not mean totally getting rid of sugar altogether. Although it is difficult, you should slowly reduce your cravings for sweet. Reducing your cravings slowly can give your taste buds time to adjust.

Add some healthy fat to your diet
Fat will slow down the digestive process. This means that the blood sugar level will not spike easily. Health fats include peanut butter, yogurt, ricotta cheese, and nuts.

Reduce soda and juice
For every 12 ounce serving of soda, your risk for diabetes will increase by about 15%. It will be hard but you should start right away. Prefer sparkling water with a twist of lime or lemon if you want flavored drinks.

Check the labels
It is important that you always check the labels and choose products with low sugar. Instead of canned goods, you should consider fresh or frozen ingredients.