Diabetes diet: the rules for effective disease control

If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, you are in for significant lifestyle changes at all levels. This systemic disease requires a comprehensive approach. Diet plays a crucial role in its treatment. The doctor will advise you to review your diet and follow specific rules in nutrition. Given the prevalence of diabetes in Australia, diet can be an excellent way to prevent this disease.

A good diet for diabetes should include healthy foods and provide the body with essential nutrients. The best solution will be to consult a nutritionist, but you can also create your diet by following our diabetes diet guide.

What is a diet for diabetes, and what are its goals

The main goal of a diabetes diet is to maintain blood glucose levels within acceptable ranges. Considering that this indicator depends on what you eat, you can regulate it by choosing specific foods.

Also, an important rule of the diet for diabetes mellitus is three to four meals a day to avoid sudden spikes in blood glucose. Serving size is also important — the larger they are, the more glucose levels rise. By combining factors such as the right foods, meal times and serving sizes, you will get the best diet for diabetes, which will help you to:

Maintain target blood sugar levels;
Lose weight or maintain a healthy weight;
Improve well-being and become more energetic;
Prevent further development of the disease.

What food for diet for diabetes to choose

It might seem like dieting for someone with diabetes means giving up everything you love. You will hardly be pleased with the thought that you will only have healthy but tasteless food on your table from now on. But it’s not so. You can eat what you like as long as you eat in moderation.

Depending on the severity and characteristics of your disease, the restrictions may be more or less severe. But in any case, you need to build your diet to include foods from all groups: grains and carbohydrates, dairy products, meat and its substitutes, vegetables and fruits.

Healthy carbs

In diabetes, the main risk of carbohydrate-containing foods is that they can dramatically increase blood sugar. In this regard, simple carbs, easily broken down in the body, are especially dangerous since they have short molecular chains. At the same time, carbohydrates are a good energy source. So, it is not recommended to refuse them altogether.

What carbs can you eat with diabetes? Healthy carbs include complex carbohydrates, which take much more time to digest, increasing blood glucose evenly. You can find them in the following foods:

Vegetables (cabbage, lettuce, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers);
Fruits (apples, plums, melon, and grapefruit);
Whole grains (wheat, rice, oats, maize, and barley);
Legumes (beans, chickpeas, and peas);
Low-fat dairy products (cheese, milk, cottage cheese, and yogurt);
Lean protein (chicken, turkey, and tofu).

Fiber

Why is it important to get sufficient amounts of fiber for people with diabetes? It helps regulate blood sugar levels by slowing down the absorption of other foods. Also, it is a probiotic that promotes the growth of healthy gut microflora. It is known that the gut flora largely determines the health of the body as a whole.

You will also get additional benefits, such as weight loss and increased energy levels by bringing your gut in order. It is believed that you should consume at least 30 g of dietary fiber daily. You can get it from high-fiber foods, like:

Whole grains (wheat, rice, oats, maize, and barley);
Vegetables (cabbage, lettuce, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers);
Fruits and berries (apples, plums, melon, grapefruit, and oranges);
Nuts;
Legumes (beans, chickpeas, and peas).

Healthy fats

Fats are essential for a nutritious diet. But if you have diabetes, it is advisable to eat only healthy fats. According to recent studies, fats help the pancreas adapt to excess sugar and thus prevent the further development of the disease.

Moreover, you can lower blood cholesterol levels by choosing foods with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. And this will also provide a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system. Your meals should include the following:

Plant oils (linseed, olive, peanut oils, cold-pressed sesame oil, and coconut and ghee oils for cooking);
Avocado;
Nuts and seeds.

At the same time, you should remember the high-calorie content of these foods. And their total share in your diet should not exceed 30%. For people with diabetes, experts recommend eating 40-90 grams of fat daily.

While on a type 2 diabetes diet: what not to eat

If you have diabetes, you cannot do without dietary restrictions. However, they mainly concern “junk food” and unhealthy foods. And anyone who wants to be healthy should avoid them. For a type 2 diabetes diet, the foods to avoid include:

Foods containing trans fats (pastries, margarine, snacks, and processed foods);
Drinks with added sugar (soda, juices, etc.);
Desserts based on refined white flour and sugar;
Foods that are high in salt.

The primary purpose of such restrictions is to improve the condition of the cardiovascular system. Most of the above foods affect the elasticity of blood vessels or can cause their blockage.

Also, you should reconsider your attitude towards alcohol. Its volume should be at most 1 serving per day for women and 2 servings per day for men. A serving is a volume of alcohol containing 15 ml of ethanol, such as one glass of wine or one can of beer. Choose drinks with less than 4-5% of sugar. Usually, it is dry wine or champagne.

Why is it important to reduce your alcohol consumption? The thing is that ethanol can lower blood sugar. And if you use insulin-containing drugs, a decrease in glucose levels can be significant and even dangerous.

Moreover, some alcoholic beverages lower glucose levels more than others. For example, it will decrease 4 times more after strong drinks than after beer or wine. Alcohol is especially dangerous when you drink it on an empty stomach. To avoid negative consequences, accompany a glass of wine with a small snack.

Diabetes diet tips: how to make a meal plan

Now that you know all the specifics of diabetes nutrition, how should you use them to create a personal nutrition plan? You can consult a specialist or use any diet advice for diabetes. What are the new diabetes diet recommendations to make an individual meal plan for every day?

The most popular methods are as follows:

Plate method;
Carb count;
Glycemic index-based food selection;
Choosing the right foods for you.

What are the specifics of each of these methods? Let’s take a closer look at them.

Plate method

It’s an easy way to adjust your diet to meet your diabetes nutritional needs. The essence of this technique is to divide your plate into three parts, which will be filled with a specific group of foods.

So, take an ordinary plate and mentally divide it in half. Then divide one half into two equal parts again. After that, move on to filling each part of your plate:

Fill half a plate (50%) with non-starchy vegetables. They are low in carbs and barely raise blood sugar levels;
Fill a quarter of the plate (25%) with lean protein (fish, chicken, soy products, etc.);
Fill the remaining quarter of the plate (25%) with carbohydrate-containing foods that affect blood glucose levels the most (whole grains, starchy vegetables).
Also, add some healthy fats to ensure your menu meets the needs of the body with diabetes.

Carb count

Carbohydrates impact blood sugar the most, so the carb count method is a good solution. You can control your disease and feel much better. The carb count is essential if you take insulin, as it allows you to calculate the drug dosage required, depending on the amount of carbohydrates in your food.

How to do the count?

First, determine the foods that contain carbohydrates;
Then, find the number of carbs in each product in grams. You can use the information on the label or special tables to do this.
After that, sum up all carbohydrates per meal.

Glycemic index-based food selection

The glycemic index (GI) is an indicator determining the ability of a food product to increase blood sugar. The more glucose and starch in a product, the higher its GI. The index value can range from 0 to 200.

0-55 — low glycemic index;
56-69 — moderate glycemic index;
70-200 — high glycemic index.

Using this indicator, you can choose safe products. Just avoid the ones with a high GI. This way, you will prevent the deterioration of health due to spikes in blood glucose and will be able to manage diabetes. When choosing foods, try to ensure that the diet is varied and covers your needs for vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients.

Choosing the right foods for you

In this case, you are guided by product lists by category. A serving of one product is called a “choice”. It contains 12-15 g of carbs, and its size depends on the specific product in the category. For example, in the fruit category, one small, unpeeled apple or one cup of blackberries contains 15 g of carbohydrates.

Using special tables, you can easily make a daily menu according to the required daily amount of carbohydrates. A professional nutritionist can help make a balanced diet for diabetes patients, considering their individual needs and the characteristics of the disease.

A sample menu for the day

As you can see, many tools allow you to develop a complete and healthy menu for people with diabetes. You can use any of them, but sometimes you can’t do without the advice of a nutritionist. It is especially necessary in the case of a severe disease development or major complications when you need to consider such indicators as:

Target blood sugar level;
Blood cholesterol level;
Blood pressure values.

But if your disease is mild and under control, you can plan a diet for yourself. Here is an example of a proper diet for diabetes for 1 day.

Breakfast

Boiled oats (1 glass), pre-soaked overnight, with blueberries (¼ glass);
2-3 egg omelet (whites only);
Sliced tomato (½ pc.).

Lunch

Baked cod filet (100 g);
Boiled brown rice (200 g);
Spinach (1 cup) fried in plant oil with onion and garlic.

Snack:

Pears (2 pcs.) cut into pieces and sprinkled with chopped almonds, cranberries and coconut flakes.

Dinner

Boiled chicken breast (170 g);
Boiled whole grain macaroni (1 glass) seasoned with olive oil and grated cheese;
Fried zucchini (2 glasses) with mushrooms.

How to control diabetes with a diet

Regardless of the severity of diabetes, nutrition plays an important role in treating this disease. Diabetes controlled by a diet is a reality that allows you to take responsibility into your own hands. How is diabetes related to a diet? Diabetes is related to it through the blood glucose level, which in turn depends on the foods you eat. This direct relationship allows you to consider a diet as a unique opportunity to improve the condition of patients significantly. And in some cases, it can even help to virtually eliminate the disease.

How to manage diabetes with a diet? Here are the basic rules for diabetes and diet management:

Choose healthy foods;
Avoid fast carbs;
Eat more vegetables and fruits;
Refuse added sugar;
Have at least three meals a day;
Monitor servings size.

By following these rules, you can keep your diabetes under control and avoid severe complications in the future.

Diet: cure for diabetes

As practice shows, diabetes diet changes can sometimes replace drug treatment. Through diet, blood sugar naturally decreases, which involves reducing the dosage of drugs and even stopping them.
According to a study, after 12 weeks of a special diet, more than a third of its participants stopped using medicines. Along with decreased blood glucose levels, changes such as normalization of weight and blood pressure were recorded.
Knowing how to cure diabetes with a diet can help you achieve better results in a shorter time. If you do not have diabetes, but there is a threat of its development, a diabetes precaution diet will help to prevent it.

Conclusion

Following a special diet for diabetes patients is an essential condition for a successful treatment. The goal of this diet for sugar diabetes is to lower blood sugar levels and keep them within safe limits. To do this, it is recommended to include some foods in the diet and exclude others.
To get my diabetes diet, you can contact a specialist who will develop a nutrition plan for you, focusing on individual characteristics. You can also make such a diet yourself, following specific rules. When you know the answer to the question “How does a diet affect diabetes?”, you can state that it is no less important than drugs for diabetes. And in some cases, a change in diet can reverse the disease and even lead to a complete cure.