It’s crucial for diabetics to follow a healthy diet. Optimum nutrition and carb monitoring are two factors diabetics have to take into account.
But there is no singular diabetes diet that applies for all people. It’s simply a matter of knowing how the foods affect your body and your health.
Why Follow A Diet?
People who have type 1 diabetes need to know their blood sugar levels. Health complications may arise if diet, exercise, and insulin therapy are foregone.
Examples of these are vision problems, high blood pressure, risk for heart attack, stroke, kidney damage, nerve damage, skin sores, and infections.
Following a proper diet can manage these difficulties. It will also improve your quality of life.
There’s no one diet for diabetics. If you need help, you can consult a diabetic nutritionist to help you with meal plans. You can also go to a website called eatthismuch.com to know how many calories go into your body.
It’s easy to go for fast food and processed foods when your life is fast-paced, or you’re short on cash, but these foods don’t provide a lot of nutrition, they’re also in excess of salt, sugar, and fat.
Another factor in diabetic diets is consistency. It’s important to manage your blood sugar levels by not skipping meals, eating at the same time every day, and paying attention to labels on food.
It’s important to communicate with your healthcare provider to know the correct insulin dosage for your carb management.
The two types of insulin treatments are bolus, which represents how many grams are in 1 unit of insulin, and basal, a background insulin dose that tries to replace insulin when you’re in between meals.
Finding the correct insulin to carbohydrate balance is critical for managing blood sugar.
The American Diabetes Association says exercise is important for health and wellness regardless of your diabetes. Know how the different exercise activities will affect your blood sugar in times you’re exercising.
The Recommended Level of Blood Sugar
The ideal range for daytime blood sugar is around 80 to 130 mg per deciliter of blood. Two hours after you eat, your blood sugar shouldn’t go higher than 180 mg/dL.
The Type 1 Diabetes Diet
It’s important to watch your carbohydrates when you have diabetes. These are starches and sugars. It can come in the form of beans, pasta, bread, starchy vegetables, and sugary fruits. Some carbs will have a faster effect on how you feel than others. The good starting limit for carbs is around 15 grams a day. You can limit yourself to a quarter cup of fruit juice, 4 crackers, a handful of raisins, and a tablespoon of honey.
Fruits are part of the carb count. You can go for fruits like grapes, melons, berries, kiwi, and oranges.
Potatoes, corn, and peas are examples of starchy vegetables. Non-starchy vegetables are better for people with diabetes. Go for leafy vegetables, asparagus, carrots, celery, cucumber, onions, peppers, sprouts, and tomatoes.
If you can’t resist the starchy ones, limit your intake of these to 3 ounces of potato, half a cup of corn, half a cup of peas, and half a cup of squash.
Always go for whole grains. Choose brown rice, bran cereal, and whole-grain breads.
Proteins are important in a diabetic’s diet. These can be found in meat, eggs, and beans. Healthy fats are in nuts, seeds, and avocado. Proteins and fat don’t directly raise your blood sugar.
It’s also important to know when exactly you’re going to eat in a day. Calculating your insulin levels in connection with eating time is something you can do. If you’re traveling, you can carry around fruits, vegetables, and nuts. A good breakfast will bring your blood sugar up after a restful sleep.
Doing intense exercise will lower your blood sugar. You can measure your blood sugar before and after your exercise session. This will inform you how much you need to eat to manage your blood sugar.
For more information on common food and drinks for diabetics, the ADA has a full list.
Summary
Being diabetic means you have to be mindful of how your diet affects your body. Your doctor and nutritionist should help you create meal plans that will work for you.
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