Diabetic Nutritional Guidelines

For many years, the American Diabetes Association had advocated that diabetics follow the guidelines of their Diabetic Food Pyramid. This food pyramid advocates that a great percentage of the diabetic diet consist of carbohydrates like grains and starchy vegetables.

Another view of the diabetic diet is emerging, and more doctors now recommend a low-carbohydrate diet as the better way to control diabetes. There is research that suggests that the lower the amount of carbohydrates consumed, the less insulin is needed for Type 1 diabetics, and the less hard the pancreas has to work for Type 2 diabetics. However, the medical community has been very slow to adopt this option.

The best Diabetic nutritional advice is this: listen to your doctor and follow his advice. If he sends you to a nutritionist, listen to the nutritionist and follow his or her advice. The most important aspect of controlling both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes is achieving the right balance of glucose in the blood through diet, exercise, and the use of medications.

Diabetics must eat an exact diet, whatever that diet is. The foods can be varied, but the calorie/carbohydrate content can’t be varied. Consistency is key to controlling blood sugar levels.

You will most likely be told to eat a diet that contains a certain number of calories each day and at regular intervals. Remember that the calorie count of a food is based upon the size of the portion. Invest in a good food scale and sets of measuring cups and measuring spoons, and control your portion size. If the portion size is a half cup, measure a half cup. If the portion size is four ounces, use your food scale and measure out a four-ounce serving.

Type 1 diabetes is a disease that destroys all of a person’s cells that are responsible for producing insulin in the person’s pancreas.  Whenever the body is no longer able to regulate the person’s blood sugar levels, then daily injections of insulin are required in order to sustain that person’s life.  Unfortunately, what causes type 1 diabetes is not yet known.  However, it is generally believed that a person’s environment and genetics play a key role.

Who Is Affected By Type 1 Diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes is a disease that affects more than a million people in the United States alone.  It can create severe medical complications such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and circulation problems that lead to limbs having to be amputated.  Therefore, it is mandatory that those who have this disease develop a good self-management program.

Symptoms Of Type 1 Diabetes

The symptoms of type 1 diabetes include excessive thirst, frequent urination, weight loss, excessive hunger, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue and in women it causes them to stop menstruating.

Implementing A Type 1 Diabetes Self-Management Plan

Most of the time it is easier to implement a type 1 diabetes self-management plan for people who are able to maintain a consistent schedule in their lives.  Those who have jobs that require them to travel or work various shifts and people who have others that they have to care for such as children or elderly relatives will have a harder time.

Usually self-management involves the patient giving themselves daily injections of insulin.  However, there is the option to use an insulin pump, which is a device that is about the size of a cell phone and is worn around the person’s waist.  It is attached to a catheter that is implanted under their skin and then injects the patient with insulin around the clock in tiny amounts as needed.  The device can be removed whenever necessary and the insulin dosages can be easily changed to keep blood sugar in check.  As such, the pump is a very convenient option.

Having a comprehensive diabetes self-management program is very important when it comes to controlling type 1 diabetes.  There are many new methods to do this becoming available as medical science continues to pursue new ways to treat and manage this disease.  However, for now, those people who have type 1 diabetes should continue to do everything possible to keep the disease at bay so that they can safeguard their health.

Type 2 diabetes symptoms are quite varied but they still need to be managed in order to prevent many of the health problems that you could potentially face.

How To Manage Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms

You need to check your blood sugar several times a day in order to get a better idea of when the numbers fluctuate to an unsafe range, so that you can make changes in your diet or medication.  This will also help your doctor be able to take better, more complete care of you.  For this reason, you need to document the levels if your machine does not have a built-in memory.

It is also important to observe your food intake.  Herein you should keep a food diary.  This, along with your blood sugar testing results, can provide a much clearer picture for your physician when they are taking into consideration your medical status so that they can help you to more easily manage your type 2 diabetes symptoms.  You will also be able to find patterns here in your food intake that will help you to discover ways in which to change your diet so that you can keep yourself healthier and your blood glucose levels more stable.

Your prescriptions need to be taken as instructed or you will not obtain the results that you need in managing your type 2 diabetes symptoms.  So, make sure that you understand the information that your doctor gives you about the prescription in order that you can be sure that you take it exactly as your doctor wants you to.

Another important part of managing your type 2 diabetes symptoms lies in becoming physically active. There are many different benefits to exercising such as helping your body to run more efficiently, which in turn can truly influence your blood sugar.  If you find activities that you enjoy doing, like walking, running, biking or playing tennis, basketball, etc. you will be able to have fun giving your body one of the tools that it needs to keep you healthy.  All it takes is 30 minutes a day.

Conclusion

In order to manage your type 2 diabetes symptoms you will also need to change your lifestyle and habits.  This is well worth the extra time and effort that this takes because it can help you to stay healthier longer.  So, monitor and document your food and blood sugar levels, take your medications as prescribed and get some exercise in order to reduce many of your type 2 diabetes symptoms.

The Truth

When it comes to what really causes diabetes, what happens is that when the pancreas is not able to make enough or any of the hormone known as insulin, or when the insulin that is being produced is not working effectively, this as a result causes the level of glucose in the blood to be too high and thereby the person develops diabetes.

There are two different types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. There are both similarities and differences between the two types, and in type 1, the cells in the pancreas that usually work to make the insulin are destroyed, which results in causing a severe lack of insulin in the body, and this is thought to be the result of the body attacking and destroying its own cells, which in turn makes it an autoimmune reaction.

In searching for what causes diabetes, you’ll learn that although there is no single cause of type 1 diabetes, there are a few triggers that are considered to be responsible, including an infection with a specific virus or bacteria, exposure to food-borne chemical toxins, and exposure as a young infant to cow’s milk.

What causes type 2 diabetes? It develops when the receptors on the cells in the body that normally respond to the action of insulin fail to be stimulated by it, otherwise known as insulin resistance, or when the insulin that is available in the body is abnormal and therefore does not work properly.

Again there are a few different triggers of this reaction that are considered as being risk factors that increase someone’s chances of developing the disease, including increasing age, obesity, and physical inactivity.

Therefore when it comes to the matter of what really causes diabetes, there is no one single answer but rather quite a few, and the only real way you can attempt to avoid developing the disease then is by keeping yourself as healthy as possible. By maintaining as generally healthy a lifestyle as possible you will not be able to avoid it for sure but you will be protecting yourself against it as much as you can.

Diabetes is the inability for the patient’s digestive system to produce enough insulin to break down the glucose from carbohydrates that are taken when a person eats food.  If there isn’t enough insulin to break down the glucose, or the patient’s system is resistant to the effects of insulin, then that glucose over takes the system and can begin to damage the internal organs of the body.  So when you ask “what is diabetes?” you are really asking a question about the digestive system of a human being and how that system processes the different materials that we take in.  As our society becomes more and more dependent on processes sugars and simple carbohydrates more and more people are developing diabetes symptoms.  This prompts the World Health Organization to answer the question of “what is diabetes?” with the answer that it is becoming an epidemic.

Treatments

Diabetes is the inability to combat the rise in glucose in the digestive system that comes from the normal intake of calories from food so the first course of treatment a doctor will usually take is a change in the patient’s diet and exercise routines.  What is diabetes’ biggest enemy is complex carbohydrates because complex carbohydrates take much longer to digest and therefore the insulin need to offset their glucose production is not as great.  Less glucose is what diabetes hates because less glucose means no more diabetes.  So the doctor will recommend a change in diet and tell the patient to lose weight.  In many cases of type 2 diabetes this course of action is effective and containing the diabetes.  In other cases it is not.

Diabetes is beginning to affect more people in the western world as our society changes its diet to include less healthy food.  It is true what they say that fruits and vegetables are very good for you and you should eat them every day.  But as fast food restaurants and sugary snacks begin to take the place of real food in our society it is only a matter of time before diabetes is the number 1 health issue all over the world.

A daily assault on your system of trans fats and high-cholesterol foods can’t be “undone” with exercise, though. Dr. John Cooke, who is the head of Stanford Medical School’s vascular unit says that the goal is to consume nutrient-dense foods high in antioxidants, including Vitamins B, C, and E and folate. These foods have properties that improve nitrate acid levels, and thus, your cardiovascular health.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past ten years or so, you know that high-cholesterol food includes eggs, dairy products, and beef. It seems
to be a rule: the better food tastes, the higher the cholesterol. Potato chips, candy bars, cake, and ice cream are ALL high-cholesterol foods.

So how does one go about eating a heart-healthy diet without starving to death? It really isn’t quite as hard as it might appear on the surface.

You can have fresh fruit and fresh vegetables — and fruits and vegetables DO taste good. You should stick to fish and chicken, and indulge in beef steak only on a rare occasion, and then the steak should be very lean.

Whole-grain foods are the choice you should make when there is a choice. Stick to canola oil, olive oil, corn oil, walnut oil, and avocado oil, and avoid butter
and lard.

Eating a heart-healthy diet means that you might have to give up (or at least drastically cut back on) some of the foods that have dominated your diet. But the substitutions are tasty and the rewards are many. Take care of your heart. It’s the only one you’ve got.

So no 21st-century diet guru invented the idea of fasting to detoxify the body. It’s been done for many, many centuries. The methods vary, but the objective is always the same. The idea is to clean out the old pipes, rid the body of waste, and get rid of the junk so that the body functions more efficiently.

The human body detoxifies itself naturally every day. The colon, the liver, the kidneys, and even the skin serve to remove toxins from the body. A detox diet is designed to speed up the process and perhaps do a little better job of cleansing.

Some detox diets consist ONLY of water. Water is the only liquid introduced into the system, and there are no solids. The time required for detoxification varies, according to which guru you ask.

Some detox diets consist of drinking only fruit juice and consuming no solid food. Some detox diets consist of drinking ONLY water, fruit juice, or some liquid designed for the purpose and taking diuretics and laxatives to hurry the cleansing process along.

There is no proof that a detox diet is dangerous to healthy individuals. There’s no certain proof that a detox diet actually does much good, either. However, if you want to use a detox diet, you should first discuss it with your doctor and get his blessings, his advice, or perhaps even a prescription.

You’ve likely heard of those supposedly “no-carb” diets that advise you to eat all of the bacon, eggs, and cheese you can hold, but not to take one bite of bread of potatoes and to avoid all carb-containing foods like fruits and vegetables. You’re told to eat meat — lots and lots of meat — all of the meat you can swallow while avoiding the salad and the potato served with the meat. Horsefeathers!

First, eating a “no-carb” diet is basically an impossible mission. There are some carbs in almost every food on earth. Granted, there are many more in some foods than in others, but there are still carbs.

Low-carb diets are difficult to stay with, and no-carb diets are impossible to stay with. The fact is that the ONLY diet that is going to produce the results you want is one that you can stick to forever and ever.

Weird one-food diets, fad diets, and crash diets don’t work. They’ve never worked, and they never will work. The human body will endure self-inflicted discomfort for only so long, and then a rebellion becomes a certainty. The body’s demand for nutrition will trump resolve.

It isn’t just food that the body needs. The body needs nutrition. It needs vitamins, minerals, and trace elements that are necessary for life to continue. A no-carb diet does not provide the needed nutrients, and so when you attempt a no-carb diet, you are doomed to failure from the beginning. The body needs — no, REQUIRES — a well-balanced diet.

Low-carb diets are popular. They are popular for a very good reason; they work. LOW-carb diets are healthy and sustainable. No-carb diets are neither!

When you are looking for foods to eat on your diet, look towards natural foods.  Also be careful how you cook them.  You should also increase your protein intake so that your body will burn more calories.

One important meal that you do not want to miss is breakfast.  You should eat protein for breakfast when you want to lose weight fast as this will boost your metabolism and cause you to start burning fat early in the day.  Foods to eat for breakfast should be high in protein, but not contain sugar.  Stay away from so-called protein bars.

Hard boiled eggs, broiled meats and whole grains are a good choice for breakfast.  A soft boiled or poached egg is also a good choice when it comes to early morning food because eggs are a good source of protein.  Eggs have a bad rap as being high in cholesterol, although this is not true.  Egg whites are a good source of protein and as long a they are not fried, they make a good breakfast choice.

Salads are good for lunch.  You can try a low fat dressing, although you can easily make your own salad dressing.  Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar and add herbs like Oregano and Basil to the dressing and it will be low in fat and will not contain preservatives.   Grilled vegetables are also a good choice for lunch meals.

You want to add protein to your diet, but not a lot of fat.   Chicken breast is a good source of protein and if you broil it, you will be getting the benefits of the protein without the fat.  Fish is also an  excellent source of protein as is red meat.  A hamburger without a bun, for example, that has been barbequed, will give you protein that you need for the day.

If you have a sweet tooth, eat fruit.  While fruits have sugar, unlike sweets they do supply your body with the nutrients that you need.  Vegetables are also essential to a healthy diet.  You can eat vegetables like celery and carrots all day long – they have minimal calories and you actually expend more calories to chew these vegetables than they contain.

In most cases, the foods to eat when you are trying to lose weight are common sense.  If you know which foods to stay away from, you should know which foods to eat.  Cooking the foods is very important.  You should cook at home instead of eating out and watch the oils and seasonings that you use.  Simple substitutions, like hamburger that you make at home or chicken breast, for lunch instead of a fast food sandwich, can make a tremendous impact when it comes to weight loss.  Substituting fruit instead of eating cakes will also make a difference.

Eat three meals a day and do not eat in the evening.  You can snack between meals on raw vegetables.  You will find that by following this diet plan, you not only lose weight successfully, but also feel better as well.

One thing that you have to remember is to eat only until you are not hungry any longer.  Instead of stuffing yourself until you cannot eat any more, eat until you no longer have a hungry feeling. When you do have a feeling of hunger, eat something that is not one of the foods to avoid and then wait 20 minutes before you snack again.  Often, it takes some time for the signal that we are no longer hungry to travel to the brain.  You do not need to starve yourself to lose weight.  You can do so and even be healthier at the same time if you follow this type of diet.

Snackwells are the same. These are low fat cookies and cakes.  What people do not realize is that they usually end up eating more of these foods because they feel that they are “diet” foods.  Foods that are sweet and marked for being a diet food contain a sugar substitute (one of the many latest to come around) that is worse for you than actual sugar.

People tend to overindulge in the low fat or diet snacks and foods that are out there, thinking that they are getting away with something.  While you can replace your regular foods with low fat, you have to be aware of the chemicals that the foods may contain as well as the fact that they are not that much lower in calories.  If you have a hankering for Cheezits, have only a small portion of the low fat type, but do not feel that because they are low fat, you can eat the entire box.

You are better off having real foods in your home than those that are marked low fat or diet as you will not be tempted to over indulge in eating that will sabotage your diet.

Cookies, Candy, Cakes and Other Sweets

Stay away from sugar if you want to lose 10 pounds in 10 days.  Sugar is one of the main reasons why people gain weight.  Many people have a sweet tooth and cannot help but indulge in these foods.  Sugar is processed through the system very quickly.  It is hard on the digestive organs and causes them to work extra hard to process the foods for elimination.  Sugar stays in the blood stream and turns to fat.  While it can be difficult for anyone with a sweet tooth to give up sweets, it is essential that you do this if you want to lose weight.

Sweets do not offer you any nutritional value whatsoever.  They do nothing to help your body and are considered empty calories.  You are eating them for nothing  and they are showing up as fat on your body.  Some diets tell you to avoid all foods that contain simple carbohydrates, such as bread.  But while breads have nutritional value and are at least filling, sweets offer you nothing.   Nothing but calories that will pile up on your body.

Frozen Foods

Lean Cuisine?  Do not bother.  Stay away from all frozen foods.  They are loaded with sodium.  They have to be loaded with sodium in order to keep.  Sodium will also make you retain water and will hamper your ability to lose weight.   If you think that those diet foods that you see in the frozen food aisle are your answer when it comes to losing weight, think again.   Not only do they have excessively small portions, but the sodium content negates the low calories in these meals.

By cooking at home and eating real foods, you can end up not only losing the weight that you want to lose, but also eating healthier   Avoid fast foods, fried foods, sweets, diet foods and frozen foods if you want to lose weight.