Healthy Eating

Without healthy eating (including good food choices and appropriate numbers of calories), the likelihood of successfully managing your diabetes is, ahem, slim.
 
These are just some of the benefits to you if have diabetes and you eat healthfully:

  • Lower blood sugar levels
  • Lower LDL cholesterol, lower trigerlyercides, higher HDL (that is, the healthy) cholesterol
  • Lower blood glucose levels
  • Better blood pressure control
  • Better weight control
  • Better bowel habits
  • Lower risk of heart disease

Your daily calories should be divided up as follows:
 

Carbohydrates 45 to 60 %
Protein 15 to 20 %
Fat Less than 35 %

Carbohydrates are found in foods grown in the ground (examples are rice, potatoes, grains, fruits, sugar) and milk products. Their main role is to provide energy to fuel your body. Fibre, which is also a carbohydrate, does not contribute energy, but does have many other benefits including helping you avoid constipation, helping lower your blood glucose and your bad (LDL) cholesterol.

Proteins are found in meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, soybeans, legumes, nuts, seeds, and tofu amongst other places. Their main role is to maintain healthy body tissues; especially muscles.

Fats are found in meats, butter, margarine, oil, avocado, salad dressings, maynnaise, and sour cream amongst other places. Although fats have a bad rap, not all fats are bad (in terms of promoting heart disease or other circulation problems); indeed some are good. Unhealthy fats include cholesterol-rich foods, saturated fats (such as is found in meat, cream, and butter) and trans fats (found in many processed foods such as potato chips, doughnuts, and French fries although manufacturers are now making a point of eliminating trans fats from more and more of their products). Good fats include polyunsaturated fats (as is found in sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil and soft margarines), omega-3 fatty acids, and monounsaturated fats (as is found in avocados, olive oil, almonds, and peanuts). As you can see even "healthy" fats still contain caloreis and thus need to be consumed only in appropriate quantities.


Now on the off chance you found the preceding discussion to be a "yada yada yada" dissertation, here are some perhaps more colourful (and editorially rich) ponouncements. IMHO:

  1. There is no such thing as a "diabetic diet." A so-called diabetic diet is simply a well-balanced, nutritious eating plan (one that anyone - whether or not they have diabetes - can benefit from).
  2. There is no such thing as "cheating" on your diet. "Cheating" is a patronizing term that should not be used.
  3. Feel free to tell the "diabetes police" (that is, those many well-meaning people who insist on telling you what, in their estimation, you can and cannot eat) that you are not a "diabetes criminal" in need of unsolicited correcting and that you are fully aware of what and how to eat, but you appreciate their concerns and hope they have a very nice day (if, ahem, you know what I mean).
  4. Most important of all: Cake is not a four letter word! Well, okay, I guess "cake" technically is a four letter word, but you know what I mean. The point is that no food is forbidden (but some things - such as "sweets" should be eaten in limited quantities- as is true for everyone, whether or not you have diabetes). Indeed, the CDA advises that up to 10 percent of one's daily calories can be in the form of "sweets."
     
The Glycemic Index: You may have heard about the glycemic Index and are wondering if this is something you should concern yourself about. The premise behind the Glycemic Index is that certain foods are more likely than others to make your blood sugar go up after you eat them. And so, of course, one would think it is best to avoid (or at least restrict) such things. Indeed, medical organizations in a number of countries in the world have found sufficient merit to this that they advocate following a diet based on Glycemic Index principles. There are, however, some buts; for instance, a low Glycemic Index diet:
  • is not proven to improve overall blood glucose control (as reflected by A1C values)
  • is not proven to improve overall health
  • may be too much hassle for many (possibly most) people to follow day after day after day after...
  • (this next point is my favourite); the ADA web site, on January 10, 2003 had an article that notes "based on glycemic index, M & M candies are held to be the equivalent of low fat yogurt with fruit. And Snickers bars rate more favourably than Cheerio's or cornflakes." Makes one pause to reflect on the merits of the GI diet, does it not?

My opinion? Simply this: A diet based on Glycemic Index may turn out to be the best diet in the world to treat diabetes, but for now we do not have proof of this. Once again, only time (in the company of more research and, in particular, clinical trials) will tell. If you are having problems with blood glucose elevation after meals despite diligently adhering to healthy eating prinicples and taking appropriate amounts of appropriate medications then by all means do speak to your registered dietitian to see if following a low GI diet may be of some merit to you.


Low Carb Diets: Another issue about dietary therapy is whether it is a good idea to follow a low carbohydrate/high protein diet. My concern about this type of diet is that the benefits seemingly achieved with such diets are either short-lived (weight loss is almost always temporary) or, in some cases, offset by disadvantages (constipation, fatigue, dizziness, possible worsening of cholesterol levels as well as a theoretically increased risk of osteoporosis and kidney stones).