African American citizens, Hispanics and Local USA citizens have a raised rate of developing diabetes during their lifetime.
Diabetes has potential long-term complications that can have an effect on the kidneys, eyes, heart, veins and nerves. A number of pages on this internet site are dedicated to the prevention and treatment of the complications of diabetes. ( see Diabetes Symptoms ) In diagnosing diabetes, consultants primarily rely on the result of precise glucose tests. test results are just part of the data that goes into the diagnosis of diabetes.
Doctors also take into consideration your physical examination, presence or lack of symptoms, and medical history. Some folks who are seriously unwell will have transitory issues with raised blood sugars that may then revert to normal after the illness has resolved. Also, some medicines may alter your blood glucose levels ( most usually steroids and certain diuretics ( water tablets ) ).
The TWO main tests used to gauge the presence of blood sugar issues are : 1. Direct measurement of glucose levels in the blood in an overnite fast two. Measurement of the body's capability to reasonably handle the surplus sugar presented after drinking a high glucose drink. More frequent testing could be required when you're sick or under pressure. There are several kinds of devices. Generally, you prick your finger with a little needle called a lancet, which gives you a miniscule drop of blood. You place the blood on a test strip, and put the strip into the device. A medicare supplier or diabetes teacher will help set up a suitable testing schedule for you. You will be taught the best way to make a response to different ranges of glucose values got when you self-test. The outcome of the test can be employed to adjust meals, activity, or medicines to keep blood sugar levels in a suitable range. Accurate record keeping of test results will help you and your healthcare provide plan a way to best control your diabetes.
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
The components of a healthy diet for diabetes type 2 patients
Type 2 diabetes is a serious health condition that, if not managed properly, can lead to severe complications. A well managed diet for diabetes is essential to controlling this disease. Your physician may prescribe medications to help regulate your blood sugar levels, as well as medications that help protect your heart and kidneys. Understanding how to manage your diet can be complex. Here we try to put it all in plain language, to help you make sense of all the charts in the standard booklet of counting your carbs.
At first glance, it seems that carbs are your enemy. The usual proscription from the medical people is that you limit your intake of carbs to no more than 195 per day. The trouble starts when you see that two pieces of sandwich bread runs around 30-40 carbs, while one plain bagel is almost 50 carbs! If you've been a sandwich eater all your life, this is dismal news indeed.
What you want to do, to set up a healthy diet for diabetes, is to start reading those food labels carefully. When buying bread, look for whole grain breads. You'll notice two things. Whole grain breads have fewer carbs and more fiber. Some newer brands on the market have added fiber, in addition to that contained in the whole grain flour. Whole grains are complex carbohydrates, which is a good thing in a diet for diabetes patients. Complex carbohydrates break down slowly, so you never get a sugar spike, whereas refined flours contain little fiber and often, more simple sugars.
To arrive at the total number of carbs per serving, subtract the fiber grams from the total carbs. Your physician or nutritionist has doubtless emphasized the importance of getting a sufficient amount of fiber in your diet. Why? Fiber helps keep your digestive tract clean and free of toxins, which in turn, helps protect your kidneys from damage. This makes the picture a lot better, in terms of what you can eat and how much, while having a perfectly healthy diet for diabetes management.
Don't shy away from eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. When you see that a half cup of chopped onions has about 15 carbs, you may feel that you'd rather use up your carb allotment on that sandwich! However, when you picture putting a half cup of onions on a salad, you realize that a sprinkling appropriate for a salad probably adds up to just a few carbs. Not a big deal.
Most produce are heavy on the antioxidants too, leading to better overall health and packing a preventative punch for all of your organs, a definite plus in a healthy diet for diabetics.
Foods that are encouraged in a diet for diabetes patients include meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. This means that you can make a meal of a big juicy burger on a whole grain roll, loading it up with lettuce, tomatoes, a couple of sauteed mushrooms and a fat chunk of Swiss to top it all off, all for less than 40 or 50 carbs. Not a bad deal.
In a nutshell, it's simple sugars you want to avoid. A single soda or candy bar can wreak havoc with your blood sugar levels. In fact, a healthy diet for diabetes can be a healthy diet for non-diabetics as well.
At first glance, it seems that carbs are your enemy. The usual proscription from the medical people is that you limit your intake of carbs to no more than 195 per day. The trouble starts when you see that two pieces of sandwich bread runs around 30-40 carbs, while one plain bagel is almost 50 carbs! If you've been a sandwich eater all your life, this is dismal news indeed.
What you want to do, to set up a healthy diet for diabetes, is to start reading those food labels carefully. When buying bread, look for whole grain breads. You'll notice two things. Whole grain breads have fewer carbs and more fiber. Some newer brands on the market have added fiber, in addition to that contained in the whole grain flour. Whole grains are complex carbohydrates, which is a good thing in a diet for diabetes patients. Complex carbohydrates break down slowly, so you never get a sugar spike, whereas refined flours contain little fiber and often, more simple sugars.
To arrive at the total number of carbs per serving, subtract the fiber grams from the total carbs. Your physician or nutritionist has doubtless emphasized the importance of getting a sufficient amount of fiber in your diet. Why? Fiber helps keep your digestive tract clean and free of toxins, which in turn, helps protect your kidneys from damage. This makes the picture a lot better, in terms of what you can eat and how much, while having a perfectly healthy diet for diabetes management.
Don't shy away from eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. When you see that a half cup of chopped onions has about 15 carbs, you may feel that you'd rather use up your carb allotment on that sandwich! However, when you picture putting a half cup of onions on a salad, you realize that a sprinkling appropriate for a salad probably adds up to just a few carbs. Not a big deal.
Most produce are heavy on the antioxidants too, leading to better overall health and packing a preventative punch for all of your organs, a definite plus in a healthy diet for diabetics.
Foods that are encouraged in a diet for diabetes patients include meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. This means that you can make a meal of a big juicy burger on a whole grain roll, loading it up with lettuce, tomatoes, a couple of sauteed mushrooms and a fat chunk of Swiss to top it all off, all for less than 40 or 50 carbs. Not a bad deal.
In a nutshell, it's simple sugars you want to avoid. A single soda or candy bar can wreak havoc with your blood sugar levels. In fact, a healthy diet for diabetes can be a healthy diet for non-diabetics as well.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Create Delicious, Healthy Meals for a Diabetic Diet Plan
Being diagnosed with diabetes often leads to a very stressful period of worry and uncertainty. You obviously are concerned about the far-reaching health ramifications of such a diagnosis, as the disease can lead to some extremely serious medical complications. In addition, you're probably uncertain about what the future holds. You'll likely need to make numerous lifestyle changes to cope with the disease, including taking insulin or medication on a daily basis. An overhaul of your eating habits is in order as well, which is why it's very important to create a custom diabetic diet plan to suit your condition.
Most often, the goal of a diabetic diet plan is to control the amounts and varieties of the foods you consume, which in turn helps your body regulate blood sugar. This is critical for most diabetics, and is not something to take lightly. In fact, your doctor probably gave you a sample diabetic diet plan along with your diagnosis. That's a good place to start, and you can simply add to the basics from there.
The biggest complaint that people seem to have about adhering to a diabetic diet plan is the lack of variety. They feel that they have to give up too many of their favorite items and have to eat the same things over and over again. But this is a misconception that is easily remedied in several ways. First, you can head to your local bookstore and thumb through a few cookbooks specially designed for those with diabetes. Doing this can give you ideas for several new meals to add to your diabetic diet plan. Just make sure you follow the recipes precisely so that the nutrition information remains accurate.
Another way to create healthy meals to fit into your diabetic diet plan is to consult with a professional nutritionist. Nutritionists work with all kinds of people who have strict food limitations, including those coping with diabetes. All you have to do is explain your condition, and alert the nutritionist to any food allergies you might have. From there, she'll be able to customize a diabetic diet plan full of delicious, healthy meals that you'll love to eat.
You can also find free sample plans on the Internet, but you have to be very careful about following these. Some of the websites are maintained by regular people who don't have any relevant qualifications at all, so you can't be absolutely certain that the information they're presenting is accurate. When in doubt, be sure to run things by your doctor first.
Just because you have to follow a diabetic diet plan doesn't mean you have to resign yourself to a lifetime of bland, boring breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. There are plenty of tasty dishes out there that are perfectly safe for diabetics. All you have to do is find them and file them in your own persoal recipe collection!
Most often, the goal of a diabetic diet plan is to control the amounts and varieties of the foods you consume, which in turn helps your body regulate blood sugar. This is critical for most diabetics, and is not something to take lightly. In fact, your doctor probably gave you a sample diabetic diet plan along with your diagnosis. That's a good place to start, and you can simply add to the basics from there.
The biggest complaint that people seem to have about adhering to a diabetic diet plan is the lack of variety. They feel that they have to give up too many of their favorite items and have to eat the same things over and over again. But this is a misconception that is easily remedied in several ways. First, you can head to your local bookstore and thumb through a few cookbooks specially designed for those with diabetes. Doing this can give you ideas for several new meals to add to your diabetic diet plan. Just make sure you follow the recipes precisely so that the nutrition information remains accurate.
Another way to create healthy meals to fit into your diabetic diet plan is to consult with a professional nutritionist. Nutritionists work with all kinds of people who have strict food limitations, including those coping with diabetes. All you have to do is explain your condition, and alert the nutritionist to any food allergies you might have. From there, she'll be able to customize a diabetic diet plan full of delicious, healthy meals that you'll love to eat.
You can also find free sample plans on the Internet, but you have to be very careful about following these. Some of the websites are maintained by regular people who don't have any relevant qualifications at all, so you can't be absolutely certain that the information they're presenting is accurate. When in doubt, be sure to run things by your doctor first.
Just because you have to follow a diabetic diet plan doesn't mean you have to resign yourself to a lifetime of bland, boring breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. There are plenty of tasty dishes out there that are perfectly safe for diabetics. All you have to do is find them and file them in your own persoal recipe collection!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Maintaining the 1200 calorie diabetic diet
Diabetes is reaching near epidemic status here in the United States, so chances are you, or someone you know, will be afflicted with this horrible disease. Once diagnosed, it's important to manage as best as you can, and that starts with your diet. Since portion control is an huge part of the problem in the US, it might be a good idea to start counting calories. A healthy number to begin with is 1200 total calories per day.
A typical 1200 calorie diabetic diet will focus strongly on maintaining your blood sugar level, so as not to go into diabetic shock. The easiest and best way to do this is to make sure you sugars you take in are the natural sugars found in breads, fruits and vegetables, rather than processed junk like High Fructose Corn Syrup, which many doctors, researchers and dieticians feel is the cause of the diabetes epidemic.
So I hope you like carrots, because they're a big part of the 1200 calorie diabetic diet. They have a gentle sweetness that your body is designed to crave, as it regulates your insulin level. Make sure you eat a handful of carrots for lunch, and feel free to snack on them during the day as well.
That's another big part of the 1200 calorie diabetic diet - constant grazing. It's better to get your calories and sugars in small doses throughout the day rather than skipping meals and then gorging afterwards. In fact, it's downright dangerous for you to skip meals. You have to regulate your blood-sugar on an ad-hoc basis, so don't think it can be done all at once.
Another helpful tip is to eat balanced meals when you do sit down to eat. Don't just have cereal for breakfast; have cereal, an egg, and piece of fruit. You could also have something like cottage cheese instead of the egg, if that is to your liking. You'll want to count calories, of course - low-fat cottage cheese may fit the 1200 calorie diabetic diet better than regular cottage cheese - and it's up to you to talk to your doctor and figure out which foods work best. But in general, keep it balanced and you'll be fighting the disease in the most effective manner.
Remember, a balanced meal consists of a protein (meat, cheese, etc), a carb (bread, cereal, etc), a fruit or vegetable, and some fats. Make sure not to overdo it on any of those, especially the last, and the 1200 calorie diabetic diet can be your path to a healthy, long life.
A typical 1200 calorie diabetic diet will focus strongly on maintaining your blood sugar level, so as not to go into diabetic shock. The easiest and best way to do this is to make sure you sugars you take in are the natural sugars found in breads, fruits and vegetables, rather than processed junk like High Fructose Corn Syrup, which many doctors, researchers and dieticians feel is the cause of the diabetes epidemic.
So I hope you like carrots, because they're a big part of the 1200 calorie diabetic diet. They have a gentle sweetness that your body is designed to crave, as it regulates your insulin level. Make sure you eat a handful of carrots for lunch, and feel free to snack on them during the day as well.
That's another big part of the 1200 calorie diabetic diet - constant grazing. It's better to get your calories and sugars in small doses throughout the day rather than skipping meals and then gorging afterwards. In fact, it's downright dangerous for you to skip meals. You have to regulate your blood-sugar on an ad-hoc basis, so don't think it can be done all at once.
Another helpful tip is to eat balanced meals when you do sit down to eat. Don't just have cereal for breakfast; have cereal, an egg, and piece of fruit. You could also have something like cottage cheese instead of the egg, if that is to your liking. You'll want to count calories, of course - low-fat cottage cheese may fit the 1200 calorie diabetic diet better than regular cottage cheese - and it's up to you to talk to your doctor and figure out which foods work best. But in general, keep it balanced and you'll be fighting the disease in the most effective manner.
Remember, a balanced meal consists of a protein (meat, cheese, etc), a carb (bread, cereal, etc), a fruit or vegetable, and some fats. Make sure not to overdo it on any of those, especially the last, and the 1200 calorie diabetic diet can be your path to a healthy, long life.
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