Health

Healthy Eating For Diabetes

There are more and more people being diagnosed with diabetes as due to bad diets, many more people are getting it. It is important to understand, that although Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease and cannot be cured, it is possible to stop the outset of Type 2 diabetes, which tends to come in later life, by changing what we eat.

The Right Diet:
There are so disagreements as to what is the perfect diet to combat diabetes. Health authorities in most countries recommend a diet of high fibre and low fat, whereas there are people who have found evidence from research to show that it is not the fat that is important in the diet but the sugar. This can make things confusing for diabetics and they may be scared not to take their doctors advice but concerned about research that shows it may not be right. There are things that can be done which will improve the diet and maybe even eliminate diabetes which most people agree with.

What To Cut Out:
Everyone agrees that it is not healthy to be overweight and therefore if you have got Type 2 diabetes and you are overweight you need to reduce it. This is not as easy as it sounds but there are unhealthy things that you can cut out that will help. Cutting out sweets, biscuits and cake will reduce the calories going in to the body and help the weight to go down. There are very little nutrients in these items and so this will help. Another way to cut down on empty calories is to cut out sugar in beverages. This means no longer adding it to tea and coffee and not having squash or fizzy drinks. It can also be useful to replace fruit juice with fruit or vegetables as the body cannot break down the sugars so quickly.

What To Add In
It is important to make sure that you have all the nutrients that your body needs to be able to function. This is true for everyone and not just diabetics. By having lots of protein, nutritious fruit and vegetables and healthy fats, the body can work well. It is also worth adding in some exercise as this can not only burn off some calories to help with weight loss, but it also burns off the sugar in the blood stream, meaning that the blood sugar levels come down.Experts may not agree on exactly what diet is best for a diabetic, but there are some things that they do agree on. If you do cut out the refined sugars and increase the vegetables you eat this can be extremely useful. Whether you decide to go for a high fibre carbohydrate, low fat or a low carbohydrate, high fat diet may be something that you want to experiment with or discuss with your GP. Many doctors do feel that the government guidelines are the best, but do not be afraid to question them, if you find research results convincing and find that a different approach suits you. We are all different after all and so cannot expect one guideline to suit us all.