A diabetes diet is about eating for better blood glucose control!

Diabetes diet in my opinion, is whatever an individual put into his or her body as food. When individuals have being diagnosed with diabetes, they think that it is the end of the world for them as far as eating the foods that they have being enjoying all their lives.

What it actually means, is that diabetics now have to follow the guidelines that their physicians have laid out for them to follow, this will allow them to maintain a safe blood glucose level. This means that they can still enjoy some of their favorite foods but only in moderation.

When it comes to treating your diabetes, monitoring your blood glucose will be determined largely, by the types of foods that enters your body. The reason for this is simple. When it comes to you making food choices that will help your diabetes management, it is a must that you know and understand how various food choices will affect your blood glucose.

Video on creating a healthy diabetic diet

Nutrients the body needs to function normally!

When it comes to normal everyday bodily functions, our bodies need the right amount of supplements that include the six essential nutrients to survive. This means that as diabetics, we have to ensure that our diets include foods that will provide these essential nutrients. These six essential nutrients include:

  • Water (the universal solvent)

  • Vitamins/Minerals

  • Carbohydrates

  • Protein

  • The essential fats

The first three of these essential nutrients, provide very little to no energy at all but the body still needs them to survive. Therefore they will affect the blood glucose level in the body greatly. However the carbohydrates, protein and fats that are consumed within a the diet of a diabetic will indeed affect the glucose level causing it to rise.

Whenever a meal is consumed by a diabetic person, it is digested and then broken down in the body where it provides the necessary energy for the body in the form of glucose (sugar). Although a diabetic diet may contain other foods that are broken down into glucose for energy, carbohydrate is the one that will affect the blood glucose the greatest.

Diabetics that want the right amount of carbohydrate in their diets, should work closely with registered dietitians or diabetes educators to achieve this. This way they will be able to keep their blood glucose to a safe level. Proteins and fats will take a longer time to have any affect on the blood glucose.

Essentially as a diabetic, you need a good guide to proper planning, shopping, and cooking for all your meals if you want to maintain proper control over your blood glucose. This will also help you with proper diabetes management. Ideally, maintaining good control over your illness, will you avoid many serious complications that are associated with diabetes.

Protein which makes up another part of a diabetes diet, can be found in meats, poultry, fish, and dairy products and eggs. These foods are broken down into amino acids to be utilized by the body. Only about half of the amino acids are converted into glucose to be used as energy by the body. This process can take about 3 to 5 after eating to have any affect on the blood glucose.

The last part of a diabetes diet, is the essential fats. Diabetics need this nutrient to help maintain good healthy skin and hair. Fats are utilized by body to help in the transportation of the fat soluble vitamins which will be use as a source of energy providing less calories are taken in through the diabetes diet.

As a diabetic, you should always pay close attention to what your main diet consists of because you want to limit as much of the wrong fats that can block the action of the insulin hormone in your body. This will lead to more severe diabetes complications, if your blood glucose was too continue to elevate to very unsafe levels. As a diabetic, it is your responsibility to ensure that registered dietitian is the one that puts together your diabetes diet.

Looking for a registered dietitian?

Suzette Kroll Barancik IS a registered dietitian , certified intrinsic coach and specialist in nutritional counseling. She is a senior staff member of the world renowned Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson, Arizona. Suzette specializes in the area of nutrition relating to diabetes and heart disease.

A healthy diabetes diet will help your body utilize its Insulin properly.

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