Index
- What diet for diabetes?
- A brief reminder on diabetes
- Foods to be preferred in case of diabetes
- Focus on foods with a low glycemic index
- Opting for more dietary fibre
- Focus on foods high in unsaturated fats
- Diet in Type 1 Diabetics
- The diet of type 2 diabetics
- What you need to know before you go shopping
What diet for diabetes?
Food plays an important role in maintaining health. In addition, a poor diet can be the cause of certain pathologies that can be more or less serious. It is therefore important to adopt a good diet to stay healthy. This is especially true for people with chronic diseases such as diabetes. People with this incurable and chronic disease must adopt an adequate diet so as not to make the disease worse. Find out below what diets diabetics should eat.
A brief reminder on diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic disease that can affect both children and adults. It results in an abnormal increase in blood sugar levels. This is also known as blood sugar. This abnormality is caused by a lack or misuse of insulin by the body. Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas. Its function is to facilitate the assimilation of glucose by the cells.
There are two kinds of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes - also known as insulin-dependent diabetes, this form of the disease manifests itself by an excess of sugar in the blood. This is due to the pancreas stopping producing insulin.
- Type 2 diabetes - this is the form of the disease known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Chronic hyperglycemia is the main feature of this form of the disease. This is caused by the body misusing insulin.
Foods to be preferred in case of diabetes
Regardless of the type of diabetes a person has, it is important to eat a good diet to control blood glucose levels and avoid complications. Here are a few tips for a diet adapted to a person with diabetes.
Focus on foods with a low glycemic index
The glycemic index is an index that determines the ability of a food to raise blood sugar levels. In easier terms, the higher the glycemic index, the faster the blood sugar level will rise. In response to this increase, the pancreas will produce more insulin, resulting in hypoglycemia. This promotes cravings, snacking and fat storage. Diabetics should then favour avocado, beetroot, plain white cheese, raw carrots, tomatoes, 70% dark chocolate or even lentils and white beans.
Opting for more dietary fibre
In a person with diabetes, the fibre in food delays the absorption of sugars during digestion. Thus, after each meal, blood sugar levels will not increase drastically. To do this, the foods to be preferred are: barley, oats, legumes, pectin-rich fruits such as apples or grapefruit, whole wheat and corn, or flax seeds.
Focus on foods high in unsaturated fats
People with diabetes are 2 to 3 times more likely to be affected by cardiovascular disease. This is why they must favour foods rich in unsaturated fats to avoid the formation of atheromatous plaques. To do this, they should choose for example olive oil, avocado, argan oil, sunflower seeds or sesame seeds and salmon.
Diet in Type 1 Diabetics
Adopting the eating habits mentioned above has many benefits for people with type 1 diabetes. However, because this form of the disease is insulin-dependent, it is important to be aware of the dose of insulin in the diet. For type 1 diabetics, treatment must be adapted to their diet. Therefore, it should not be thought otherwise. To do this, the patient must quantify the carbohydrate intake to determine the correct insulin dose.
The diet of type 2 diabetics
The person with type 2 diabetes must, in addition to the above-mentioned eating habits, avoid added sugar. They must also adapt their diet to their physical activity. In addition to this, here are a few recommendations to apply:
- Eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day
- 3 dairy products every day
- 1 to 2 times of meat/egg or fish per day
- Reduce alcohol consumption
As you will have understood, the secret is to adopt a balanced and varied diet. Of course, moderation remains the key word for a healthy diet.
What you need to know before you go shopping
To make sure they choose the right foods for their condition, people with diabetes need to know how to read labels before going shopping. To do this, you must first of all pay attention to the length of the list of ingredients. The shorter the list, the simpler the product's composition. Also, pay attention to the order in which the ingredients are listed, because the ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. In addition to this, it is also essential to understand the following few statements:
- No added sugars: this means that the product contains only the sugar it naturally contains.
- Low in sugars: the product contains 30% less sugar than other products.
- Reduced salt content: the product contains 25 % less salt than similar products.
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