Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Food for Diabetics - Good and Bad Food for Diabetics

If you are diabetic, finding the right balance of food can be hard. This article will cover the different foods you should eat and avoid when you have diabetes.

Food to Avoid

Avoid food high in sugar, honey and artificial sweeteners. Use an alternative sweetener like stevia. Foods High in sugar include sweets and chocolate. If you need the occasional piece of chocolate (like most of us!) then try to eat Continental dark chocolate with at-least 75% cocoa solids.

You should also avoid certain types of vegetables including beans, parsnips, carrots and peas. All these are high in starch.
You should also avoid fruits including banana, grapes, strawberries and mangoes.

Avoid types of grains including pasta, rice, barley, corn, wheat and rye and foods that contain ingredients that end in ol or ose. These are mainly types of carbohydrates.

Foods to Eat

Foods you should eat should be high in fibre. A high fibre diet is very important for diabetics. This includes cereals, nuts, fruits, seeds and certain vegetables. Food with fibre in is good for diabetics as it reduces cholesterol and glucose levels.

You should also eat fruits that include grapefruit, peaches, lime and apples. Eat fruit and vegetables gradually throughout the day so your blood sugar level won't suddenly rise. You can also eat seafood of all types preferably boiled, steamed, baked or grilled - Not fried.

Eat white meats like chicken, fish and duck. Although you can eat lamb or beef once or twice a week. Eggs are fine for diabetics but try to avoid the yolk. Cheeses are also fine apart from cottage cheese.

Certain combinations of vitamins can help to control diabetes.

Diabetic Diet Plan Introduction

When it comes to a healthy diabetic diet plan you will want to take time and talk to your doctors and/or a dietitian for a little help. You may think that it is going to be a lot of hard work and may even think that it is going to be very hard to do. No matter what you may think, there is plenty of help out there for you to get onto the right track of a healthy diabetic diet plan.

One thing that you will want to make sure is that you eat the right kinds of food and make sure to get the proper exercise so that your body is able to work off all the food that you have taken. When planning your meals for the day you may think that there is nothing that you have to eat but in reality that is not true. You do not need to cut out all the food that you have at home. The only thing you need to do is to cut back the proportions that you are taking in.

There are other things that you need to do as far as the diabetic diet plan. You will need to ensure that you are not eating a large amount of fried foods. That is because the grease is not the greatest thing for you or really any one to eat. With the fats in fried foods you will have more of a chance of obtaining heart disease in the future. It is better to have the meat broiled and the vegetables steamed. Beside that, try using herbs and spices, lemon juice, vinegar or salsa in seasoning food. Trim away extra fat from meat before cooking. Lean cuts of meat is the preferable meat for consumption than others.

The above mentioned are just some of the basics guide for a diabetic. So why not get a little advice from your doctor or a dietitian so that you know exactly what you should and should not do.

The Rule of Diabetic Diet
Regardless of the makeup of the diet, eating just enough calories to maintain an ideal weight is the most effective dietary strategy to prevent the onset of diabetes.