How And What To Eat With Diabetes

Being diagnosed with diabetes doesn’t mean that you need to go on a special diet - all you have to do is make more conscious meal choices and stick to smaller portions. Since your body needs a combination of vitamins, minerals and proteins to remain healthy, a healthy diet helps to keep your body running efficiently.

Eating more than your body needs can increase your risk for developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, excessive weight gain and heart disease.

What should I be eating?

What you eat will be reflected in your blood glucose levels. To keep your blood glucose within a normal range, it’s important to regulate the amount of carbohydrates in your diet.

Your ideal plate should look something like this:

Choose to limit ¼ of your plate for carbohydrates including whole grains like brown rice, multigrain bread, millets or starchy vegetables like potato.Carbohydrates should be restricted to 40-45 percent of the total calories.
Fill ½ of your plate with non-starchy vegetables. Eat 3-5 servings per day
Include protein foods like lean fish/egg whites/ chicken or plant proteins like dal, legumes, soya of a high biological value for the remaining ¼ plate

1. Cook at home

Cooking at home is a great way to eat healthy during pregnancy. Preparing your meals yourself allows you to closely measure and control what ingredients go into your meals. Stock your fridge and pantry with complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and beans, lean meats such as chicken and turkey breast and fish, fresh fruits and vegetables and low fat dairy such as skimmed milk, string cheese and yogurt. Avoid buying packaged and processed foods such as deli meats, hot dogs and store bought chips and cookies because they are high in carbohydrates and salts and can cause your blood glucose to spike.

The way your food is prepared affects the amount of calories in your meal. Deep frying or using excessive oil to cook adds extra calories and fat which you should be avoiding. Some great ways to cook your meat and veggies are:

Grilling
Baking
Broiling
Steaming
Roasting
Stewing
Stir frying (as long as you use teaspoon of oil or use a non-stick pan without additional oil)

Read More: Easy Baked Fish

2. Limit the sweet stuff

Cutting back on desserts and sweets during gestational diabetes will help to keep your blood glucose in range. Most dessert choices contain high amounts of carbohydrates and very low nutritional value. Simple sugars tend to spike the blood sugars rapidly

However you can also try to make some of your favorite desserts at home with some simple swaps for sugar such as fruit bowl, mashed bananas or homemade applesauce.

Choose fresh fruits more often than juices. They have more fibre. Don’t combine a fruit with a high carbohydrate main meal, instead have it as a healthy snack

3. Avoid sugary drinks

Another thing to be cognizant of when it comes to sugar is drinks. You can end up drinking around half of your daily calorie allowance with just two glasses of Coke! Soft drinks, instant beverages and fruit juice cartons are loaded with sugar and can often cause your blood glucose to rise. Apart from good old water, you can swap your sugary drinks with unsweetened tea and coffee, Green tea, clear soups,tender coconut water or plain soda. Try and avoid artificial sweeteners like Sugarfree, Stevia, Equal or foods specially labelled as “ Diabetic”. It’s advisable to check the labels.

How to eat

What you eat is just as important as how you are eating during the day. There are some simple eating rules you can follow to ensure that your blood glucose stays in check while you and your baby receive the nutrition your bodies need.

1. Eat consistently

Try to space your meals evenly throughout the day. Skipping or delaying meals can lead to dips in your blood glucose levels and make you feel dizzy and lightheaded. Aim eat your main meals and snacks at the same time each day. Ideally you should be snacking about every 3 hours to avoid hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose). Healthy snacking also helps to keep full and avoids overeating which can be harmful to your baby.

2. Avoid overeating

Too much food at once can cause your blood sugar to rise. Try not to serve yourself too much food at one time and use a smaller plate - choose a plate which is no greater than 23 cm in diameter.To keep portions smaller, keep the food to a depth of about the thickness of your palm.It's better to eat small frequent meals rather than eating too much at once in multiple servings. To keep portions smaller, keep the food to a depth of about the thickness of your palm.

3. Take your time!

Slow down when eating your meals - don’t rush through your food in a hurry. Eating slowly helps you digest your food better, pay attention to food choices, and recognize when you are full.