Diabetes Diet Menu, Weight, and Blood Sugar Level

The body’s ability to use insulin increases with the decreasing weight, especially in overweight persons. When the body use insulin better, it is easier to control blood sugar. When you can control your weight, you can also control and decrease the risk of cardiovascular infection, a complication of diabetes. Another best way to control your blood sugar level is regular exercise. Some experts say “at least 3-4 times a week is considered regular,” but it is a better idea to consult your physician for more suitable workout routines before you begin any exercise program.

Diabetes Diet Item Example
This a list of some foods that have low or limited affect on your blood sugar level.
• Protein, including poultry, lean meat, tuna, fish, egg, cheese, butter, peanut, and tofu
• Fats, including oils, nuts, salad dressing, butter, margarine, and mayonnaise
• Vegetables both raw and cooked, as well as juices (serving size- ½ cup cooked, 1 cup raw)

Simple Guidelines for a Diabetes Diet

These are simple diabetic diet guidelines prepared by McKinley Health Center, University of Illinois. These guidelines tell you all the basic information that you should know to keep your blood sugar level low and stay healthier. This begins with the knowledge about Carbohydrates, food with amount of Carbohydrates in it, sweets, and meal plan example.

How Carbohydrate affect Diabetes Diet?

How is Carbohydrate related to Diabetes? You may ask at first, but the answer is quite simple. Carbohydrate is the main source of sugar. When you eat some food, Carbohydrate will be digested and formed sugar or glucose that will be absorbed into your blood sugar level. Thus, too much food with high Carbohydrates are certainly no good for you health. However, Carbohydrate is necessary and needed in moderation. Many of you may think Carbohydrates are mainly from food like bread, cereal, or sweets. In facts, Carbohydrates are in so many kinds of food. Here are some of the major foods: starches (bread, cereal, crackers, pasta, tortillas, and rice), fruit (and fruit products), milk and its products like yogurt, starchy vegetables (peas, corns, potatoes and squash), sugar and sweets (soda pop, candy, cookies, cake, fruit “drinks”, sweets, etc.)

What is diabetes or diabetes mellitus?

Diabetes or Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases that has disorder of metabolism (the way the body uses digested food for growth and energy). As a result, the blood sugar (glucose) level in a person is much higher than normal. The main causes may be because either the body (pancreas) produces not enough insulin (too little or no-insulin), or the cells do not respond properly to the insulin that the body is produced. The high blood sugar level will lead to a few classical symptoms of polydipsia (increased thirst), polyuria (frequent urination), and polyphagia(increased hunger).

Types of diabetes
The three main types of diabetes are type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes.
- Type 1 diabetes: caused by the body's failure to produce enough insulin. Thus, a person is presently required to inject some insulin. This type 1 is also referred as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and juvenile diabetes.
- Type 2 diabetes: as a result of a condition that the cells respond or use insulin inappropriately. This type 2 is occasionally combined with an absolute insulin deficiency and also referred as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and adult-onset diabetes.
- Gestational diabetes: happen only in pregnant women, who normally have never had diabetes before, but gradually have a high blood sugar level during their pregnancy. It may precede development of type 2 DM.

Adult Diabetic Diet Guidelines and Adult Diabetic Diet Menu by the American Diabetes Association II

Selected Adult Diabetic Diet Menu

Appetizers

Spinach Artichoke Dip with Chips: ¼ serving
Carbohydrates: 25 grams
Exchanges
starch-1.5
fat-3.25
meat-1.25
vegetable-1

Santa Fe Egg Roll Appetizer: ¼ serving
Carbohydrates: 20.5 grams
Exchanges
starch-1.5
meat-.5
fat- 3

Soups & Salads

Salad carbohydrate and exchange information does not include salad dressing.

Colton’s Side Dinner Salad
Carbohydrate: 15 grams
Exchanges
starch- .5
meat: .5
vegetable- 2
fat- 1

Mexican Tortilla Soup (6 oz)
Carbohydrates: 27 grams
Exchanges
starch- 2

Adult Diabetic Diet Guidelines and Adult Diabetic Diet Menu by the American Diabetes Association

These are the general diabetic diet guidelines and adult diabetic diet menu designed by a committee of the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association. Not only are these diabetic diet guidelines and menu lists especially designed and suitable for people with diabetes, they also offer good and healthy nutrition for everyone.

Adult Diabetic Diet Guidelines

The diabetic diet guidelines point that the absolute numbers of meals and snacks, as well as their timing during the day may differ from each person to the other, depending on many factors such as nutritional needs, medications, and lifestyle. In this regard, it is suggested that you have a registered Dietitian help determining the right amount of carbohydrate that you should have per day and also at each meal and snack. For consistent levels of blood glucose, the amount of carbohydrate eaten should be broaden throughout the day to allocate a more evenly release of glucose into the blood from snack to snack, meal to meal, and from day to day.

Recent researches on diabetic diet guidelines suggest that the amount is more important than the type of carbohydrate in a meal. A list of foods with high carbohydrates is grains (rice, cereals, pasta, and breads); fruits and juices; vegetables; milk and milk products; as well as anything with added sugars (sweetened beverages, cookies, candies, and other desserts).

Diabetic Diet Guidelines

Diabetic Diet Guidelines- What Can I Eat?

Many people know that having diabetes requires a special diet. Learning what you can eat and how different foods affect your body is very important. Although food is not the only factor that raises glucose, your choices of food have a significant impact on your glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure and your overall health. However, the diabetes diet is not only a healthy and enjoyable, but also a suitable one for the hole family. These Diabetic Diet Guidelines guide you the basic principles of good nutrition.

Diabetic Diet Guidelines- What Foods Turn Into Glucose?

Sugars and starches are the carbohydrates in our diet. These foods are our main source of energy. As Carbohydrate turns into glucose, too much carbohydrate in the diet can raise your blood glucose levels too high. Thus, it is very important to control or limit your total carbohydrate intake at each and every meal.

What are Some Examples of Foods that Contain Carbohydrate?
- Rice Fruits Pretzels/Popcorn Potato*
- Lentils Fruit juices Pasta/Noodles Yams*
- Dried beans Sugar/Honey Crackers Peas*
- Milk Desserts Bread Corn*
- Yogurt Sodas Cereals Lima beans*
*These vegetables are starchy and raise blood glucose.

Note: High fiber food choices are encouraged (for example, whole grain breads and
cereals; fresh fruits and vegetables; beans and legumes).