Healthy Diabetic Diet

A healthy diabetic diet will be low in fat and cholesterol, low in sodium and balanced in carbohydrates, especially in simple sugars.  The calorie intake will be limited and the number of calories for each day will be according to the recommendation of your health care professional.  There are specific guidelines for creating a diabetic menu plan that will provide recipes filled with good healthy food choices.

 

Diabetic Menu Planning tips:

Drink Water
Drinking at least eight 8 oz glasses of water is a must.  Water flushes out the impurities from your system, is essential to good health and accelerates weight loss.  Water that is spring or distilled water with a little lemon added can be a great way to add flavor without calories.  This will help the pH balance of your body.  Diet soda may seem like a good choice or black coffee but these are both best as a second choice or option as they can provide fluid intake but may leave you feeling hungry.  Alcohol or specialty drinks like shakes or café late should be avoided.  They are high in ‘empty calories’ from sugar and fat.

Quality Calories
Calories that are included in your daily eating plan need to be quality calories filled with nutritional value.  Some food items are nutrient dense and contain whole grains and fiber that provide vitamins and minerals plus calories in a very healthy food and leave you feeling full for several hours.  Foods that contain more fat and simple sugar tend to be less filling and you may consume more calories and fat than you intended to when you eat them.  Look for foods that contain whole grains and at least 20% of your daily value of vitamins or minerals or fiber.

Small Portions
The total of the day’s calorie allotment should be spaced out into small increments to aid digestion.  It is best to eat a healthy breakfast as soon as you arise, then with two or three hours in between eat lunch, supper and at least one snack.  This will help your body digest all the nutritional value of the calories you do eat by keeping your metabolism on an even keel all day long with no huge highs and lows of sugar or glucose levels.  Small portions of food often will reset your metabolism and help stabilize your blood sugar levels.

Track your Eating Habits
Keep a diary of the foods you eat.  This way you will be more aware of your daily menu plan and if you do stray you can go back and see where you went wrong and how it made you feel.  Writing down your meals and snacks also keeps you more accountable and may help you not overeat.  You can also track your blood sugar levels in the diary plan and see what foods caused you difficulty. It will also be a help to your physician if you run into difficulties with your diabetic diet plan.

Things to watch for in your food choices:

Fat Content
The fat content of the foods you eat affects the amount of calories it contains, as fat is a denser source of calories than protein or carbohydrate.  The body needs the good fats, such as olive oil, but in small quantities.  The good fats are poly-unsaturated fats or mono-unsaturated fats which lower the risk for heart disease, and are great for the health of your joints, hair and skin.  Fats to avoid are saturated fats and trans-fats.  Breaded and deep fried foods should be a thing that you do only occasionally.  Cooking preparations then become all important.  Better cooking preparations will always be to steam or bake either eliminating or limiting added fat.

Check the labels before you buy a food.  Look for zero trans-fat on the label and look at the percentage of saturated fats to the total fat content.  The percentages listed on food labels will be based on the serving size, and should be less than 12% for saturated fats and trans-fat total combined.

Sugars
Sugar can be represented in many forms on the label of foods.  There is a list that should be avoided because they contain hidden refined sugars.  When reading your food label, look at the first four ingredients.  These will be the largest percentages of the ingredients contained in the food choice and if the ingredients are sugar, high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, dextrose, maltose, or corn syrup (just to name a few), you should choose a different food to eat.  Labels indicate the amount of simple sugars in a food, and trying to limit the amounts you eat will likely help you balance your blood sugar readings.

Making healthy food choices can be a little overwhelming at times.  Probably the easiest way to insure you are choosing correctly is to follow a well designed menu plan created by a nutrition expert.  This will give you a variety of recipes and great ideas for making the foods flavorful.