Why Do You Care About What Type of Carbohydrate You Eat on a Type 2 Diabetes Diet?

 

You may be wondering what it is about type 2 diabetes diet that is different from other types of diabetes?  Ultimately you are interested in blood sugar control just like every other type of diabetes diet.

As you search for information, you may find it is available from several different types of media.  While I feel that the general information you can find on the www.diabetes.org is valuable, it is really not specific enough for you.  And they may talk about general types of diets and provide you with the latest research.  But you probably are not interested in knowing about the latest and greatest research in abstract terms.  You are trying to figure out what to do for YOU.

First of all, a type 2 diabetes diet is a diet that controls your blood sugars by limiting the servings of some carbohydrate foods and increasing your intake of more whole grains and non-starchy vegetables.

I know your dietitian told you that all carbohydrates are equal as far as they are concerned – but they are not.  And you know it because your body reacts differently to a piece of white bread and whole wheat bread.  They both have the same amount of carbohydrate according to the label – but it’s not the same.

You see, whole wheat bread has more fiber – about 2-3 gm per serving.  And you as a diabetic need the fiber.  You need to eat 30 grams of it a day, and regular white bread has almost no fiber.

So, why does fiber matter?  Fiber matters because of two things.

It is not absorbed by your body as carbohydrate and therefore does not affect your blood sugar.  That is right, it’s counted on the label as part of the total carbohydrate line, but does not affect your blood sugar.  So, you can effectively subtract the grams of fiber from the total carbohydrate and get the real amount of carbohydrate that will be absorbed.

Reason number two why a type 2 diabetes diet needs to have more fiber – it slows down your digestion and allows all the rest of the carbohydrate to be absorbed more slowly.  So, eating a piece of white bread gets absorbed as quickly as eating regular sugar.  And it will quickly increase your blood sugar.  But a whole wheat product will not break down as easily.  This allows your body more time to respond and more ability to respond with insulin.  And more time for your body to realize you are full and can stop eating.  You just don’t get that with sugar.

So a type 2 diabetes diet must focus more on the quality of the foods that you eat.  It absolutely has to avoid the overly processed foods, and eat more of the higher fiber and less processed foods – like whole grains, whole wheat and vegetables and fruits.

If you are in need of a type 2 diabetes diet, you can get a done for you meal plan that shows you how to break up the carbohydrate throughout the day and gives you a new recipe for every night of the week – especially done for the diabetic diet that you need.  Learn more by clicking on the amount of calories that you need – 1200 – 1400 or 1500 – 1900 or 2000 – 2400.