Nutrition and Calorie Goal for People with Diabetes

By Charlie ParsonsMar 14, 20211063

A diabetic diet means eating the healthiest meals in moderate quantity and sticking to regular mealtimes. Suddenly changing your lifestyle and changing your diet can be extremely challenging; especially, when you are a diabetic. You can better start taking small steps first. While making changes in your diet make sure you make little changes in your meals first. With the help of your family and your healthcare professional, you can stick to a healthy diet. What you select to eat, how much you eat, and when you eat; decides a lot about your blood sugar levels. All these factors will help to maintain your blood sugar levels.

Maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle helps in many ways, such as:

• Help to keep your blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels
• Losing weight
• Prevents or controls diabetic problems
• Feeling energetic and good

A diabetic diet plan must contain all the nutrients with a low amount of calories and fat content. You must aim to add the key elements such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. A diet for diabetes is one of the best alternatives to stay fit for everyone.

Why do you have to follow a nutritious diet?

Diabetic people are recommended to visit a dietician so that they could have nutritious meals. When you consume extra calories and fat, your body breaks it down, and the blood sugar levels are rapidly enhanced. Higher blood sugar levels can lead to severe health problems such as hyperglycemia. Besides, if the sugar levels are not controlled, it can lead to extreme health complications like nerve damage or kidney failure. Therefore, opting for healthy and nutritious meals will help to control diabetes. For most people with type 2 diabetes, losing weight can help to palliate various health issues. However, well-organized food habits and exercising helps to reach your goal quickly.

What type of nutritional foods you have to eat?

Eating three healthy meals a day should be your goal if you have diabetes. It will help to enhance the levels of insulin in your body. A professional dietician will help you create a diet plan based on your health, tastes, and lifestyle. He may also talk with you regarding improving your eating habits and portion sizes of meals that will suit your activity level in the entire day.

Recommended food items for the diabetic diet

Make sure that you keep a count of the calories while eating nutritious food. Pick healthy carbohydrates, fiber-rich foods, fish, and good fats in your three meals. So let’s know in detail.

Healthy Carbohydrates

While your body begins the digestion process, sugars and starch (complex carbs) get catabolized in blood sugar. Therefore, you should aim for healthy carbohydrates. You must include:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Whole grains
• Legumes, such as beans and peas
• Low-fat containing dairy goods, such as milk and cheese

Remember To Avoid Unhealthy Carbohydrates Such As Foods Or Drinks With Added Fats, Sugars, And Sodium.

Fiber-Rich Foods

Dietary fiber involves all types of plant-based fibers, which the body does not easily digest. Fiber slows down the process of digestion and helps maintain blood sugar levels. Foods loaded with fiber include:

• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Nuts
• Legumes (beans and peas)
• Whole grains

Heart-Healthy Fish

Make the heart-healthy fish part of your diet and meals at least twice a week. Fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines are enriched with omega-3 fatty acids that maintain cardiovascular health in a good state. Avoid fried fish with high levels of mercury, such as king mackerel.

Good Fats

Food items that contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats help to control your cholesterol levels. However, do not over-consume these fats as they can increase your calories. Therefore, add good fats to your diet, such as:

• Avocados
• Nuts
• Canola, olive, and peanut oils

What type of food and drinks you have to avoid?

Foods and drinks, which you should limit, are:

• Fried or oily food
• Food rich in saturated fat and trans fat
• Highly salted food
• Sweets such as chocolates and ice cream
• Beverages that contain high added sugar, juice, soda, etc

Instead, you can drink water rather than sweet beverages. Make sure you use sugar substitutes in tea and coffee.

Limit your alcohol consumption; two drinks in a day for men and one drink in a day for women are sufficient. If you are using insulin or diabetes medications can control your sugar level. However, alcohol consumption while using such medications will drop your blood sugar level. It is truer if you have not eaten food while drinking. It’s best to eat some food that will accompany drinks.

Sample Menu For Diabetic People

When you plan your diabetic diet, make sure you consider eating enough to gain energy for your daily activities. Below mentioned is a sample menu from those who have a 1,200 to 1,600 calories goal a day.

• For Breakfast: Whole-wheat bread with two teaspoons of jelly, half cup minced wheat cereal with a cup of 1% low-fat milk, fruit, and coffee.
• For Lunch: Roast beef sandwich on whole wheat bread with lettuce, low-fat American cheese, tomato, mayo, a medium apple, and water.
• For Dinner: Salmon, 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil, baked potato- small, half cup carrots, half cup green beans, medium white dinner roll, iced tea with no sugar, and milk
• For Snack: 2 1/2 cups popcorn with 1 1/2 teaspoons margarine

Recent research studies have provided enough evidence that consuming whole grains and dietary fiber helps lower blood sugar levels in diabetic people. However, particular micronutrients might impact glucose and insulin metabolism, but the information about their role in diabetes is scarce Moderate alcohol consumption has known to lower the risk of diabetes. However, inadequate data exist to support the fact that adequate alcohol consumption prevents type 2 diabetes.

What will be the result of a balanced diabetic diet?

Embrace your choice of opting for a healthy diet that helps to gain your nutrition and calorie goal. A well-balanced but highly nutritious diet helps to control blood glucose levels to prevent diabetes health complications. Besides, if you want to lose weight, you can modify the diet plan as per your goal. In such a case, you can consult your dietician.

Apart from managing and controlling your diabetes, a well-balanced diabetic diet offers other health benefits too. It is because a diabetic diet contains consumption of plentiful fruits, vegetables, and fiber. Therefore, this diet will help to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disorders and certain types of cancer. And consuming low-fat dairy foods can lower your risk of reducing bone mass in the future.

The bottom line is a well-balanced and healthy diet for diabetic people helps to regulate blood sugar levels. You need to plan a diet or follow the diet advised by your dietician to avoid further complications.