What Is a Good Diet to Control Diabetes?

Diet is the most important part of a diabetes treatment plan. For many diagnosed patients, diet is the only treatment necessary to keep blood glucose at a manageable level. Doctors supply diagnosed diabetic patients with the best eating plan that provides the proper nutrition for their illness. Diabetic meal plans will require some adjustment, but it is a simple way to remain healthy with diabetes.

Diabetic Meal Plans

• A nutritionist and your doctor can help you develop a diabetic meal plan that will provide you with the proper nutrition for good health and keep your blood glucose levels in check. Managing weight is usually a component of a diabetic meal plan for those who are newly diagnosed with diabetes.
  A healthy diabetic meal plan will determine the proper amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fats for each meal to maintain proper blood sugar levels. Exercise and medications are factored into the meal plan. Some meal plans follow the diabetic food exchange and others use carbohydrate counting to develop the right menu for the diabetic patient. A healthy diet is one that has a great amount of variety to ensure that all nutritional needs are met.

Carbohydrate Counting

• Carbohydrate counting balances the amount of carbohydrates consumed with the amount of insulin and exercise. The first step in counting carbohydrates is learning which foods contain carbohydrates. Carbs are found in grains, vegetables, fruits, potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, beer and liquors, sweets, milk and milk products, fructose, sucrose and maltose.
  It is best to choose foods that have a great deal of nutrition as well as carbs for your carbohydrate foods. Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat milk products and foods that have vitamins and minerals as well as carbohydrates are the best choices for a diabetic diet. Foods such as sodas and candies contain carbohydrates but do not contain any nutritional benefit and are poor choices when counting carbohydrates.
  Diabetics who are using insulin can have a much greater flexibility in the food choices they make when they balance the carbohydrates eaten to the amount of insulin they use in a day. Determining how much carbohydrate is covered by one unit of insulin will help you to design a meal plan that works for your needs.

Monitoring Blood Glucose

• Monitoring your blood glucose levels is a vital part of making sure that your diabetic meal plan is working for your condition. Patients who are using insulin may have to check their blood sugar three or more times per day to ensure that the medication is working properly and that the foods they are eating are not causing spikes in their blood glucose levels. It is important to test before and after meals as well as after exercise.
  Monitoring blood glucose levels will also allow you to make changes in your diabetic diet to get sugar levels under control. You may never know if the diabetic meal plan you are following is working if you do not take the time to monitor your blood glucose levels.