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Basic Diabetic Diet

Too often, people confuse having diabetes with having no taste buds. The fact of the matter is that even if you have diabetes, you still want to have delicious foods just like everyone else. And you can. In fact, a diabetic diet is not as limiting as you might think and most foods, even dessert, are fine as long as you practice good nutrition and a little bit of moderation.

  1. Counting Carbs

    • The biggest enemy of the diabetic is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates raise blood sugar levels and since the objective of a diet for a diabetic is to keep the blood glucose in the healthy range, counting the amount of carbohydrates in the diet is a good first step. A majority of products have nutritional information on the labels, so you can discern the amount of carbs you're having on a meal-by-meal basis. Counting carbs also requires some decisionmaking in that you still need to eat, but eating a diet rich in high carb foods will limit the amount of other, more nutritious foods you should have during the day.

    Plate Management

    • Diabetics get to learn all kinds of new skills. Not just carb counting but plate management which makes for a healthier life for the diabetic. The trick behind plate management is that you portion off your plate and decide how you want to fill it. You can eat virtually anything, but you need to make healthy choices and limit the portion size of foods that are high in saturated fat, carbohydrates and sugar. These need to be replaced with healthy alternative such as low fat, high protein meats and low carbohydrate fresh vegetables.

    Glycemic Index

    • Another important tool for the diabetic in the fight against high blood sugar is the glycemic index. All foods fall on the glycemic index scale. Basically a food that has a low glycemic index won't raise blood sugar nearly as much as a food that rates high on the glycemic index. Processed foods rank very high on the glycemic index. A cooked vegetable will rate higher than a raw one. The glycemic index of fruit goes up the longer it is stored because it is breaking down the whole time and that creates more sugar content.

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