Maintaining Diabetes Nutrition

Maintaining Diabetes Nutrition by Michael Dinsmore

Diabetes nutrition is a very important part of remaining healthy while being a diabetic. If you don't pay close attention to your diet, diabetes can be very difficult to manage.

The Importance of a Balanced Diet
Making a balanced diet part of your every day routine is important for everyone, but it's especially important for diabetics. Diabetes occurs because a person's body doesn't correctly process certain foods, namely sugars. A person with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes either doesn't produce insulin or their body doesn't know what to do with the insulin that is produced. The problem is that this prevents a person's body from breaking down sugars. Since sugars are a large part of our diet, it's extremely important to regulate one's diet when they have it.

Before you start regulating your diet to coincide with your diabetes, you need to understand what constitutes a sugar. Obviously a candy bar or ice cream is full of sugar, but what about bread? Or cereal or processed milk? There are a lot of things in our day-to-day diet that includes sugar. The best way to keep your diabetes under control is by eating small amounts of sugar. It's also a good idea to have a mix of carbohydrates, fats and proteins at each meal.

Triple Threat
As mentioned above, the best way to balance your nutrition is by eating carbohydrates, fats and proteins at each mean. Many doctors recommend that you eat about 60 grams of carbohydrates at each meal. Carbohydrates come in many forms, but they include fruits and veggies, dairy and bread.

You're also going to need some protein. Protein is found in cheese, fish, meat, beans and some vegetables. Many of these products are high in fat. To minimize your fat intake, choose a few protein options that are "low fat," such as low fat yogurt.

Now, you'll get a lot of your meal fat form the protein you eat. Ask your doctor how much fat you should be eating every day. This will help you maintain your weight. Your doctor should also be able to recommend good diabetic cookbooks. These will help add variety to your diet while making sure your diabetes nutrition needs are met.