The Easy Diabetes Diet Plan Cookbook - Diet

Diet

What does healthy eating really mean when you have diabetes?

When you have diabetes, it’s important to eat a variety of food that includes whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and lean meats while avoiding food with a lot of fat content (avoid unhealthy fatty food but be open to ‘healthy fat’ food). The key to eating healthy as a diabetic is all about variety and moderation. You need to avoid eating too much of one kind of food while also keeping yourself from overeating. But it is also very important for you to not skip meals and to properly space your meals throughout the day. Eating as a diabetic is like having a huge balancing act where you can’t have too much but you can’t have too little. Instead, you need to stick to the ‘Goldilocks zone’ where everything is just right – just the right amount of food, eaten at the right time, with enough variety to keep you healthy.

It’s important to keep that balance in your diet so that you can avoid two things – hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia. Hyperglycaemia means that your blood has more glucose that it can handle. While this could mean that you haven’t given yourself enough insulin if you’re a type 1 diabetic, it could also mean that you ate more than you had planned, making it difficult for your body to deal with the excess glucose, a state that applies to both types of diabetes.

Hypoglycaemia on the other hand means the opposite; you aren’t getting enough glucose in your blood. Also known as insulin shock or an insulin reaction, some of its signs and symptoms include headaches, weakness or sudden fatigue, lack of coordination, confusion, and unconsciousness. Keep in mind that as a diabetic, you should be regularly seeing a physician so that you know exactly what a healthy glucose level is for you so that you know when it is too low. When these symptoms do occur, it can usually be treated with simple carbohydrates. Most diabetics have glucose tablets on hand (follow package instructions or consult with your doctor) but food that are high in simple carbs can help like two tablespoons of raisins, half a cup of soda (regular, not diet), or a spoonful of white sugar or honey.

Because you’re constantly trying to avoid either reaction, you need to avoid both overeating and not eating enough. You also need to know the right amount of exercise that you need because you don’t want to overdo it but you also don’t want to lack for exercise – either case could also be dangerous. As mentioned earlier, balance is the key. In fact, balance is crucial and it is particularly important when you’re deciding what to eat, when to eat, and how much. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy delicious and filling food!

This is an excerpt from the book: The Easy Diabetes Diet Plan Cookbook