Diet for Type 2 Diabetes
One of your first concerns when you are first diagnosed with diabetes is to integrate a diet for type 2 diabetes into your lifestyle. Learning how to eat in a proper and healthy way will allow you to keep your blood pressure safely under control. What is important is for you to adopt the right meal plan and eat the right types of foods. And while I am not a diabetic, I do have some sense of what you are about to embark on. When I was at my heaviest, one of the first things I did was to seek out the right meal plan for me. The problem was that when I looked on the internet, this is what I found :
- Plenty of foods in these plans that I detested.
- Recipes I didn’t know how to cook filled with ingredients I had never heard of.
- A whole bunch of talk about simple and complex carbohydrates, monounsaturated fats, and other assorted ‘nutrition-speak’ terms to the point where I really had no idea what they were talking about.
So, rather than asking you to become a licensed dietician, I am going to do my best to explain to you what a healthy diet for type 2 diabetes is. And do it in such a way that you don’t have to apply for a student loan or have a thesaurus beside you.
So it is my intention to give you a listing of good foods that can be a part of a healthy diet for type 2 diabetes in addition to giving you basic dietary guidelines you should know as a diabetic. It is also my intention to keep the ‘nutrition-speak’ to a minimum.
Make sure to eat healthy amounts of…
- Fruits
- Milk
- Breads, cereals, rice and pasta
- Starchy vegetables like potatoes
The reason is that all of the foods listed above are carbohydrates. And because carbohydrates are broken down early into sugar during the digestive process, they can have a very quick effect on your blood glucose levels. You should eat these foods at every meal.
As for the amounts of food at each meal, I would recommend that you ask your doctor or dietician. Everyone is a little different and your doctor is in the best position to answer that question.
Next, I would say to get plenty of fiber in your diet. People that eat large amounts of fiber tend to be less obese than those that do not. In addition, fiber also serves to help…
- Reduce your levels of LDL, or bad, cholesterol.
- Help you lose weight
- by filling your stomach, this way you feel fuller for longer and are less likely to overeat. This is a very important consideration for those who are seeking a diet for Type 2 diabetes.
- For those seeking a healthy diet for Type 2 diabetes, it helps to delay sugar absorption so that you can better your control blood sugar levels.
Now, how do you get proper amounts of fiber in your diet? The following are some of the foods to incorporate into your diabetes control plan:
- Fruits and vegetables
- Whole grain cereals, crackers and pretzels
- Brown rice
- Oatmeal
Let me make one recommendation for you. This is a great tasting way for you to incorporate fiber into your diet for Type 2 diabetes.
Here’s what I do. Get the Quaker Oats Weight Control Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal. Make sure it is the Weight Control version. The regular oatmeal has 12g of sugar per serving. Even the ‘lower sugar’ version has 7g of sugar. But the Weight Control version only has 1g of sugar…and you can’t tell the difference in the taste.
I add almonds and blueberries to mine and have 2 bowls a day. I would definitely recommend this approach to you. In addition, eating this will fill your stomach up and make you fuller for longer. This will aid in your weight loss. And one of the best ways to lower your glucose levels is to lose 10-20 pounds.
As far as fat goes, remember that any diet for Type 2 diabetes has to take into account the fact that diabetes increases your likelihood of contracting heart disease and coronary artery disease. As a result, I would recommend following a low-saturated fat diet. I have plenty of ideas for the types of foods here as well as how to put together a weight loss meal plan.
I hope that this gives you an idea as to the types of foods you can incorporate into a diet for Type 2 diabetes. In addition to that, I will be updating this page with diabetic recipes that are ideal for a healthy diet for Type 2 diabetes, and would encourage you to contribute your own recipes as well.
Please check out this article on Healthy Habits, provided by: Elite Training San Diego