Diabetes Diet – Knowing What The Diabetic Can And Cannot Eat

One problem that scares me from being diagnosed with diabetes is the fact that I will have to cut down on a lot, in terms of the food I can eat. I would have to balance out my meals, cut down on my sugar intake, so on and so forth. If you do get diagnosed with diabetes, you will have to consult a dietician who can help you figure out how much insulin it is that you need.

In case you’re already a diagnosed diabetic, or one of your loved ones is, you might want to know about the diabetes diet plans. There are three different types of meal plans that could help diabetics manage their eating patterns. These three plans are called the exchange plan, the continuous exchange plan, and the counting carbs plan. If you use a diet plan to track the amount of food intake, you could keep a tab on how your body reacts to the similar amounts of carbs being consumed every day. If you known how your blood sugar is being affected by your meals, you could ensure that you get the right kind of tools to try and maintain control over that blood sugar. It is important for diabetics with Type 1 and Type 2 to try and count carbs while they eat.

Before You Begin:

Carbs are an important component of the food that you consume on a daily basis. It is known to directly affect the blood glucose levels; and this effect begins to show the moment you consume carbs. It will tough to get down to counting carbs, unless you learn how to do so. You could begin with setting up an appointment with a dietician.

Exchange Diet Plan:

The first on the diabetes diet plan list is the exchange diet plan. This plan gets divided into categories – veggies, fruits, meat, fats, milk and starches. The serving sizes that are listed will have similar quantities of proteins, calories, fats and carbs. You will be provided with a list so that you can identify the category that your food will fall into. This diet plan is called the exchange diet plan simply because it will let you trade one food for another food item on the list. For instance, you could exchange ¾ a cup of cold cereal with half of an English muffin. You could get an exchange meal plan food list from your dietician. You could also find it online or in books.

Continuous Carbohydrate Plan:

Among all the plans available on the diabetes diet plans, this one is the easiest and the simplest; and hence, is the choice for many, especially when they begin.  This meal plan would only require you to keep track of how many carbs it is that you are consuming. Your dietician or even your doc would help you establish a tab on the amount of carbs that are permitted on a daily basis. Generally speaking, your dose of insulin or other such medication should help in keeping your blood glucose levels on a constant. Try and keep your exercise routines as regular as you can; and maintain your eating schedules.

Counting Carbs Plan:

This diabetes diet is a little more flexible in comparison to the other two. It is said to only keep track of the carbs. This would mean that you could adjust your insulin dose based on the number of carbs you were going to consume in that one sitting. This would need you to carefully track your blood glucose test results and seeing reports of how carbs affect the levels of sugar in your blood.