Nutrition For Diabetes

Currently there is a Diabetes epidemic sweeping the world with 4.3 million people in the UK having the disease whilst there are 415 million people globally that have Diabetes.

When it comes to Diabetes management nutrition is extremely important for keeping blood glucose levels under control. This article will look at key steps you can take to change your diet for the better to have a positive impact of diabetes risk, and further complications that can occur from diabetes like heart disease.

Complex Carbs

Choosing the correct carbohydrates is important for keeping blood glucose under control. There are simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates.

Simple carbs are broken down quickly by the body and used for energy.  Simple carbs are found in such food groups as white bread, breakfast cereal, soda, pastries, cakes, cookies, and fruit juices.

Complex carbs are less refined and contain fibre. Some of these foods are wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta, brown rice, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds.

Complex carbs contain good amounts of fibre which makes them slower to digest and keep blood glucose levels controlled.

Complex carbs are also great for weight loss because they can be very filling to eat because of the fibre content, making is less likely to overeat.

Fibre has many benefits as you can see from one of my other posts –

https://www.skfitness-nutrition.com/post/fibre

Eat more Vegetables and Fruit

Both vegetables and fruit contain a whole host of beneficial vitamins and minerals. They also contain plant compounds that can improve our overall health as well.

Eating a broad spectrum of fruits and vegetables should give you enough of the correct minerals (potassium, calcium, and magnesium) to support healthy blood pressure readings.

They also both contain good amounts of fibre, which as stated above, is beneficial for controlling blood glucose levels, cholesterol levels and preventing the incident of heart disease.

One study states that consuming fibre is associated with a lower all-cause mortality in people with diabetes. I have linked the study below.

A lot of people worry that fruit contains too much sugar, or the wrong type of sugar. This is incorrect information. Eating whole fruit is fine as the fibre helps to slow down digestion. Also, if you pair fruit with yoghurt and nuts, then this blend of foods can help slow down the digestion and helps control blood glucose levels. This is done through good fats. Fibre and fat slow down digestion.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279012/

Choose Healthier Fats

Fat is an important component to a good diet. It provides energy, supports cell function, and helps to promote satiety in the body keeping hunger away.

But choosing the right fats is key to optimal health and staying away from disease.

The right fats in this case would be monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat, and the wrong fat would be saturated fats.

Monounsaturated fats can be found in certain nuts, seeds, olive oil and avocado.

Polyunsaturated fats can be walnuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds and oily fish like salmon and tuna.

Both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat have the ability to lower LDL cholesterol and increase the more protective HDL cholesterol.

In one study monounsaturated fat had a positive effect on metabolic parameters like glycaemic control, serum lipids and systolic blood pressure.

Metabolic Effects of Monounsaturated Fatty Acid–Enriched Diets Compared With Carbohydrate or Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid–Enriched Diets in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials - PMC (nih.gov)

Polyunsaturated fat has been shown to have similar capabilities as monounsaturated fat with improved glycaemia (the concentration of sugar or glucose in the blood), insulin resistance and insulin release capabilities.

Effects of Saturated Fat, Polyunsaturated Fat, Monounsaturated Fat, and Carbohydrate on Glucose-Insulin Homeostasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomised Controlled Feeding Trials - PMC (nih.gov)

This shows how both types of fats are very useful in preventing diabetes and also helping people that have the disease to prevent further complications, and people with type II diabetes, even reverse it.

Saturated fats can be found in meat, meat products, cheese, butter, lard, coconut oil, and other vegetable oils.

Saturated fats increase LDL and total cholesterol concentrations in the body which increases the risk of heart disease. This is why generally speaking it is recommended that you reduce intake of saturated fats in the diet.

Increasing the intake of saturated fats could also cause insulin resistance to increase.

Lower Calorie Diet

Changing eating patterns to produce weight loss would be a good way to prevent diabetes, and also help the prognosis if you have diabetes.

For a new eating plan to be effective we are looking to decrease calories to a level where weight loss is seen consistently over weeks or even months until the desired result is attained.

Dropping calories drastically at the start could be hard to adhere to and any results seen could be lost.

Losing weight and fat will help some of the negative physiological effects of diabetes, like insulin resistance, and help the body to reverse these effects.

Eating less is not the only way to do this as exercise can also help the process of weight loss.

Exercise

I plan to do a separate post on the benefits of exercise for diabetes.

In short exercise is great for weight loss, making you feel good, and reversing some of the physiological disorders of diabetes.

Being active has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity, control blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of heart disease.

https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/managing/active.html#:~:text=If%20you%20have%20diabetes%2C%20being,heart%20disease%20and%20nerve%20damage.

Two Diets I Would Recommend

I wanted to recommend two diets that could help with diabetes and other adverse health conditions.

Both the Mediterranean diet and DASH diet could be effective in helping people with diabetes. The diets follow a general theme that is in line with the information above.

If you want more information on both diets you can find it here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279012/

 I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I plan to write more articles on exercise and the two diets mentioned at the end.

Unsure how to incorporate the points above into a diet or exercise plan then send me a message through my contact form on my home page and I would be happy to discuss with you.

Until next time.