5 Ways to Manage your Diet for Diabetes
5 Ways to Manage your Diet for Diabetes
Since
my diagnosis with diabetes at the age of eleven, my own diet has changed
dramatically. I maintain my current
healthy weight with a great diet/eating plan. If you do plan on losing more
than about a stone in weight then I would visit your doctor for more tips on
how to do this without risk.
I've
had diabetes for seven years now, but to tell you that how I maintain weight is
perfect would be totally wrong of me.
However, I can advise you to follow my steps because I know what works
and what doesn't. Before I really begin I must also say that I have been
brought up by great parents who taught me to eat everything, and so I do! If
there is something that you don't like, there are loads of other diabetic
recipes and ideas that you will eat and appreciate.
I
am a university student and I like to buy fresh and organic produce from where
I live. I believe that this is important because it can be the most good for
your body and contain more nutrients and vitamins than most supermarket
produce. I like to source food from my fortnightly farmers market in town,
which sells amazing meat and dairy produce and fresh in season fruit and
vegetables. This is another important thing to remember, that eating fruit and
vegetables in their season means that they will taste better as well as doing
you good. I have a lot of influence from Western European cuisine (mainly
France and Italy) as you will tell, but I do not profess to be a chef and
everything is easy to make and very convenient.
I
have read countless diet books and diabetic recipe/diet books, and I came to a
conclusion that I think really works. I fused all the good things from the
diets (but not from every diet) and sort of put together my own one. I call
this my Juvenile Diabetes Healthy Diet!
The
"rules" that I would lay down are as follows:
1.
Cut back on snacks and then change the type of snacks you eat.
Certainly
my biggest downfall although it wasn't really apparent to me. When I first
started at University, I had little or no routine which meant that filling my
day was difficult and popping into the kitchen for a snack, no matter how
healthy it felt, was a regular occurrence. This is one of the hardest things to
do for some people, but establishing a great routine is essential to great
diabetes care. The types of snacks to be eating are unsalted nuts, dried
unsweetened fruit, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables (I love fresh red pepper and
cucumber), dark chocolate (richer and nicer and you only want 2 squares
usually).
2.
Cut back on white flour and embrace wholemeal carbs.
This
is the most essential part of your diet, and the thing that can show the
biggest increase in loss of weight. Some diets in fact jsut focus on this
point, and are very successful. Wholemeal (especially stoneground wholemeal) is
so good for you and has so much more flavour in it that switching is much
easier than you think. Most people are really surprised at the ranges you can
get in you supermarket, again remember that the bread that is best for you is
the one that is freshest with least preservatives or added ingredients. Also,
brown or basmati rice is great with a lovely nutty texture. Wholemeal pasta is
great and for your potatoes I would totally recommend the smaller new potatoes.
3.
Stop drinking cocktails, start drinking wine.
Cocktails
are full of sugar, colourants and preservatives. As a student I have had loads
of practice at going out and not drinking cocktails, so my drink of choice is
Malibu and Diet Coke if I feel I have to drink something and I make it last all
night. I can then top up with Diet Coke (which has almost no sugar in it) and
it looks as though I am drinking Malibu, who is to know. If you are out at a
restaurant, red wine is much better than anything else you can order, (except
water of course!) and it has been proven that the anti-oxidants in red wine are
great for keeping a healthy heart. The recommended amount is one glass a day
with your evening meal.
4.
Start cooking more fruit and vegetables.
Fresh
fruit and vegetables are a great way to get all the vitamins and minerals you
need. And there are so many different ways in which to cook vegetables, but I
find that raw is the best followed closely by steamed. Both of these ways
preserve all their natural goodness as well. I will follow this post with another
diabetes recipes post.
5.
Drink more water.
I
know you have heard people say this many times before, but the benefits of
drinking more water are endless. A few tips on how to get more water into your
day are firstly to put bottles of water at all the places you go in the house
or work. So keep one in your desk, on your desk, a glass in the kitchen, the
bedroom, the sitting room, etc. Try and drink all these glasses up and you will
be well on your way to 8 glasses a day. The trick is to add a glass every few
days or so, if you try to drink all that water in one go you won't be so
inclined to drink 8 glasses again, trust me! Have a go, it's amazing how great
you will feel.