The Diabetes Diet Menu

Fri, Nov 21, 2008

A “miracle” diabetes diet menu that cures the disease doesn’t exist, but if you follow a few dietary rules you can stay healthy with type 2 diabetes. And if you think more about it, the only diet you really need to follow is proper nutrition. The biggest part amongst you will be inexperienced with following a healthy diet, but once you get used to it, eating healthy will become part of your lifestyle.

When starting off it’s best to follow the guidelines in the Food Pyramid for your diabetes diet. You only need to remember to pay special attention to carbohydrate intake. Another important factor in your diet is to maintain a regular meal schedule and to control your portions.

You can include starches in your diabetes diet menu, but you have to control your portions. Don’t consume too much starchy food. You can find starches in bread, cereal and starchy vegetables.

Remember to consume five fruits and vegetables portions every day. You can accomplish this by eating fruit as snacks throughout the day and eating vegetables with your dinner. If you need inventive ways to add more of them in your meals you can make soups, stir-fries and chili. That way you will be eating your vegetables but it won’t be that obvious.

What might surprise you is that you still can eat sugars and sweets when you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but you have to do so in moderation, maybe once or twice a week maximum. A way to eat fewer sweets without having to go completely without is splitting a dessert in half.

One thing that is especially beneficial for diabetics are soluble fibers, so you need to get as many as these into your diet as possible. Soluble fibers are found is many foods like fruits, vegetables and seeds. They are excellent because they slow down and reduce the absorption of glucose from the intestines. Legumes (like cooked kidney beans) have the highest amount of soluble fibers and keep blood sugar levels in check. Another reason why you should include them in your diet is because they work like intestinal scrubbers, they clean out the lower gastrointestinal tract.

The best way to put together a good diabetes diet menu is by contacting a dietician. No two persons are alike so keeping in contact with your doctor and dietician will ensure that your diet plan is the optimum one for you. When you work together with a professional, they will take into account your lifestyle, medication, weight, medical issues and favorite foods when coming up with a plan that will keep you healthy and satisfy your cravings for particular foods.