Diabetes made easy

What Should I Eat?

It's not so much "what" you should eat, but how much. If you are overweight, your first and foremost goal should be to lose weight. This means working with a Registered Dietitian to determine the quantity and type of food you should eat at each meal. One of the key issues in losing weight is controlling portion size. Your dietitian will also direct you how to make food choices that cut down on the amount of fat you eat because each gram of fat has significantly more calories in it than a gram of carbohydrate or protein. This means:

• eating more foods that are broiled and fewer foods that are fried.

• cutting back on the amount of butter you use in cooking.

• eating fish and chicken more, and only lean cuts of beef.

• eating more meatless meals, or re-orienting your meals so that your dinner plate has more vegetables, fruit and starches on it, and less meat.

Your dietitian will show you how you can continue to eat all the foods you love — just probably not in the same proportions as you have in the past. Having diabetes or having "pre-diabetes" does not mean that you can't eat certain foods. The solution isn't "avoid foods with sugar in them." Rather, you need to lose weight if you are overweight, cut back on portion sizes, and plan for those occasions when you eat a small piece of cake or pie.

Food Group	Contains	Examples	Servings per Day
Breads, grains, other starches (15 g carb)*	carbs (starch, sugar, fiber), B vitamins, minerals	bread, pasta, cereal, beans, peas, corn	5 - 8
Vegetables (1/2 cooked or 1 cup raw servings)	vitamins and minerals, minimal amount of carbs	broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, salad greens	3 - 5
Fruits (3-4 oz portions; 15 g carbs per serving)	carbs (sugar, fiber, starch), vitamins and minerals	apples, oranges, peaches, pears, melons	2 - 4
Milk (8 oz servings)	carbs (milk sugar), calcium, minerals, vitamin D, protein	milk, soy milk, yogurt, ice cream	2 - 3
Meat, meat substitutes, other protein (1 oz serving)	protein, Iron, vitamins, minerals	beef, poultry, pork, fish, cheese, tofu	8 - 12 ounces
Fats, oils, sweets (5 g fat per serving)	saturated fat, unsaturated fat	butter, vegetable oils, sour cream, cream cheese	use sparingly

* - should be spread evenly throughout the day at 30-75 g per meal

5 Common Food Myths for People with Diabetes Debunked

1. People with diabetes have to eat different foods from the rest of the family.
2. People with diabetes should never give in to food cravings.
3. People with diabetes shouldn't eat too many starchy foods, even if they contain fiber, because starch raises your blood glucose and makes you gain weight.
4. People with diabetes do not have to worry about eating fat because it doesn't have much of an effect on blood glucose.
5. People with diabetes should always follow a low-sodium diet.


Thanks
Shilpa Amit Shrivastava