An ideal diet for diabetes mellitus is one which is highly nutritious as well good for diabetes patients. Remember that no diet pattern is written in stone and any recommended diet for diabetes mellitus might need to be adjusted from time to time depending on the metabolic needs of the patient. For example, there should be different types of diet patterns each for metabolic periods such as growth, pregnancy, lactation or modified activity. In this article I will tell the essentials of a good diet for diabetes mellitus.
Regardless of what type of foods you eat, your diet must consist of the following vital nutritional elements:
Proteins: Protein is highly recommended for diabetics because of its several merits: 1. Unlike carbohydrates, proteins don’t produce glucose and hence don’t increase the level of blood sugar; 2. Proteins, unlike fatty foods, don’t produce a lot of calories. In fact, most protein foods are virtually calorie-free!; 3. Proteins supply the necessary amino acids to the diabetes patient. These amino acids are needed to repair broken or destroyed tissues. In fact, doctors recommend that diabetics should consume large amounts of protein because the presence of nitrogen in diabetics is almost always negative.
Carbohydrates: While it is true that carbohydrates as a rule increase the glucose levels in blood, there should be at least 40% of carbohydrates in your daily diet in order to prevent the development of ketosis. Also as per the recent studies carbohydrates don’t increase the level of blood sugar if the total calorie consumption is not increased.
Fats: Next to protein and carbohydrates, fat is the most important nutritional element that needs to be included in the diet of a diabetic. While carbohydrates and proteins provide about 70% of the required calories to the human body, fats make up the remaining 30% per cent. You should however be careful not to consume large quantities of foods which are rich in saturated fats or cholesterol, as that might be detrimental to your health.
Fibers: Apart from carbohydrates, proteins and fats, you should also include fiber foods in your diet. Foods that are rich in fiber are good for diabetics because they control extreme clinical conditions such as high blood sugar, low blood sugar, etc. Besides fiber foods take a lot of time to digest and hence they don’t raise the blood glucose level much. Fiber foods also promote decreased appetite and hence you won’t feel hungry all the time. This way you will also be able to lose weight which is important in order to get rid of diabetes. As you can see, eating fiber foods have multiple advantages. Examples of fiber foods are pulses, brown rice, bread, etc.
I hope you now get an idea of what should consist in an ideal diet for diabetes mellitus. If you need for more information regarding diet for diabetes mellitus, [adrotate banner=”16″]