Several members of my newsletter
'aboutdiabetes' recently enquired about diabetes diet and top 10 foods
what they should avoid. I interviewed few endocrinologists and
physicians to provide an appropriate answer from medical authorities.
What is Diabetes exchange?
Diabetes exchange and carb
counting is used to manage the relationship between food and blood
glucose levels. Foods are grouped into six categories: starches, meat
and meat substitutes, vegetables, fruits, milk, and fats as per
diabetic exchange.
The purpose of the diet
exchange lists is to help the diabetic patients consume the
correct balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats through the day.
Diabetic patients - 10 foods you MUST
avoid
1-Sugar, artificial sweeteners
and honey. However you may take sweetener like stevia. It is difficult
to omit sugar from your diet at-once, I will recommend you to decrease
sugar in your diet gradually.
2-You should stop taking sweets
and chocolates. If you are in a party and want to take chocolate, then
preferably try to take Continental dark chocolate with at-least 70% or
more cocoa solids, and try to avoid chocolates where sugar is the
first named ingredient
3-Try to avoid foods containing
ingredients end in (ol) or (ose) as these are mainly different forms
of carbohydrates like fructose, glucose, dextrose.
4-Avoid grains like cakes,
biscuits, pies, tarts, breakfast cereals, wheat, rye, barley, corn,
rice, bread, pasta, pastry.
5-Avoid vegetables which contain
larger amount of starch and carbohydrates like potatoes, carrots,
peas, beans, parsnips, beet.
6-Also avoid fruits like
watermelon, mangoes, banana, jackfruit, grapes, Strawberry, Sugarcane.
7-You may take milk but in small
quantity. Avoid fat yogurts and cheese. Also, be careful not to drink
too much coffee or tea and add only as much sugar as in needed for
taste.
8-Avoid commercially packaged
foods like TV dinners, "lean" or "light" in particular, and snack
foods, fast foods.
9-Avoid fresh fruit juices as
these are highly concentrated carbohydrates. If you like fruit juices
you may dilute one part of juice with 3 or 4 parts of water.
10- Always avoid saturated fats
like fatty meat, full fat dairy products, butter, lard. Try to prefer
unsaturated fats like olive oil, corn oil, canula oil, sunflower oil,
Soya oil. avoid cottage cheese as it has a high carbohydrate content
and very little fat
Top 10 foods you can eat
1-You may take fruits like apple,
Grapefruit, Lime, Peaches. You must divide your fruit and vegetable
diet in five portions through all the day, by spreading the fruit you
eat through the day helps to avoid a sudden rise in blood sugar
levels.
2-You must take high fiber diet.
Fibrous diet is Cereals, Fruits, Nuts, Pulses, Seeds, and Vegetables.
Fibrous diet not only lowers your glucose level but also decreases
blood cholesterol.
3-Always try to take whole grain
rather than processed food and take things like whole-wheat spaghetti
and brown rather than white rice . Pakistani and Indian people do like
white rice very much, but if you are diabetic, please avoid these.
4-You may take meat of lamb, beef
once or twice a week. Organ meats can also be taken like liver kidneys
and heart to meat your vitamin needs.
5-Try to take white meat like
poultry chicken fish meat duck etc.
6-You may take Fish and seafood
of all types. It is recommended to boil, steam, bake or grill fish
rather than frying it.
7- Always prefer non-fatty dairy
products such as "skimmed milk", non-fat cheese and yoghurt.
8- You may take eggs as well but
try to take whitish part not the yellow one as it may increase your
cholesterol level.
9-All cheeses can be taken except
cottage cheese.
10-You may take all vegetables,
onion and garlic are known for decreasing blood glucose level.