by R.L Hanlon

Created on: January 25, 2008

When my mother was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 60, it was a wake up call to everyone in the family. Here is a woman who never hid the fact that she loved her food and enjoyed a lot of it. How are we to change lifelong habits of eating and taste to suit her serious medical condition?

Researching her dietary needs while the doctor tried to monitor her diabetic condition, proved to be quite simple in the end. As long as she maintains a healthy diet and weight, she suffers little change to her life long habits.

Each person who suffers from diabetes has individual needs and requirements to keep their diabetes in control and manageable. Please consult with your treating doctor for further advice and direction. Below are some of the best food choices that all diabetics can use in their diet and nutritional needs.

1) WATCH YOUR FAT INTAKE

Saturated fats are found in animal products such as beef. Other fatty food items include butter and margarine and fast food items. When cooking, try and use cooking sprays that contain monounsaturated fats such as virgin olive oil, canola oil, and rapeseed or sunflower oil. These saturated fats do not need to be eliminated from your diet; they just need to be eaten in moderation.

Dairy products such as whole milk, eggs and cheese should also be eaten in moderation if you are diabetic.

2) CONSUME CARBOHYDRATE FIBRE RICH FOODS

Fiber rich foods include wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta and brown bread. Your diet should also consist of many healthy grains, nuts and seeds, vegetables and fruit. You should also include a great variety of beans and legumes within the diet.

Many fruits can be consumed and enjoyed by a diabetic, but just eat in moderation as they contain sugars as well. You can eat fruit from a tin as long as it is in fruit juice and not syrup. Dried fruit are also okay to be consumed but also in moderation.

Try to incorporate starchy food such as potato and rice into your diet. Your main meal of an evening should consist of either boiled or baked potato, rice or pasta.

3) PROTEIN

When trying to enrich your diet with protein, try eating soy products or fish products instead of red meat. Nuts contain large quantities of protein too, but when you're a weight conscience diabetic, nuts also contain a lot of fat.

4) FLUID CONSUMPTION
Always drink plenty of water throughout the day. Alcohol does not need to be eliminated from your diet, but you must reduce your intake of alcoholic beverages.

Wine should be medium/dry varieties and beer should not be low in sugar as it contains more alcohol content.

5) SALT

Reduce the amount of salt you apply to your cooking and to your meals.

6) WELL BALANCED MEAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Using the foods in the groups above, the American Diabetes and Dietetic Association recommend a diabetics diet should contain the following food ratios:

*Total calories made up of 10% to 20% of Proteins.
*Fats comprising no more than 30% of a meal.
*Carbohydrates should comprise more than 60% of the meal.

They also recommend at least five servings of fresh fruit and vegetables per day, six servings of whole grains per day and two servings of fatty fish per week.

Due to the many different types of diabetes, dietary requirements differ from patient to patient. Following a healthy and well balanced meal, avoiding meals that contain foods and oils that can be dangerous and a general change in exercise and lifestyle will help a diabetic regulate and maintain their insulin levels.

Reference:

American Dietetic Association - http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/inde x.html

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