Movement is of prime importance. So to begin with, a diabetic patient has to ensure that they get a decent amount of movement into their daily schedule. Activities like a daily walk, yoga, and strengthening workouts are a great way to kick-start the physical journey. Now, diet is the key to keep the condition in check. Keeping things simple, let’s talk about 5 tips to keep in mind while planning meals for a diabetic patient.
1. Ensure that the patient eats regularly
People suffering from Type 2 Diabetes should eat regularly keeping the focus on meal timing. This is simply because eating every few hours helps to stabilize and maintain consistent blood sugar. If you have one big meal and spend long hours without food, there will be a dramatic rise in blood sugar just post the meal and then a lack of energy as time passes. Hence it is important to continuously fuel the body at regular intervals.
2. Eat vegetables
Vegetables provide you with fibre which enables control of blood glucose level; they support improved levels of healthy cholesterol and lower blood pressure. In addition, the fibre helps your stomach feel full for longer, thereby overall calorie intake as well. The key to effective food management is to boost vegetable intake and reduce carbohydrate consumption such as cutting down on sugary snacks etc. Ensure that you keep your tummy happy and full with an ample serving of vegetables at each meal.
Individuals suffering from diabetes should focus on ample intake of low GI vegetables like raw carrots, Brocolli, tomatoes, cauliflower, green beans, peppers, egg-plant, spinach, and celery. They should however consume vegetables with high starch content such as beetroot, sweet potatoes, potatoes, rhubarb, corn, peas, etc in moderation.
3. Plan Plan Plan
Meal preparation is of prime importance. Having a well-planned and timely diet ensures that there is a minimal digression from prescribed and required meal options. This means, that the body is well-fuelled through the day minimising hunger pangs and in turn reduction in snacking on unhealthy food and emotional eating. Effective meal planning ensures that you add more variety to your diet thereby improving balance in your meals.
4. Eat Unprocessed Foods
The advantages of this are so many – effective weight loss aid as it eliminates the wasteful calories in processed food and an increase in the fibre which helps to keep you full for longer; unprocessed foods are natural and hence easier to digest – giving the body more energy to expend on activities other than digestion – with more energy to spend – it is easier for the individual to increase movement or get in a workout during the day and most importantly – processed foods have a lot of added sugar and preservatives in them to increase their shelf-life – going unprocessed eliminates these additives and stabilizes the blood sugar levels in an individual.
5. Carry a rescue snack all the time
There are times that patients may suddenly have a hypoglycemic episode – this could happen due to various factors including and not limited to taking too much insulin or body’s response to the diabetic medicine, postponing or skipping a meal or snack, drinking alcohol or increasing exercise without making required changes in diet – in cases such as this, the blood sugar level drops causing fatigue, dizziness, blurring of vision, sinking feeling, excessive sweating, feeling irritable, etc. In such a case, the individual must eat something that immediately releases glucose in the blood eg. Sugar candies, granola, sugar cubes, jaggery, raisins, fruit juice.
6. Regulate Alcohol
A diabetic is best to avoid consumption of alcohol as it can cause a hypoglycaemic episode. And even if you must consume it, ensure you do it in moderation and never on an empty stomach.
7. Portion Control
There is too much of a good thing, including healthy food. At the end of the day, a person suffering from diabetes needs to ensure that they are consuming only the required calorie intake to carry out activities of daily living. The best way to stick to this is to understand your measurements of food and stick to the portion sizes prescribed.
8. Sweets
Sweets in themselves have a large amount of sugar in them which releases into the bloodstream quickly. This causes a dramatic rise in the sugar levels of the blood and which has a detrimental effect on an individual’s health. While individual suffering from diabetes should be careful of their sugar intake – they can still enjoy the occasional dessert, as long as they are careful of the carbohydrate and sugar intake in their diet.
As is the case towards any sustainable form of change, a person suffering from diabetes should aim at incorporating lifestyle and diet changes into their routine. By being careful in the food intake and by being mindful of physical exercise – individuals suffering from Diabetes will be able to manage this condition effectively.
About The Author
An Army kid, I have lived across the length & breadth of the country and have finally grown my roots in Bengaluru. I have always had an active lifestyle competing in Equestr..
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