|
The best part of the diet for diabetes is that there isn’t one.
Once your doctor has diagnosed your diabetes, you should be sent for
a consultation with a registered dietician or a nutritionist to
develop a healthy eating plan to manage your diabetes. There is no
set diet or list of foods you can or can’t eat; there are no
calendars with a few choices written up for each meal, each day.
What you do get is options; suggestions for shopping in new ways and
cooking and eating to create your treatment plan.
Too often, diets set you up for failure. They restrict the foods
we like to eat and most people end up cheating or, if the diet does
work, they revert back to old habits when a specified goal is
reached and the weight goes back on. That is the reason health care
professionals have changed from a traditional diet for diabetes to a
healthy eating plan that includes the diabetic food pyramid, food
exchanges and portion suggestions. Some people with diabetes are
eating foods that are perfectly fine for them, but they are eating
at irregular times and too-large portions. With diabetes, when you
eat is as important as what you eat.
As a person with diabetes, you do have goals to meet. You should
try to achieve and maintain a weight suggested by your doctor or
health care professional. This will help you to maintain normal
levels of blood sugar. Eating properly also helps to prevent heart
disease. Statistics say that almost two thirds of people with
diabetes die of heart disease or stroke.
Consistency is the best way to stick with your new healthy eating
plan. Try to eat at about the same time every day and don’t forget
to schedule snacks. Keeping portions about the same is helpful, too.
But that is where the consistency can stop; choose a wide variety of
different foods to keep your diet for diabetes interesting and it
will be easier to stick to your new habits. And don’t forget to make
room for your not-so-healthy snacks every once in a while.
|