A diabetic diet plan might feel excessively troublesome and non-appetizing- but wait! Just because you’re diabetic, that doesn’t mean you have to give up on foods. All you need is to eat in a tricky way which would give you satisfaction as well as safety.
Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how one’s body turns food into energy. Most of the food people eat gets broken down into glucose and get released into the bloodstream. When the blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin.
For the case of diabetes, keeping the balance of glucose and insulin is challenging. For a diabetic diet plan; one needs to keep in mind the “Do and Don’t” foods and the ways to eat them, that’s all!
Table of Contents
How to properly make a diabetic diet plan:
Here goes the plan on how to do that-
Foods you can eat on a diabetic diet plan:
There’re plenty of foods that are proven to be beneficial for diabetic people.
Green fruits
They contain a surprisingly low glycemic index. A low glycemic index is helpful to keep your body toxins away. Avocado, berries, grapefruit, and cherries are the fruits you can eat without any tension regarding sugar level. Well, though they’re all fine; it would be better if you eat them as snacks and not as main meals. Also, adding some nuts and olive or sprinkling some cinnamon on your fruits would be even more helpful as that will help to balance the glycemia.
Going green is the best way to maintain a diabetic diet plan perfectly!
Green vegetables
Green vegetables are rich in fibers, minerals and they are carbohydrates that have no starch. Excellent foods to keep your body fine.
Read: Top Plant Sources of Minerals for the Human Body
Fatty fishes
They are great sources of omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA), which have major benefits for heart health. They also reduce inflammation. As you know, diabetic people are at high risk with their heart- these foods are more like organic medications. Having a piece of salmon or sardine on your meal is certainly going to help you with your health.
Ezekiel bread
Yes, carbohydrates are considered a slow poison for diabetic people. But there’s no way someone would be happy to leave bread from their meals. Don’t worry; bread might be problematic, but Ezekiel bread is not. This is because Ezekiel and similar kinds of bread are made from whole grain, not from flour.
Egg white
They’re highly nutritious with their super low level of carbohydrate and glycemic index.
On a diabetic diet plan, side dishes are no problem at all! There’re plenty of side items that fit perfectly on a diabetic diet plan.
Greek yoghurt
They can reduce your health risks related to diabetes. Not all yogurt though. Only the unsweetened ones. For example- greek yogurt. They’re easy to get, helpful for your health, and tasty to eat.
Chia seeds
Because they are rich in antioxidants; contain omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, and magnesium. All of these are effective to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and diabetes complications. Adding chia seeds to your daily diet is sure to create great impacts. You can have them by either sprinkling them over your yogurt or cooking with your vegetables. Healthy, easy, and delicious altogether!
Beans
According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), foods that are “rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber” and may help prevent disease are considered diabetes superfoods. And, beans are exactly what they mean by “diabetes superfood“. A half-cup serving of the beans contains 125 calories, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 7 grams of protein, and 0–3 grams of fat when cooked. Perfect, isn’t it?
Nuts
A study proves that nut consumption helps decrease the prevalence of selected risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Cashews, walnuts, peanuts are just good grace, ain’t it?
Water
Make sure to stay hydrated when you’re on a diabetic diet plan, it’s important!
There’s a myth that drinking more water is problematic for diabetic people as people with diabetes tend to have trouble urinating (they either need to urinate more times than a non-diabetic one or don’t urinate much); drinking more water might be triggering. No! Don’t make this mistake. Being in diabetes means your pancreas is having a hard time. This means you must drink water properly.
Let’s take a look at which foods one should avoid on a diabetic diet plan:
Sugar
This one is probably known to all. Say no to sugar. This means, say no to all sorts of traditional sweets, soft or cold drinks, syrups, cakes, and sweet biscuits.
Dried and sugary fruits
Though fruits are a great source of vitamins, minerals, and fibers; certain fruits contain too much sugar. Watermelons, dates, overly ripe bananas, and pineapples are some of the fruits that a diabetic person should not eat. Apart from these, all sorts of dried fruits (except for different kinds of nuts) are loaded with way too much sugar. Dried fruits should always be avoided when someone gets diabetes.
Fruit flavoured yoghurts
They are usually made from low-fat milk and contain loads of carbs and sugar. That’s not good for the blood sugar level as well as for the pancreases.
Starch
White bread, rice, pasta- foods that are made from flour or rice directly- are likely to cause trouble maintaining insulin levels. It’s because they’re all carbohydrates only; these excessive amounts of carbohydrates are harmful to people with diabetes. This is why these sorts of the whole carb should be avoided.
Read: The most abundant sources of carbohydrates are easy to find
Salt
A high level of salt inside the body causes troubles with the kidney. A diabetic person already got a pair of problematic kidneys; this shouldn’t get worse at any cost.
Red meats
On a diabetic diet plan, it’s essential to stay away from bad cholesterol.
As diabetic people are always at the risk of getting coronary diseases more than other people, and like diabetes, itself doesn’t allow cholesterol to get metabolized; red meats are a NO on the diabetic diet chart.
Egg yolk
Egg yolks are rich in cholesterol, which is a danger to the heart. Avoid omelets and scrambled eggs. Fry the white only, or boil your egg and eat that leaving the yolk.
Trans fats
Trans fats are the fats that get produced when hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oil to make it more solid. Commercial soybean oils for example. There are a large number of foods that usually contain huge amounts of trans fat; Baked goods, such as cakes, cookies, and pies; microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, refrigerated dough, such as biscuits and rolls. fried foods, non Dairy coffee creamer, etc. Trans fats increase the amount of bad cholesterol in the blood as well as decrease good cholesterol. This is the reason why anything related to trans fats must be removed from diabetic people’s meals.
As far as here, you might feel upset that a lot of foods are already on the prohibited list.
Don’t worry. There always are hacks to save the day, even if someone’s diabetic.
Easy tips for a diabetic diet plan:
Don’t eat carb only; eat them along with an amount of protein and fibers:
The plate method is the most effective way to maintain this plan.
All one needs to follow the plate method is- a plate.
Put carbohydrates on just one-quarter of the area on the plate. Which means 25% carbohydrates.
Put proteins on one quarter; yes, 25% protein.
And lastly, for the remaining half portion, put in some greens. Mostly vegetables, there might be green fruits as well. 50% of non-starchy vegetables and fruits are there to create a complete platter of meals.
You can always add some side foods with a few greek yogurts and some cashews or walnuts.
It is better if you keep counting on calories. That’s not a hard thing to do. Whenever you go to check on your insulin level, you can simply ask the person checking on the insulin about the calorie count. There are even easier ways; you can get a chart on calories of different foods and create a diabetic diet plan accordingly. All you have to remember is the percentages of the types of foods on a platter. Also, do remember the CAN and CAN’T eat food names.
Diabetes is not a barrier, it’s merely an opportunity to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Worry not, you can always stay fit and happy even with diabetes, all you need is a diabetic diet plan.
Read: Severe Anemia in Pregnancy Treatment: Diet Guideline at Home.
