Diabetic Diet Resource Page

Countries all over the world are discovering that a healthy diet has an affect on not only preventing diabetes, but als treating it once it is diagnosed. This report is from the Cyrpus Mail:

HEALTH Minister Costas Kadis yesterday urged the public to eat healthily and exercise more in order to avoid diseases such as a sugar diabetes.
“Correct nutrition is one of the basic factors that contribute to good health and preventing diseases,” the minister said while presenting the newly-published National Nutrition and Exercise Guideline booklet, along with the Guideline to Diagnosing, Preventing and Handling Sugar Diabetes.
“Modern life and poor nutritional habits, brought on by consumerism and comfort, have led to an increase in diseases related to bad nutrition,” Kadis explained, adding: “According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 60 per cent of deaths are caused by ‘lifestyle illnesses’: heart disease, cancer, diabetes and hypertension.”
So, he continued, the Health Ministry decided to issue the National Nutrition and Exercise Guideline, which informs Cypriots on general and international diet instructions, while relating it to local traditional foods.
In order to raise awareness over the booklet, the ministry will be joining the Dietetics Association at the Food Festival on April 5 in Nicosia, while copies will be sent to all schools and the National Guard.

Labels: diabetes, diabetic diet

Something else that you may want to remove (or cut down on) in your diet if your are a diabetic: coffee. According to new US research, "daily consumption of caffeine in coffee, tea or soft drinks increases blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes." Here's more from the BBC:

Caffeine pills equivalent to four cups of coffee a day increased blood sugar levels by 8% over the day, US researchers report in Diabetes Care.

Cutting caffeine out of the diet may help diabetics control their blood sugar levels, the team said.

But UK experts said more research was needed before advice could be given.

The ten people who took part in the study were monitored with a tiny glucose monitor embedded under the skin.

The device meant that the researchers could track the effects of caffeine over 72-hours as the patients with type 2 diabetes went about their normal lives.

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What you eat and put in your diet can affect your diabetes. There are three foods that you may not have thought about that may have a positive effect on your blood sugar level: cinnamon, pomegranates, and vinegar.

Here's more from WFTV:

According to the American Diabetes Association, nearly 21 million people in the United States are living with diabetes. Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce insulin at all, or doesn't properly use the insulin it does produce. People need insulin, which is a hormone, to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy the body needs to function in normal, daily life. Many people with diabetes have or will eventually develop serious complications from the disease. Among the many complications are kidney disease, nerve damage, amputations, heart disease and blindness.

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If you have diabetes and are overweight, is it better to diet, or have surgery. Here's the latest information from The Globe and Mail:

Almost three in every four obese people suffering from diabetes can be cured of the disease with bariatric surgery, according to a groundbreaking new study, one that some experts say opens the door to changes in treatment of diabetes as profound as the discovery of insulin.
Researchers found that 73 per cent of patients whose stomachs were shrunk with the simple surgical procedure were cured of Type 2 diabetes.
By contrast, only 13 per cent of diabetics who followed conventional therapy - dieting, weight loss and medication - went into remission.
John Dixon, head of clinical research at the Centre for Obesity Research and Education at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and lead author of the paper, stressed that obese patients saw their diabetes disappear when they lost significant amounts of weight.

Labels: diabetes, diabetic diet

This overview of Diabetes comes from the American Chronicle:

Diabetes is a disease caused by marked increase in blood glucose level.

Diabetes mellitus is the common disease seen in the United States. It is estimated that 16 million Americans are already caught with diabetes, and 5.4 million diabetics are not aware of the existing disease.

The main cause of diabetes is deficiency in the hormone insulin produced by the islets of langerhans in pancreas or the inability of the cells in the body to take up the produced insulin. The main energy producing molecule in the body is glucose obtained from the metabolism of the consumed diet. This glucose is the source of fuel for the body. The main role of insulin is that, to move the glucose from the bloodstream to muscle, fat and liver cells where it can be stored and used when needed.

The above said mechanism is completely blocked in diabetes mellitus. The main types of diabetes is TYPE I diabetes in which the body makes little insulin and daily dosage of insulin must be taken to prolong life. In TYPE II diabetes usually occurs in adulthood where the pancreas does not make enough insulin and body does not respond well to produced insulin. People with this type of diabetes get diagnosed only in later stages.

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This important update comes to us from Express India:

A team of US-based doctors visited the city on Friday to encourage people to switch over to vegetarian food.
A research conducted by the Doctors from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), USA, proved the efficacy of low-fat vegetarian diet in reversing blood sugar levels of people with type II diabetes. “The westernization of the diet has played a major role in the diabetes epidemic. America should Easternize its own diet. If Americans learn to eat dal, rice, and palak, they would be slimmer and healthier,” said Dr Neal Barnard president of CRM.

A controlled study of 99 diabetic patients by PCRM —funded by the government of USA — proved that eating vegetarian food, excluding milk products, cooked in less oil can show reverse trends by bringing down blood sugar level, cholesterol, blood pressure and weight in people and especially in patients suffering with diabetes type II.

As against the current approach where doctors advice diabetic patients to cut down on carbohydrates, calories and fat, Dr Barnard suggests people with type II diabetes to shift to vegan diet. According to him, the results would be visible as early as in the first week.

Labels: diabetes, diabetic diet, vegetarian diet

This update comes from Associated Content:

On the Oprah Winfrey show on Thursday, Dr. Christaine Northup talked about how a low glycemic diet is important for our health, especially women's health. Dr. Northup said that eating a high glycemic (high sugar) diet can change the way hormones are metabolized once women reach middle age. One of the "side effects" of eating a high glycemic diet is male patterned baldness, but may grow hair on their faces. According to the Glycemic Index site, the risks of obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease are associated to the overall glycemic index in a person's diet.

Labels: diabetic diet, Low Glycemic Diet

This story comes to us from the American Chronicle, which asks the important question: Are you taking Right Diet in Diabetes?

The diabetic should not be afraid to each fresh fruits and vegetables which contain sugar and starch. Fresh fruits contain sugar fructose, which does not need insulin for its metabolism and is well tolerated by diabetics. Fats and oils should be taken sparingly; for they are apt to lower the tolerance for proteins and starches, for they are apt to lower the tolerance for proteins stimulates and increase insulin production. For protein, home made cottage cheese, various forms of sourced milks and nuts are best. The patient should avoid overeating and take four or five small meals a day rather than three large ones.

The following diet should be serving as a guideline.

Upon rising: A glass of lukewarm water with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Breakfast: Any fresh fruit with the exception of banana, soaked prunes a small quantity or whole meal bread with butter and fresh milk.

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The National Board of Health and Welfare have gone against their own advice concerning which diet doctors should be recommending to their diabetic patients.

A diet low in carbohydrates and high in fats and protein was found to be more beneficial than previously thought by the board.

Avoiding bread and potatoes and eating more butter and cheese has long been declared the best method for treating those with type 2 diabetes by controversial doctor Annika Dahlqvist. (More info here)

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I loved all kinds of foods that were on the "DO NOT EAT" list my doctor handed me. I cried as I read through the list of no-no's. (Believe me, I've since learned how food should not have been the only thing I was worried about, but at that moment-and for many months after I was first diagnosed-all I could think about was all the food that I could not eat.)

So, I went home and I started living with diabetes...

And, you'll never guess what I did in the meantime…I was so upset about the illness and about all the foods that I couldn't eat that I ate and ate all the foods I could eat…and a ton of it! (And, if you ask my husband, he'd probably say 2 tons of it!)

Before I knew it, I not only had diabetes, but I was overweight, out of shape, and…still upset about the foods I couldn't eat.

Labels: diabetes, diabetic cooking guide, diabetic diet