By following a strict and balanced diet, diabetes can be cured. A diet for diabetes mellitus will slow down the rate of development of the disease and have a beneficial effect on the patient's condition. It must be constantly observed. The main methods to prevent unwanted consequences are self-discipline and a varied diabetic menu.
General recommendations
When diabetes has just started, it is imperative to set limits on foods rich in carbohydrates and sugar, as these can increase blood glucose levels. But still, regardless of the established restrictions, the body needs a balanced intake of useful components. In this case, doctors prescribe a diet meal for the patient. Not following a diet can negatively affect your health. Of course, the prescribed medications must be taken. But a detailed diet for diabetes, compiled by a doctor, will only improve physical condition.
To control hunger, you need to eat frequently, at least 5-6 times a day and in small portions, including main meals and snacks.
For patients with diabetes mellitus, there are principles of diet therapy. If you have first degree obesity, it is better to give preference to vegetables and fruits instead of flours or fatty foods. It is more useful to season salads with olive oil with the addition of a couple of drops of lemon. To accelerate the metabolic processes of the liver, the diet should include low-fat cottage cheese, soy, oatmeal, and lean fish. It is better to prepare vegetable broths from the first dishes. You must wait with meat broths or cook soups in a secondary broth. Need to limit the consumption of eggs, potatoes, corn. If there are any, then very few and infrequent. As for salt, the recommended daily allowance is less than half a teaspoon. And it is desirable that it was sea salt.
Nutritional characteristics for different categories.
The fact is that the purpose of the diet depends on the type of diabetes mellitus and the category to which the person belongs: for children, for pregnant women, for insulin-dependent people or with the onset of diabetes, nutrition varies. Although general dietary principles apply to all categories, each category requires a separate approach to this matter.
Simple food is the best nutrition for pregnancy with associated diabetes.
A strict diet for people with type 1 diabetes, that is, for people who need insulin, should consist of foods rich in protein and fiber. You will have to limit the intake of salt, fat, fast carbohydrates and foods that irritate the gastrointestinal tract, and also contain sugar.
Unlike diabetes with insulin maintenance, in type II diabetes mellitus, diet helps reduce the caloric content of food and normalizes metabolism. With excess sugar in the blood, such a diet will affect its reduction. The same diet will work during the onset of diabetes. The diet of a pregnant woman should be as balanced as possible without harming the baby. The best diet for a future mom is simple food.
About the glycemic index and calories
The nutritional value of the products determines how many useful components will be converted into energy for the body. And the glycemic index of foods indicates how quickly carbohydrates are absorbed, while increasing blood sugar levels. Therefore, with type 2 diabetes mellitus, you need to eat foods with a low glycemic index, since the carbohydrates available in them have time to be used up by the body and evenly distributed in it. And carbohydrates in foods with such a high rate contribute to the deposition of fat, without having time to be fully converted into energy.
In addition to the number of calories, the glycemic index value of various foods can be found in tables on a scale of 0 to 100. But to plan a diet effectively, you must take into account a number of factors that affect the change in calorie content and glycemic index. The main ones include:
Cooking in a slow cooker is one of the acceptable ways to heat food.
- Cooking method. The glycemic index of foods increases with heat treatment, especially if they are fried. Products should be baked, boiled, or cooked in a slow cooker.
- Fiber properties. Eating the peels of fruits, grains and beans will slow down the breakdown of glucose, which will prevent a rise in the glycemic index.
- The maturity of fruits and vegetables. The more ripe the fruit, the higher in calories it is.
What can you eat
The initial stage of diabetes may not be complicated if dietary treatment is strictly followed.
Here is a list of foods that can diversify your daily diet menu as much as possible:
- soups based on vegetable broths, as well as first low-fat meat dishes 1-2 times a week;
- whole wheat and bran bread;
- cooked, steamed, or baked chicken, turkey, rabbit, young veal;
- Maximum dietary cooked fish and shellfish of low-fat varieties: pink salmon, hake, pike;
- buckwheat, wheat porridge, oatmeal;
- low-fat milk and cottage cheese;
- 1 egg per day;
- unsweetened vegetables and fruits;
- homemade vegetable and dairy sauces;
- desserts and dishes for diabetics;
- any tea, coffee with milk, herbal teas (especially with the addition of rose hips), fresh fruit juices without sugar.
What should not be consumed?
People with high blood sugar levels will have to give up pasta.
Foods that are not recommended for diabetics are listed below:
- high-calorie desserts and cakes;
- chocolate and cocoa;
- jam, marmalade and honey;
- fresh and dried fruits rich in sugar, such as grapes and bananas, figs, raisins and dates;
- dishes with fatty meat;
- animal fat;
- pasta, rice and semolina;
- smoked and canned;
- dairy products with a high percentage of fat and sugar;
- alcoholic drinks.
How to replace the damage?
Delicious and sweet foods should be excluded from the diabetes menu. But harmful products need proper replacement. Diabetic food is the simplest alternative. Options for replacing prohibited products can be found on the shelves of both regular and specialty grocery stores. The table indicates which healthy foods can replace the prohibited ones.
| forbidden food | what to replace |
|---|---|
| white flour bread | peeled rye bread |
| sweets and desserts | Fruits of trees and shrubs, desserts for diabetics. |
| Animal fats | Vegetable oils |
| Fatty meats and cheeses | lean meat, avocado |
| Cream | Low-fat dairy products |
Table number 9
The diet consists of drinking about 2 liters of water a day.
According to diet number 9, no more than 2, 400 calories are allowed per day. If translated into grams, this equates to 85 g of protein, 80 g of vegetable fats, and 300 g of carbohydrates. The diet when diabetes mellitus is suspected should be physiologically balanced.
With diabetes and types 1 and 2, the daily intake of water should be 2-3 liters at the rate of 30-40 mm per kilogram of body weight. It is recommended to use only purified water, free of microbes and pathogenic bacteria.
Prolonged lack of clean water can lead to dehydration / dehydration. For a diabetic, the loss of 25% of body fluids can be fatal.
Along with clean water, diabetics can use "mineral water". However, it may be different. The tabletop versions with a mineralization of up to 1 g per liter can be drunk without restrictions. They contain safe amounts of minerals. Eating "mineral water" stimulates digestion and improves insulin absorption. Before use, open the bottle and wait for the gases to "escape" from it.
sample menu
The diet for a diabetic should be varied.
The best solution is to create a menu a week or a month in advance. But for starters, you can get by with an everyday menu. When compiling the menu, you need to select the most diabetic recipes. In addition, from the usual dishes, you can also make a weekly menu. Proper daily nutrition will increase your chances of recovery. Below is a sample menu for diabetes mellitus.
| Eating | Plates |
|---|---|
| Breakfast | Vegetable salad, buckwheat or oatmeal, cottage cheese, boiled fish |
| first snack | Fruits, stewed vegetables, compote |
| Dinner | Vegetable soup, fish, mushrooms, fish soup; boiled meat, cereal garnish |
| Afternoon snack | Fruit or vegetable salad, cheesecakes, tea |
| Dinner | Steamed cutlets, vegetable stew |
| second dinner | kefir, milk, yogurt |
Main meals
The breakfast of a diabetic should be hearty, but it is not worth overeating and eating heavy foods, which include cereals and legumes, except for buckwheat and oatmeal. You can make salads, fruit, berry and vegetable mousses. Dairy products are also the basis of a good breakfast. Lightly fried zucchini in a light sour cream sauce will make a good appetizer.
A good lunch for diabetics will be mushrooms, vegetable soups, soups with cereals or beans, cooked in meat broth. As a main course, you can eat porridge with salad or meat cutlet. The best salad dressing is olive, flax, or cedar oils, which are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. You can have a snack between meals with lactic acid products with the addition of delicious fruits.
Dinner should be light and nutritious. It is better to prepare a dish that consists mainly of protein. Healthy lentils combined with vegetables or salads from them are suitable for the dinner of a patient with diabetes. If you want to eat late, before going to bed you can drink a glass of warm milk, fermented baked milk or eat some low-fat cottage cheese.
Other Diet Charts for Diabetes
Table 8 is the best diet for people who are overweight and have diabetes. But this diet is prescribed as long as there are no heart diseases and gastrointestinal diseases. The goal of the diet is weight loss. The consumption of salt and foods that whet the appetite is minimized. You also need to drink no more than 1, 2 liters of water. Diet 8 allows you to consume no more than 1, 700 calories per day. It is about 80 g of protein, 70 g of fat (of which a third are vegetables), 150 g of carbohydrates and 6 g of salt.
Doctors recommend mastering the fifth table for patients with diabetes and concomitant diseases of the liver and bile ducts. The diet excludes fatty and fried foods, foods containing cholesterol, essential oils, oxalic acid. It is allowed to bake food or cook, it can be cooked, but in exceptional cases. This diet favors the normalization of the digestive system, rejuvenation and slows the development of diabetes.
With a diet chart number 10, you have to give up fatty foods.
For diabetics with cardiac pathologies, a diet corresponding to diet 10. Table 10 developed is designed to normalize blood circulation, heart rate and restore metabolic processes in diabetic patients. The diabetic diet prohibits fatty and salty foods, foods that irritate the nervous, circulatory and gastrointestinal tract. Instead, you should eat foods fortified with iodine, potassium, and magnesium.
You can experiment with recipes by adding certain ingredients as allowed.
Healthy recipes
Vegetable snack
Cut into large slices 400 g of white cabbage, 6 small tomatoes, 2 carrots, 2 medium onions and 3 fresh peppers. The resulting ingredients should be simmered for a short time over a small amount of vegetable oil and medium heat. It is served as a separate dish. Tasty with baked poultry and veal or fish. Season to taste.
Baked cabbage pancakes
Cut half a kilogram of white cabbage, add parsley, dill, green onions, 1 tablespoon of kefir, 1 egg, 50 g of slightly salted cheese, 1 tablespoon of bran, flour (until the consistency of sour cream). Mix the resulting ingredients and send them to a cold place for 30 minutes. Then spread the pancakes on a baking sheet and bake until 180 degrees golden brown.