Diabetes mellitus is a rather serious disease that imposes significant restrictions on a person’s life. This also applies to physical activity, and regular visits to the doctor, and, of course, nutrition. Diabetics should have a specially compiled menu, which must be strictly adhered to.
According to statistics, 1 person out of 30 is susceptible to diabetes mellitus. If a patient is diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, it means that his metabolism is impaired and the circulatory and nervous systems are damaged. It is very important, immediately after such a diagnosis, to make the necessary changes in life in order to maintain the body in a normal state. Of course, this primarily concerns nutrition. After all, it is precisely this, according to doctors, that is the key to successful prevention and treatment of the development of diabetes.
Diet Basics for Diabetics
First of all, the diet for diabetics should be based on foods that lower blood sugar levels. This means that the diet of patients with diabetes must necessarily contain foods high in carbohydrates and fiber. At the same time, there should be less fat.
Fiber is important for the body in that it is able to remove toxic substances that additionally poison the body. In addition, fiber stimulates the gastrointestinal tract, which significantly improves metabolism. And it can also slow down the absorption of glucose, and this fact is especially important for diabetics. After all, lowering blood sugar is the mainstay of diabetes treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to include fruits in the daily menu of a person with diabetes. Especially good are apricots, oranges, grapefruits, apples. It is also worth adding nuts, such as peanuts, to the diet.
Diabetics need to eat fruit at least 3-5 times a day. Indeed, in addition to fiber, they noticeably saturate the body with vitamins and essential, well-absorbed carbohydrates.
Do not think that a diabetic’s diet is poor and tasteless. In fact, diabetes is not a reason to eat monotonously, and even with fairly strong restrictions, you can make your diet interesting.
When compiling a diabetic’s menu, such a concept as a unit of bread should be taken as a basis. It is she who helps to correctly calculate the calorie content of the dish so that it does not negatively affect health.
People with non-insulin-dependent diabetes do not have to severely limit their food intake. The main thing is to choose the right portion sizes and eliminate the most harmful foods. Everything else can be eaten a little bit. The advantage of this diet is that it helps to lose weight. How many women this diet has helped to lose weight, certainly not to count.
Those who have been diagnosed with an insulin-dependent form of the disease should take a more careful approach to the development of their menu. For such patients, all products can be divided into three types: – conditionally permitted food (food that can be taken in strictly defined quantities); – permitted food (you can eat without restrictions – as much as you want); – junk food (this is food that should not be eaten: various sweets and drinks containing sugar).
Sweets usually mean sugar, honey, fruits (fresh and canned), rich in fructose, jams, preserves, and baked goods.
The unit of bread (commonly abbreviated as XE) means that you mean 12 grams of sugar or 25 grams of wheat bread. 1 XE allows you to raise blood sugar by a strictly defined amount, which is 2,8 mmol / l, when eating. This value can easily be neutralized with 2 units of insulin.
You can calculate the required amount of XE according to the existing averaged list. According to him, 1 XE is contained in 3-4 biscuits, 5-6 small crackers, ½ tbsp. cereals, 1 tbsp. l. flour, 0,3 tbsp. ready-made rice porridge, 1 pancake or pancake, 4-5 homemade dumplings, 2 tbsp. l. mashed potatoes, etc. According to the calculations of nutritionists, the body’s daily need for carbohydrates should not exceed 24-25 XE. Moreover, it is desirable to divide this amount into 5-6 meals. Moreover, the main food must necessarily be more high-calorie than the intermediate one (snacks).
An example of an ideal menu for a day
An ideal menu for diabetics might look like this. For breakfast, buckwheat porridge with salad. To prepare such a dish in the evening, pour boiling water over the washed buckwheat. Cover her with a warm blanket. Thus, in the morning you will receive a ready-made and healthy dish that will preserve all the vitamins. You can fill buckwheat with half a spoonful of butter. Prepare the salad from ordinary cabbage. Chop 1/8 of the head of cabbage, add a little salt and drizzle lightly with lemon juice. You can also add dill and onions to it. Season the salad with vegetable oil.
For lunch, you can eat an egg with cheese. To do this, you will need: – 50 g of hard cheese; – 2 eggs; – 20 g butter; – parsley; – ground black pepper, salt.
Place thinly sliced cheese in the bottom of a skillet or pan greased with butter. Beat the eggs and pour them over the cheese. Sprinkle the dish with parsley and pepper, salt and bake in the oven or microwave.
The lunch should be comprehensive. For example, this can be cauliflower soup and a cutlet with a vegetable side dish. Cook veal broth. To make it less greasy, after the first boil, drain the water and boil the meat again. To prepare the soup, disassemble 150 g of cabbage into inflorescences and pour boiling water over it. Then put it to boil in the finished broth. Then rub the cabbage through a sieve and add the chopped veal. Put everything back in the broth and boil. Add egg yolk and sour cream.
The cutlet is prepared according to the usual scheme, only without rolling in flour or bread crumbs. Vegetables are best steamed. For an afternoon snack, you can eat an unsweetened cottage cheese casserole.
The best option for a diabetic dinner will be boiled fish with vegetable salad. You need to cook fish without salt. It is advisable to dress the salad with vegetable oil and lemon juice.
Before going to bed, it is enough to drink a glass of any fermented milk drink.