Using Diet For Diabetes Control

Having diabetes doesn't change the kinds of food you eat. Like everyone, focusing on an eating plan that's lower in fat and sugary foods and higher in fruits, vegetables and whole grains helps you feel healthier and can help you decrease the risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

Because you're living with diabetes, though, you'll have to plan how you combine healthy foods into a daily eating plan that works optimally with your insulin injections (or oral medications) to control blood sugars.

While the medical treatment for the two main types of diabetes (type 1 and type 2) can vary considerably, understanding how diet impacts the disease is the same for both types of diabetes. And figuring out how to use diet to control blood sugars begins with understanding which foods contribute to blood sugar -- and how they do so.

Sorting Out Sugars

Most people think of table sugar when they hear the word "sugar." What's puzzling, though, is that foods like peas and milk have sugar, too. When you look at "Nutrition Facts" panels, you'll see that many foods -- fruits, vegetables, grain foods and dairy products -- also have sugars.

For the past 100 years, people with diabetes were told to avoid sugars. It was assumed that sugars would raise blood glucose levels more than other carbohydrates. But research has shown that the effect of different carbohydrates on blood glucose is much more complex. It is not just the individual foods, but the way food ingredients interact with each other that blood sugar gets created.

Having mixed meals of carbohydrates, protein and fat is the best way to control blood sugars, as the mix helps feed sugar into the blood stream more slowly -- the easiest way for a diabetic to control blood sugar. Remember that high blood glucose is the enemy, not a particular food.

The carbohydrates in your diet should come mostly from fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains and low-fat dairy foods. Check the "Nutrition Facts" panel on food labels for the total carbohydrate per serving to help you plan food choices. Then, round out the nutrition in your meal plan with appropriate-sized servings of lean meat, fish, poultry, and unsaturated fats.

The Sweet Treat Question

How often can you include a sweet treat? There are two factors to consider, the most important of which has nothing to do with having diabetes.

Everyone should evaluate how sweets fit into a healthy diet. If you have such treats every day in place of healthier, nutrient-rich carbohydrate foods, you'll come up short nutritionally. And if you add them to a nutrient-rich diet, you may gain weight.

So moderation -- both in terms of portion size and how often you choose them -- is key when choosing sweets.

As a person with diabetes, you also have to know how sweets affect blood sugars. That's why blood glucose monitoring is so critical. By monitoring blood sugar readings regularly, you'll know the most optimal time of the day to include a sweet treat.

Fortunately, long gone are the days when people with diabetes had to 'sneak' sweet treats such as apple pie or birthday cake. For many years, sweets were considered dangerous for diabetics; nutrition experts thought they raised blood sugar more dramatically than other types of carbohydrates.

But in 1994, after accumulating enough evidence to the contrary, diabetes experts relaxed rules about sugary foods, allowing diabetics to plan them into a healthy eating plan. The most important thing is planning and exercising good judgment about the frequency of including such foods.