People with diabetes can consume anything, including sugar. The days when sugar was off limits if you had diabetes are more than over. Individuals with diabetes can eat anything, with the recommendation that you, like everyone else, are best served by adhering to a healthful diet plan.
These days, the American Diabetes Association's recommended dietary guidelines are the same as those of the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Eat a well-balanced, nutritious diet that contains foods from all the main food groups; is low in fat, cholesterol, and simple sugars; and provides most of your calories from entire grains, vegetables, fruits, lean meats, healthful fats, and fiber. Hallelujah, you will find no forbidden foods!
This notion that individuals with diabetes shouldn't consume sugar is one of the hardest myths to lay to rest, says Dr. John Bantle, professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, in a June 2008 Diabetes Well being article titled "Sugar and Diabetes: The Myth That Will not Die." Fifteen years ago, Bantle and his colleagues performed an experiment comparing two meal plans.
Both had exactly the same quantity of carbohydrates, the food most responsible for raising blood sugar. In one meal plan the carbohydrates came primarily from sugar, and in the other primarily from starch. Participants ate the foods from one meal strategy for twenty-eight days and then switched towards the other meal plan. The researchers discovered that participants' blood sugar levels had been basically exactly the same whether they ate the sugary meals or the starchy ones. Conclusion: Sugar and starch raise blood glucose equally. Thus it's the amount of carbohydrate, not the source, that determines blood glucose levels.
"Intuitively it makes sense that you shouldn't consume sugar," says Bantle, but starch is also a string of glucose molecules. The sweet desserts that finish your meal (like cake and pie) and the starchy foods that type your meal (such as potatoes and rice) are all carbohydrates and all raise blood sugar. "If you add dessert to a meal, increasing the quantity of carbohydrate," says Bantle, "your blood sugar will be higher, but you'd have the same impact if you had a double helping of mashed potatoes or an additional roll."
In its 2008 position statement, the ADA stated that sucrosecontaining foods can be substituted for other carbohydrates in a meal plan or, if added towards the meal plan, could be covered with insulin or other glucose-lowering medicines. That means people with diabetes can eat desserts, use sweeteners, and still keep their blood glucose in their target range.
Here's a simple example of how to substitute two foods of equal carbohydrates. Most people's meal strategy calls for about forty-five to sixty grams of carbohydrates at each meal. Let's say you'd like to have two cookies, that are equal to thirty grams of carbohydrate, the same as two carbohydrate exchanges.
Your lunch is really a turkey sandwich with two slices of bread. Because two slices of bread also equal about thirty grams of carbohydrate, you can make an exchange: Either skip the bread entirely and have the two cookies, or eat one slice of bread and one cookie. Your total amount of carbohydrates remains the same. This strategy of exchanging carbohydrates can be used at any meal. If you need help adjusting your medicine to accommodate adding carbohydrates, check with your well being care provider.
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