The use of type 2 diabetes medications is not yet able to fully offset the impact of malnutrition on blood glucose levels.Proper nutrition is an essential part of effectively managing type 2 diabetes and will help you reach your blood sugar goals.
Nutritional approaches for people with type 2 diabetes who are or are not overweight, high blood pressure, etc. they will vary slightly.
The vast majority of overweight people with type 2 diabetes. Excess weight prevents your own insulin from working effectively, which is why blood glucose levels remain high.Therefore, weight loss is an indispensable condition for rational treatment!Even moderate weight loss (by 5-10%) improves carbohydrate metabolism, especially in the early stages of the disease.
How to achieve weight loss?
It should be noted right away that there are no specific products or medicinal plants for weight loss. There are currently no drugs that alone, without dieting, could provide highly effective and completely safe weight loss.
The only reliable way is to limit the energy intake in the body.(it is indicated in calories), i. e. compliance with the ruleslow calorie food. The resulting energy deficit leads to the fact that the "stored" energy reserves in adipose tissue will be spent on various needs of the organism and the weight will sharply decrease.
The energy carriers in food are its three components:proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The most high-calorie are fats, they contain 9 kcal per 1 gram; in proteins and carbohydrates - 4 kcal per 1 gram.
The most effective way to reduce the calorie content of a diet is to reduce its fat content. This is not only safe, but also useful for a modern person, since our diet, unfortunately, is saturated with fats. Compared with fats, the calorie content of proteins and carbohydrates can be considered moderate, however, to achieve a good effect in losing weight, they still need to be slightly limited.
There are a number of products that should not be limited when losing weight. On the contrary, it is these products that can compensate for the above restrictions and replenish the reduced amount of food. This food group is mainly represented by vegetables, poor in nutrients but rich in water, as well asvegetable fibreswhich are not digested. Vegetable fibers bring many benefits to the body: they improve intestinal function, help the absorption of vitamins, have a beneficial effect on fat metabolism, etc.
There are three groups of products that, in order to reduce weight, must be consumed in different ways.Looking at these groups, you will definitely have an association with a semaphore.
Maximum limit
High-calorie foods: high in fat, alcohol, sugar and sweets
Examples:any oil, lard, sour cream, mayonnaise; cream, fat ricotta and cheese; oily fish, poultry skin, canned meat; fish and vegetables in oil; fatty meats, smoked meats, sausages; sugar, sweet drinks, honey, jams, marmalades, sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, ice cream, nuts, seeds, alcoholic beverages.
Limit moderately (eat half of the previous usual portion)
Medium-calorie products: proteins, starches, dairy products, fruits and berries.
Examples:regular or low-fat/skimmed milk and dairy products, cheeses with less than 30% fat, cottage cheese with less than 4% fat, eggs, lean meats, fish, pasta, bread and low-fat baked goods, cereals; fruit, potatoes, corn, ripe kernels of peas and beans.
Use without restrictions
Low-calorie foods: vegetables (excluding potatoes, corn, ripe peas and beans) and low-calorie drinks.
Examples:radishes, radishes, beets, carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplants, bean pods, young peas, lettuce, greens, spinach, sorrel, any cabbage; tea, coffee without sugar and cream, mineral water.
Is it possible to maintain a low-calorie diet without counting calories?
This is quite possible if guided by the product selection principles described above. Moreover, experts have long recognized that it is not the number of calories that a person needs to consume (it is quite difficult to specify exactly for each person), but what a person actually reduced his diet by is important!
An indicator of correct observance of the principles of low-calorie nutrition will be the achievement of the result - weight loss! If the weight does not decrease, this indicates that it has not yet been possible to significantly reduce the calorie content of the diet.
How do different carbohydrates affect blood glucose levels?
Carbohydrates are the only nutrients that directly raise blood sugar, but that's no reason to drastically limit them.
Carbohydrates in the diet of any person, including a person with diabetes, should be sufficient (at least 50% of total calories), as they are a source of energy for the body. Also, different carbohydrates have different effects on blood glucose levels.
There issimplecarbohydrates (they are called sugars), which are digested very easily, because they consist of small molecules and are quickly absorbed in the digestive tract (after 10 minutes). They immediately and very strongly increase the blood glucose level. It is from these carbohydrates that sugar is made, honey, many are found in fruit juices (they are also found in natural fruit, but due to the presence of fiber, carbohydrate absorption is not so fast), beer. Such carbohydrates are also found in liquid dairy products, but due to the fat content, carbohydrates are not absorbed as quickly.
Another type of carbohydratecomplex(starches), they also raise blood glucose levels, but not as quickly and not as much as simple carbohydrates. Representatives of such products: bread, cereals, pasta, potatoes, corn. The starch molecule is large and the body has to work hard to assimilate it. Thus, the glucose formed as a result of the breakdown of starch is absorbed more slowly (after about 30 minutes), which increases its level in the blood to a lesser extent.
Culinary processing of starchy foods (any grinding, prolonged thermal exposure) contributes to an increase in blood glucose levels. This means that a sharp rise in blood sugar when eating starches can be prevented by using certain processing and cooking methods. For example, it is more correct to cook potatoes not in the form of mashed potatoes, but to boil them whole in their skins so that they remain dense. It's also best not to cook the porridge for too long. It is preferable to cook them from large uncrushed grains (buckwheat, rice).
Enrichment of food with vegetable fibers prevents an increase in blood glucose levels. Therefore, it is better to buy bread from wheat or bran, and not from fine flour. Fruits and berries should be consumed in their natural form, not in the form of juices.
There are such types of carbohydrate products:"free", after which the blood glucose level does not increase or increases slightly. These products include almost all types of vegetables in normal quantities (except potatoes). For example cabbage, lettuce, parsley, dill, radish, turnip, zucchini, eggplant, squash, bell pepper, etc. Among the products of this group, the largest amount of carbohydrates is found in beets and carrots, but the rise in blood sugar after them is not very high. Therefore, if you eat them in moderation (as a side dish, no more than 200 g), they can also be ignored.
Do I have to count carbohydrates?
A person with type 2 diabetes who takes oral antidiabetic medications or who is only on a diet does not need to accurately calculate the amount of carbohydrates in food. Many people with diabetes have heard of the so-called bread units. There is such a calculation system for those receiving insulin. It allows correlating the amount of carbohydrates consumed with the doses of rapid-acting insulin that these people with diabetes inject before meals.
Special "diabetic" products.
Sweeteners can make food sweeter without raising blood glucose levels or gaining weight. But in this case we are talking only about non-caloric sugar substitutes. These include aspartame, saccharin, cyclamate, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, stevioside. They do not affect blood glucose levels and weight at all. However, most "diabetic" foods (cookies, chocolate, waffles) instead of sugar contain sorbitol, xylitol or fructose, which are almost as high in calories as sugar. Therefore, if you are overweight, they should be limited as much as possible, like ordinary sweets.
Fractional diet
Fractional mode means more meals during the day (5-6 times, but still no more often than after 2. 5-3 hours) in small portions. This is helpful because hunger can occur when following a low-calorie diet. Eating more often will help reduce it. Also, a small portion of food contains few carbohydrates, and this will facilitate the work of the pancreas.
Alcohol
Due to its high calorie content (7 kcal per 1 g), alcohol can contribute to weight gain. It also directly worsens indicators of fat metabolism and blood pressure. So limit your alcohol intake as much as possible.
Alcohol is known to have negative effects on the liver. It can cause hypoglycemia if a person with diabetes takes glucose-lowering drugs and insulin. Never drink alcohol on an empty stomach!