An individual with diabetes should avoid eating processed foods, deserts, outside snacks. Homemade food should be preferred.
Foods with high caloric value, too much sweets, ghee, fried foods should be avoided..
Diet rich in fruits, vegetables ,and proteins is helpful in diabetic individuals.
Sugary and starchy carbohydrates in high amounts can increase the blood sugar levels. They should be given in the right amount as per the instructions of balanced diet. For this advice should be taken from dietician.
It depends on what type of occupation the individual is doing ,the level of hard physical work in it -from this the dietician will decide the type of carbohydrate in diet and the amount of carbohydrate in diet.
It also depends on the fact that what medication is going on to the diabetes patient whether it is insulin or oral hypoglycemic agent and the dosage of these.
Regards diet consultation should be done from your dietician and MD General Medicine doctor only.
Following are the guidelines –
Fruits and vegetables should be taken in diet.
Lean protein should be included in diet.
Green leafy vegetables are rich in minerals vitamins, nutrients.
They do not have much great impact on blood sugar levels. Green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale are rich in potassium, calcium ,vitamin A .Proteins and fiber are also present in it.
Green leafy vegetables have antioxidants and starch digesting enzymes which are of advantage to diabetic individuals.
List of green leafy vegetables that should be taken by diabetic individuals are –
- Spinach
- Kale
- Cabbage
- Broccoli
- Collard greens
- Bok choy
Foods should be such that sugar should not be added into it.
Juice should be made from kale and given to diabetes patients -it helps to reduce blood sugar levels. It doesn’t help to lower Blood pressure in individuals with high levels of blood pressure but it helps to lower blood pressure in individuals with subclinical hypertension.
300 ml of kale juice should be drunk by these individuals per day for a duration of 6 weeks.
If you are doing this you need to inform your regular MD Medicine doctor so that whatever you do is with his permission.
All this list of vegetables should be taken in salads, side dish ,soups, dinners. A source of lean protein like chicken should be combined with it.
Whole grains are preferable in comparison to refined grains as they contain more nutrients and more fiber material.
More amount of fiber will increase the time required for digestive process .This will reduce the rate of absorption of nutrients and in this way it will help to stabilize the blood sugar levels.
Examples of whole grains are-
- Whole grain bread
- Brown rice
- Buckwheat
- Quinoa
- Rye,
- Bulgur
- Millet
Decision regarding Artificial sweeteners available in the market should be taken only after consultation with your MD General Medicine doctor as some of these artificial sweeteners are attributed to be carcinogenic.
If you are a diabetic patient on oral hypoglycemic and you have got operated in some hospital for some surgery, before doing surgery you should inform the concerned operating surgeon about the ongoing medications.
Immediately after post -operative period there is a period of 6 hrs. NBM. In this period patient is not allowed to eat or drink anything. Iv fluids are allowed in this period. Even after this period and the next day the appetite of the patient is very low and so either oral hypoglycemic drugs should not be taken as per the consultation of your operating surgeon and your regular MD General Medicine doctor.
Dangerous hypoglycemia can result as already the food intake is low ,so blood sugar is low, on the top of that if oral hypoglycemic agents are taken then the blood sugar can drop to too much low levels and it can cause fainting .
To some extent hyperglycemia is ok, but hypoglycemia is too much dangerous.
For further details of Diabetic diet plan go through our article on Diabetic diet -Part 2 in healthuseful.com
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