Tag: Carbs

Type I Diabetes Diet

According to the American Diabetes association and the American Dietetic Association, there are very specific guidelines regarding your diet if you have Diabetes and the following article will outline those guidelines for your Type I diabetes diet.

Diet is important when you have diabetes because the insulin you take helps control your blood sugar levels but cannot do it all by itself. You must follow a balanced Type I diabetes diet to be able to maintain consistent blood sugar levels throughout your day.

If you have been recently diagnosed with diabetes and need to give yourself insulin shots everyday, or several times a day, then you should do yourself a favor and make sure that you start eating your meals at the same times every day. This will help you stabilize your blood sugar levels quicker and decrease any signs and symptoms of hyperglycemia (too much sugar in the blood stream), or hypoglycemia (too little sugar in the blood stream).

Keeping everything balanced is your best bet to making sure that your blood sugars remain stable. This is key to your continuing good health. Limit your carbohydrate intake and get some regular exercise, even if it is just a walk through the neighborhood everyday. These two things along with your regular monitoring of your blood sugar and taking the insulin as directed by your doctor will make managing your diabetes a lot easier.

Carbohydrates are also known as simple sugars. This means that when you eat them they are immediately converted to sugar for energy in your blood stream. When your pancreas is not working right, it cannot release insulin to combat the increase of sugar in your blood. This is why you need to give yourself insulin when you eat.

Planning your meals does not have to be a chore. To make it easier, sit down once a week and make up a menu for that week. Balance every meal with protein, carbs and a little fat. Once you have it all written down then making your grocery list is easy. Make sure you throw in some healthy snacks, too, and never, ever skip meals.

Your doctor will most likely refer you to a dietitian. They can help you figure out how to change your eating habits so you are getting all the nutrients you need and customize a meal plan to help control your blood sugar levels. If you follow all of their recommendations you really should be able to manage your diabetes quite well.

If, at any time, you have a question about something you want to eat and are unsure if you can, or should, call your doctor or dietitian to make sure that what you want to eat fits into your Type I diabetes diet. Keeping a close eye on everything you put into your mouth, getting some regular exercise, and working with your doctor to get to the right insulin dosage can keep you from having an unstable range of blood sugars and an increased risk of experiencing complications from diabetes.

Ada Diabetes Diet

The ADA diabetes diet, called the Carb Consistent Diet, was once referred to as the Standard ADA Diet. It is now called the Carb Consistent Diet because it allows you to keep your carb intake evenly distributed throughout your day so your blood sugar does not spike too high or go too low therefore keeping your diabetes under control.

Although there are many variations of the Carb Consistent Diet, the ADA diabetes diet we will be concentrating on is the 1800 calorie diet.

As a diabetic you know that everything you eat affects your blood sugar. Keeping your carb intake steady throughout your day is important. Whether you eat three meals a day or you eat more often you should try to eat the same number of carbs at each meal.

The 1800 calorie diet allows you 180 grams of carbs in a day so if you eat three times a day then you can have 60 grams of carbs at each meal. If you eat five times a day then you need to do the math and divide 180 by 5 and then figure up your meals at only 36 grams of carbs at each meal.

Smaller meals may be the better way to go also if you need to lose a few pounds. Losing weight on the 1800 calorie diet may not be the easiest thing to do and you might consider switching to the 1500 or 1200 calorie diet to lose the weight you want to lose.

Plan on eating 3-5 servings of fruit everyday. What this means is, you should be eating a piece of fruit with every meal. The ADA will tell you that a serving of fruit is a small orange, pear, kiwi, or apple, or two tablespoons of dehydrated fruit like apricots, prunes, cranberries, or cherries.

You should also be sure to add 3-5 servings of vegetables in your meal plan for the day. Once again, this means a vegetable at every meal. Mix it up have a small salad for lunch and eat your broccoli at dinner. Cut up some celery sticks, carrot sticks, and radishes, or a cucumber. Serving sizes of all of these vegetables are not huge, just about a half a cup, so do not think you will be eating mounds of vegetables every day because you won’t be.

Whole grains will help you feel fuller longer. Make sure to get a good 5-6 servings each day. Stay away from starchy foods like potatoes, white bread, and white rice, they will make your blood sugars spike unnecessarily. Stick with brown rice and things like lentils and beans to get your whole grain and fiber. Make breads one of the things you eat the least of.

With lean protein sources and low fat or non-fat dairy products rounding out your ADA diabetes diet you should be well on your way to really getting a handle on controlling your blood sugars so you can continue to live a happy, healthy life.

Treatment For Hypoglycemia

The best treatment for hypoglycemia is very simple, eat food. Eat good food. Food that is high in protein and low in carbohydrates is best. The carbs won’t trigger more insulin to be released and the protein will hold your blood sugar steady.

Hypoglycemia can be a life threatening situation if left untreated. Seizures, unconsciousness, coma and death can occur if your blood sugar goes too low. The normal range for blood sugars is between 70 and 110mg/dl. If you fall below the 70 mark you can be in some serious trouble. Any lower and you may not be able to function enough to call for help and you also may not be able to help yourself. This is dangerous.

Do not hesitate to get something to eat if you start to feel symptoms. You may start with some blurred vision, or get a little shaky if you need to eat. These early symptoms are telling you to eat something, that your blood sugar needs to come up. If you fail to heed the early symptoms then you could be in some serious trouble in very short order. It does not take too long for things to go from bad to worse when it comes to your blood sugar. You can be fine one minute and then in the blink of an eye you could be on the floor unconscious.

Here is what you need to do as your personal treatment for hypoglycemia.

Change the way you eat. Replace those high carb, over processed foods that are so easy to make with some high protein, low carbs meal that you prepare yourself. Can’t cook? Learn, it’s easy!

Start reading the labels of the things you usually buy. I decided long ago that I would not eat any processed food that had more than 10 grams of carbs in it. There is not much out there that matches that criteria. Unless you make it yourself, that is.

Cooking for yourself is really no big deal. Go buy yourself a cookbook and just start to follow the recipes. Start with some simple meals and when you get proficient at them then try to branch out to more difficult meals. It just takes some practice, that’s all. The more you cook the less intimidated you will feel.

Fresh foods are best and there is so much variety out there you will never get bored with the same old things. Get creative. Try new things, look for new recipes online and even get good enough to create your own. You may find things you never knew you liked.

Believe it or not, stress can play a significant role in how your body metabolizes sugar. When you feel stress, your body releases hormones that affect the absorption of sugar into your blood cells. If the sugar doesn’t get absorbed into your blood cells the way it should to be used for energy then the insulin will help your body store the sugar as fat. The the excess insulin will cause you to have to find treatment for hypoglycemia.

Diet For Hypoglycemia

A good diet for hypoglycemia is just the same as it would be if you want to lose some weight. Low carb, high protein. This is the best way to treat your hypoglycemia. If you make the changes you need to make in your diet then you may be able to improve or even eliminate your hypoglycemia.

If you cut the carbs then you should improve your situation dramatically. Eliminate or at least cut down on your intake of alcohol. Alcohol can greatly affect the frequency of hypoglycemic instances.

Decrease the amount of sugar in your diet. Stop drinking pop. Pop has no place in a diet for hypoglycemia. Cut down your use of white sugar, also. But do not just blindly start drinking diet pop, either, diet pop is poison and the chemical used in diet pop will actually trick your body into staying fat.

Increase your fiber intake. Fiber can help regulate the absorption of sugars that you eat. Try increasing the amounts of whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. All full of fiber and very good for you.

Now, if you have been doing some research, you have found that three meals a day is no longer the standard. What you should be doing, especially if you have diabetes or hypoglycemia, is eating several small meals a day. Small meals will help keep your blood sugar levels stabilized and under control.

Caffeine is another aspect of your diet that you should limit or even eliminate. Caffeine will actually help you feel full or at least less hungry and therefore you will not eat the way you should. Caffeine is never a substitute for a good meal.

These are the important changes that you should try to make and stick with when learning to deal with your diagnosis of hypoglycemia or even diabetes. Stay positive and don’t think of this as things you can no longer have. Think of this as an adventure in finding out all the new things you can have. When your blood sugars have stabilized then you can probably even reintroduce some of the old things you used to love, just in moderation from now on.

Having diabetes or hypoglycemia is not a death sentence, unless you choose to not do what is necessary to control it. Then you could find yourself in trouble. Big trouble. Symptoms for mild to moderate hypoglycemia are nausea, chills, cool, clammy skin, sweating, hunger, heart palpitations, irritability, anxiousness, confusion, blurry vision, and dizziness. Severe hypoglycemia can lead to loss of consciousness, seizures, coma, and death, if left untreated.

Following a good diet for hypoglycemia can help you lessen your risk for complications and even lessen your risk for becoming a full blown diabetic. If you are or do become a full blown diabetic then you will have other things you will need to concern yourself with. It is common for diabetics to have decreased blood flow to their extremities. When this happens it can lead to ulcers and other skin conditions. If serious enough the decreased blood flow could lead to tissue death and the need for amputation.