The diet is particularly important in all cases of diabetes and it should be respected regardless of the drug treatment used. To be effective, the diet needs to be individualized according to age, gender, physical activity, food preference and any associated diseases (obesity, hypertension, renal diseases, etc.).
General Tips
For starters, here are some general recommendations on diabetes diet:
- Calories: the person suffering from diabetes that has a normal weight needs the same amount of calories as a normal person, but in different proportions of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates. The overweight will follow a hypo caloric diet (with fewer calories) and the underweight will follow a hyper caloric diet (with more calories).
- Carbohydrates: 50-55% from the caloric contribution (about 300g a day). Avoid simple carbohydrates that have a rapid absorption and the refined products such as sugar and its derivatives.
- Proteins: 12-15% of the total amount of calories (about 1 gram per Kg a day); in case of renal impairment it will not exceed 0.8 grams per Kg a day)
- Lipids: 30-35% of the total amount of calories (about 125 grams per day)
- Fibers: 30-35 grams a day from vegetables, fruits and cereals
- Salt intake: less than 7 grams a day and for people that have hypertension no more than 3 grams a day.
The person suffering from diabetes should eat smaller quantities of food, but more often (5-6 meals a day). He/she needs to make a schedule and eat every day at the same hours. Dinner needs to be served at least 2 hours before bedtime.
Foods A Patient Is Allowed To Eat
- tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, cabbage, eggplant, leeks, lettuce, carrots, celery, beets, dried onion, garlic;
- melons, lemons, strawberries, cherries, currants, nuts;
- meat, fish and their derivatives;
- milk and its derivatives (cheese, cream, butter)
- eggs
- sugarless soft drinks (with sweeteners)
Foods That Are Prohibited
Foods with high amount of carbohydrates prohibited to diabetes patients:
- sugar, honey, malt;
- biscuits, cakes made with sugar, candy, chocolate, halva;
- figes, raisins, dates, prunes, raisins, jam, marmelade.
- white bread
- graham bread
- potatoes, beans, peas
- rice
Examples Of Diets
An example of diet for a young adult that is around 170 cm tall and weights about 70 kg that makes an average physical activity (energy consumption of 40cal/kg/day), may be the following:
Morning: milk coffee (250 gr.) bread (60 gr.) cow cheese (100 gr.) and pepper
Snack: bread (40 gr.) with butter (20 gr.), sausages (100 gr.) and fruit (100gr.)
Lunch: clear vegetable soup with croutons (bread 100 gr.) meatballs with vegetables and mashed potatoes (150 gr.), lettuce, bread (60 gr.) stew with saccharin (100 gr. fruit)
Snack: cheese (50 gr.) with tomatoes and bread (40 gr.) fruit (100gr.)
Dinner: salad, bread (40 gr.) rice pudding with meat, egg cream (one cup)
At bedtime: milk (250 ml.) and bread (20 gr.)
Total calories: 2800/day
Besides the food categories that are allowed to diabetes patients you need to know certain preparation rules that are often unknown to patients:
- Never use sugar or sugar products to prepare food.
- To remove the bitter taste of the saccharine and other sweeteners, you need to dissolve it in some water. This will be added at the end of the food preparation.
- The preparation of sauces is made without flour. For thickening you can use sieved vegetables.
- If you eat toasted bread you need to weigh it before toasting.
- Fruits and vegetables are weighed before heat treatment (boiling, baking). it is best to eat them as much as possible in the raw state;
- After boiling pasta will increase their volume and contains about 20 grams carbohydrates for 100 grams of pasta.
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