Getting the right amount of nutrition, while not consuming too many carbohydrates and fats, can be quite a balancing act. A diabetes nutrition guide can be a helpful tool in keeping your food intake balanced, keeping your blood sugar levels down, and avoiding diabetic complications. To understand the requirements of this diabetes nutrition guide, you should have an understanding of what you are working towards. This diabetes nutrition guide has 3 main goals:
Keep your blood sugar levels on target. This is the most important goal for any diabetic. To do this you should always eat at the same time of day, exercise daily, and keep your intake of simple carbohydrates low.
Protect your heart. Diabetics have a tendency to develop heart disease over time. So keeping you’re your cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood pressure levels within a proper range is vital to your overall health.
Achieve, and keep, a reasonable weight. For overweight diabetics, and type 2 diabetics, choosing foods that will help you maintain a healthy weight. This involves taking on lifestyle changes which will help you sustain that weight as well. According to the American Diabetes Association, even moderate weight loss can help reduce diabetes risks significantly.
Diabetes Nutrition Guide: Overall Guidelines
These diabetes nutrition guidelines are listed for the overall health of all diabetic. For individual health needs you should visit a dietitian to determine which guidelines are adequate for your personal health. A planned-out diabetes diet that fits you and your lifestyle is the best way to ensure you are meeting both your diabetes and nutritional needs. However, to have a general understanding of what your body needs, please review the following:
45-65% of a diabetic’s daily calories should consist of carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are much healthier than simple carbohydrates. Healthy sources of carbohydrates include vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and beans.
25-35% of a diabetic’s daily calories should consist of fats. A person needs to intake a certain amount of fat to stay healthy, but watch the types of fats that they consume. Monounsaturated fats are ‘good’ fats that can contribute to your health. These can be found in foods like canola oils, peanut oil, olive oil, avocados, and nuts. Omega-3 poly-unsaturated fats are equally as important. These can be found in flaxseed oil, fish, and walnuts. Saturated fats, which come from meat or dairy products, should only take up 7% of your daily choleric intake. Foods containing trans-fats are very unhealthy for diabetics and should be avoided as much as possible.
12-20% of a diabetic’s daily intake should be derived from proteins. Poultry, fish, and soy are much healthier than red meats. Diabetics with kidney disease should limit their protein intake to less than 10% of their caloric intake (The New York Time, 2012).
