Free Diabetic Diet Advice

You may fear that your diabetic diet is too complicated to follow, but don’t worry! Here are some diabetic diet guidelines to help you get started. Put your energy into the factors that matter most, and you will see the positive results reflected in your daily blood glucose readings, as well as in your A1c tests at the doctor’s office.

The most important thing to remember about your diabetic diet is that it is designed to keep your blood sugar levels within the range that your doctor considers healthy and feasible for you. If your blood glucose testing shows that your blood sugar is not within this range, then something is not working and you need to adjust your approach: consult your doctor.

There are three nutrients that food can provide: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Your diabetic diet will help you to keep careful track of the carbohydrates that you eat. Foods that contain carbohydrates include any bread products, fruits, dairy products, any foods that contain sugar, and some vegetables like corn, carrots, and lima beans.

The fats and proteins are not tracked as carefully as the carbohydrates. Proteins and fats are important nutritionally and for weight control, but they are not important in regards to controlling blood sugar levels. Only carbohydrates will become sugars in your blood after they are eaten. Overeating proteins and fats could cause you to gain weight, and under-eating proteins and fats could cause you to become malnourished, but neither of these actions will affect your blood glucose level.

Your doctor and/or dietitian will provide you with a diet plan to follow, including the number of servings of carbohydrate-containing foods that should be eaten at each meal and snack throughout the day. Most plans consider “one serving” of carbohydrates to be any portion of food that contains 15 grams of carbohydrates. For example, if you are allowed to eat three servings of carbohydrates for dinner, then that means your total carbohydrate intake needs to be 45 grams.

Your carbohydrate grams will be limited, so be sure to use them wisely! A small glass of soda or chocolate milk may contain 30-45 grams of carbohydrates by itself. If you choose one of these sugary beverages for lunch, you may use up all of your carbohydrate servings and not be able to have any bread on your sandwich! Sugary foods will waste your allowed carbohydrate grams and leave you hungry.

For diabetics, carbohydrates are the foods with the greatest impact on your health. Pay attention to them in order to get your diabetes under control.

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