The use of any medication for type 2 diabetes still cannot fully compensate for the impact of malnutrition on blood sugar levels.Proper nutrition is an important part of effective type 2 diabetes management and will help you reach your blood sugar goals.
Overweight, arterial hypertension, etc. Nutritional approaches for people with or without type 2 diabetes will vary slightly.
The vast majority of overweight people with type 2 diabetes. Excess weight prevents its own insulin from acting effectively, so blood sugar levels stay high.Therefore, weight loss is an indispensable condition for rational treatment!Even moderate weight loss (5-10%) improves carbohydrate metabolism, especially in the early stages of the disease.
How is weight loss achieved?
It should be noted right away that there are no special products or herbs for weight loss. Currently, there are no drugs that can provide quite effective and completely safe weight loss on their own without dieting.
The only reliable way is to limit the energy intake in the body.(indicated in calories), i. e. compliance with the ruleslow calorie food. The resulting energy deficit causes the energy reserves "conserved" in adipose tissue to be spent for various needs of the body and weight is definitely reduced.
Energy carriers in food are three components of food:proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The most high-calorie of them are fats, they contain 9 kcal per 1 gram; in proteins and carbohydrates - 4 kcal per 1 gram.
The most effective way to reduce the calorie content of a diet is to reduce its fat content. This is not only safe, but also useful for a modern person, because our diet, unfortunately, is oversaturated with fats. Compared with fats, the calorie content of proteins and carbohydrates can be considered moderate, but they still need to be somewhat limited in order to achieve a good effect in losing weight.
There are a number of products that do not need to be limited when losing weight. Rather, it is these products that can compensate for the above restrictions and replenish the reduced amount of food. This food group is represented mainly by vegetables that are poor in nutrients, but rich in water, as well as vegetables.vegetable fibersundigested. Vegetable fibers bring many benefits to the body: they improve intestinal function, help absorb vitamins, have a beneficial effect on fat metabolism, etc.
There are three product groups that must be consumed in different ways to lose weight.When you look at these groups, you will definitely have an association with a traffic light.
maximum limit
High-calorie foods: rich in fat, alcohol, sugar and sweets
Examples:any fat, lard, sour cream, mayonnaise; cream, fatty cottage cheese and cheese; fatty fish, poultry skin, canned meat; fish and vegetables in oil; fatty meat, smoked meats, sausages; sugar, sweet drinks, honey, jam, jams, sweets, cakes, cookies, chocolate, ice cream, nuts, seeds, alcoholic beverages.
Limit moderately (eat half of the previous regular serving)
Medium-calorie products: protein, starchy, dairy products, fruits and berries.
Examples:milk and sour-milk products with normal fat content or low-fat / skim, cheeses with less than 30% fat, cottage cheese with less than 4% fat, eggs, lean meat, fish, pasta, bread and fat-free bakery products, cereals; fruits, potatoes, corn, ripe peas and beans.
Use without restrictions
Low-calorie foods: vegetables (except potatoes, corn, ripe peas and beans) and low-calorie drinks.
Examples:radishes, radishes, beets, carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, bean pods, young green peas, lettuce, greens, spinach, sorrel, any cabbage; tea, coffee without sugar and cream, mineral water.
Is it possible to maintain a low-calorie diet without counting calories?
This is quite possible if guided by the above-mentioned principles of product selection. What's more, experts have long recognized that there is no number of calories a person should consume (it is quite difficult to state this exactly for each person), but that the number of calories a person actually reduces in their diet is important!
An indicator of the correct observance of the principles of low-calorie nutrition will be the achievement of the result: weight loss! If the weight does not decrease, this indicates that it is not yet possible to significantly reduce the calorie content of the diet.
How do different carbohydrates affect blood sugar levels?
Carbohydrates are the only nutrient that directly raises blood sugar, but that's not a reason to drastically limit them.
Carbohydrates in the diet of any person, including a person with diabetes, should be sufficient (at least 50% of total calories) as they are a source of energy for the body. Also, different carbohydrates have different effects on blood sugar levels.
There issimplevery easily digested carbohydrates (they are called sugars) because they are composed of small molecules and are quickly absorbed in the digestive tract (after 10 minutes). They instantly and very strongly increase the level of glucose in the blood. From these carbohydrates, sugar is made, honey, most fruit juices (they are also found in natural fruits, but the absorption of carbohydrates is not so fast due to the presence of fiber), beer. Such carbohydrates are also found in liquid dairy products, but due to their fat content, carbohydrates are not absorbed as quickly.
Another type of carbohydratecomplicated(starches) also raise blood sugar as quickly and not as much as simple carbohydrates. Representatives of such products: bread, cereals, pasta, potatoes, corn. The starch molecule is large and the body has to work hard to assimilate it. Therefore, glucose formed as a result of the breakdown of starch is absorbed more slowly (after about 30 minutes), which raises its level in the blood less.
Kitchen processing of starchy foods (any grinding, prolonged thermal exposure) contributes to elevated blood sugar levels. This means that a strong rise in blood sugar when eating starch can be avoided using certain processing and cooking methods. For example, it is better to boil potatoes whole in their skins, not mashed potatoes, so that they remain dense. It is also better not to cook the porridge for too long. It is preferable to cook them from large, uncrushed grains (buckwheat, rice).
Enriching foods with plant fibers prevents blood sugar levels from rising. Therefore, it is better to buy not from fine flour, but from cereals or wholemeal bread. Fruits and berries should be consumed in their natural state, not in the form of juices.
There are such carbohydrate products -"Free", after which the level of glucose in the blood does not rise or rises slightly. These products contain almost all types of vegetables in normal quantities (except potatoes). For example, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, dill, radish, turnip, zucchini, eggplant, zucchini, pepper, etc. Among the products of this group, the most carbohydrates are found in beets and carrots, but after them the increase in blood sugar is not so great. Therefore, if you eat in moderation (as a side dish, no more than 200 g), they can also be ignored.
Do I need to count carbohydrates?
A person with type 2 diabetes who takes oral antidiabetic medication or just diets does not need to accurately calculate the amount of carbohydrates in food. Many people with diabetes have heard of so-called bread units. Such a calculation system is available for insulin recipients. It allows you to correlate the amount of carbohydrates consumed with the doses of short-acting insulin that these people with diabetes inject before meals.
Special "diabetic" products
Sweeteners can make foods taste sweeter without raising blood sugar levels or gaining weight. But in this case, we are only talking about calorie-free sugar substitutes. These include aspartame, saccharin, cyclamate, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, stevioside. They do not affect blood sugar levels and weight at all. However, most "diabetic" sugar substitutes (cookies, chocolate, waffles) contain sorbitol, xylitol, or fructose, whose calories are almost as high as sugar. Therefore, when they are overweight, they should be limited as much as possible, like regular sweets.
fractional diet
Fractional mode means multiple meals during the day in small portions (5-6 times, but still no later than 2. 5-3 hours). This is helpful because starvation can occur when following a low-calorie diet. Eating more often will help reduce it. In addition, a small portion of food contains a small amount of carbohydrates, and this will facilitate the work of the pancreas.
Alcohol
Due to its high calorie content (7 kcal per 1 g), alcohol can contribute to weight gain. In addition, it directly worsens the indicators of fat metabolism and blood pressure. Therefore, limit your alcohol intake as much as possible.
Alcohol is known to have adverse effects on the liver. If a person with diabetes uses glucose-lowering drugs and insulin, it can cause hypoglycemia. Never drink alcohol on an empty stomach!