The staple food is the main source of carbohydrates, the main source of the body’s daily calorie requirements, but also the main factor in maintaining blood sugar at a certain level, diabetic patients often have a love-hate relationship with staple food, both afraid of eating too much staple food blood sugar too high, but also afraid of eating less staple food caused by excessive hunger, and even induced life-threatening ketoacidosis. It is still very important to know how much, what and how to eat staple foods for diabetic patients.
Staple food is not the less you eat the better
The amount of staple foods: The amount of staple foods (raw rice and noodles) for diabetic patients is generally controlled at 200-300 grams per day, with the minimum amount of staple foods not less than 150 grams. Total calorie control is a prerequisite for a reasonable diet for diabetic patients. So for diabetic patients, is “the less staple food intake the better”?
Many diabetic patients believe that they must eat less staple foods to control their blood sugar. In fact, this is a great misunderstanding. Just like a car needs gasoline, the human body needs power to move, and nothing can be done without calories. For diabetic patients, it is not better to eat less staple food, but to eat the right amount of staple food according to their condition and activity intensity. If you eat too few staple foods and lack a source of calories, your body will inevitably have to use fat and protein to provide calories. Fat decomposition will produce ketone bodies, which can easily lead to ketoacidosis. The breakdown of protein in the body will lead to emaciation, weakness, anemia, low resistance, and easily secondary to various infections. This shows that the statement “the less staple food intake the better” is too one-sided.
What foods are rich in carbohydrates]
The main function of carbohydrates is to supply heat, carbohydrates containing the most sugar is white sugar, brown sugar and other refined sugar, sugar content of more than 95%; followed by rice, noodles, grains and other cereals, sugar content of about 80%, potatoes, white potatoes, shamrock, yams and other potato foods, the content is also quite a lot. In addition, dairy products, vegetables, fruits also contain a small amount of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates in food are the main source of postprandial blood sugar. Diabetic patients should choose the right amount of carbohydrate intake for themselves, that is, choose the right amount of cereal intake for themselves, which will not lead to excessive postprandial blood sugar, nor cause protein and fat decomposition as well as the occurrence of hunger. Also, refined sugar intake, such as candy, desserts and cookies, should be avoided as much as possible to prevent blood sugar spikes.
Types of staple foods
Coarse and fine staple foods with coarse and fine grains are the best choice for diabetics. Among the daily 4-6 taels of staple foods, in addition to the fine grains we usually eat such as rice and steamed buns, in fact, 50-100 grams of coarse grains, mixed grains and mixed legumes should be included (except for patients with combined kidney disease). Daily intake of coarse grains should not be concentrated in a meal to eat, it is best to eat part of the noon, and then eat part of the evening, which is more conducive to health.
Coarse grains refer to all grains other than rice and buns, such as whole wheat products, corn, millet, sorghum, oats, buckwheat and various beans. Coarse grains due to simple processing, which preserves many fine grains in the absence of nutrition, such as dietary fiber and rich B vitamins; at the same time, compared to fine grains, coarse grains have a lower glycemic index (from the entrance to digestion, absorption takes about 2 hours), can significantly alleviate the post-prandial hyperglycemic state, reduce blood sugar fluctuations, conducive to the control of post-prandial blood sugar.
How to eat staple foods more healthily
Avoiding overcooking food and minimizing the cooking time of grains can reduce the effect of equal amount of grains on blood sugar. For example, the glycemic index of thin rice cooked for a long time is high, while the glycemic index of rice is lower than that of thin rice. Therefore, when eating equal amounts of rice, the effect of rice on blood sugar is smaller than that of rice porridge. So, is it true that diabetics cannot drink porridge?
In fact, diabetics can drink porridge, but they should pay attention to the following points.
1. rice and mixed grains in porridge should be counted as part of the total amount of cereal consumed at each meal, which means that porridge is part of the staple food.
2. do not drink porridge that has been simmered for too long.
3. best to drink mixed grain porridge, the dietary fiber in mixed grains can inhibit the absorption of carbohydrates.
4. drink porridge with 100 grams of green leafy vegetables.
5. If you drink sweet porridge or porridge that has been simmered for too long, you should appropriately reduce the total amount of staple foods in this meal.
Diabetic patients should not consume foods made of various monosaccharides and disaccharides, such as white sugar, brown sugar, glucose, maltose, jardine, and candy. These sugars raise blood sugar very quickly, and it is advisable not to eat or eat less of the various pastries made from these sugars.
The time of eating staple food should be fixed every day
Diabetic patients should eat at least three meals a day, and should be combined with the daily medication situation, regular and quantitative, when encountering out-of-town meetings and travel, should also maintain a regular schedule of three meals. Generally three meals are allocated and eaten as follows: 1/5 for breakfast, 2/5 for Chinese food and 2/5 for dinner.
The diabetic patient’s diet of three meals and extra meals should be evenly matched with carbohydrates, fats and proteins at meals and in fixed proportions. After the total number of calories and the number of meals per day are regular, the amount of three meals should not be changed at will, and three meals should not be used as two meals, otherwise the metabolic process in the body will be disrupted and the control of diabetes will be adversely affected. Patients treated with insulin should especially pay attention to the regularity of their diet and eat regularly and quantitatively.
Diet therapy is the basis of diabetes treatment, and it is also something that people with diabetes should do to fight for their health. As the old Chinese saying goes, “Only those who help themselves are helped by heaven”.
The way to lower the glycemic index of staple foods]
The glycemic index determines how fast food raises blood glucose, and a low glycemic index raises blood glucose slowly. The following are six methods of processing staple foods to reduce the glycemic index of staple foods.
Increase the dietary fiber content of staple foods: Increase the dietary fiber in staple foods. If you can buy konjac directly every day, konjac powder can be used in the production of a variety of staple foods, adding konjac powder to flour to make noodles, bread, cakes, etc., can reduce the glycemic index of staple foods. Vegetables can also be added to staple foods, such as making vegetable dumplings.
Increase protein in staple foods: Add foods containing protein to staple foods. In addition to noodles, dumplings, which are often eaten in the north, are usually filled with vegetables and meat and eggs, and have a lot of protein and dietary fiber, which are also low glycemic index foods.
Coarse grains are not fine: the rougher the grain is milled, the lower the glycemic index. Take bread for example, white bread glycemic index is 70, but bread mixed with 75% to 80% barley grain is 34. cook quickly, add less water: food softness, raw and cooked, thin and thick, grain size have an impact on food glycemic index. It is not necessary to stew the grains for a long time after cooking, because the longer the processing time, the higher the temperature and the more water, the better the pasting and the higher the glycemic index.
High-low combination: foods with high and medium glycemic index are eaten together with foods with low glycemic index to get a meal with medium glycemic index. If coarse grains and fine grains are combined, the glycemic index of mixed foods can be reduced, such as two and noodle nests.
The simpler the processing method, the better: direct consumption of cereals or mixed legumes in their natural form, with soybean skins preserved as much as possible, such as barley cooked whole.