How should I watch my diet when I have diabetes? What foods can you eat and what can’t you eat? Most people are not aware of the dietary requirements for people with diabetes. Dietary modification is an important part of comprehensive diabetes treatment and is also closely related to the quality of life of patients. Eating well and eating right is the only way to more effectively control the progression of diabetes.
First, people with diabetes need to learn to count total food calories.
Ideal weight (kg)=height (cm)-105.
- Adults at rest need 25-30 kcal per kg of ideal body weight per day;
- Light physical work 30~35 kcal;
- Medium physical work 35-40 kcal; heavy physical work requires more than 40 kcal.
Children, pregnant women, lactating women, and people who are malnourished can increase as appropriate, and obese people can decrease as appropriate. Then calculate the total number of calories required per day.
When selecting food groups, carbohydrates (staples such as rice and pasta) should make up 50-60% of the total calories in your diet. Protein (milk, beans, eggs, fish and shrimp, etc.) accounts for 10-15%, and fat (peanuts, sesame seeds, fried foods, fatty meats, animal offal, etc.) should provide no more than 30% of the total calories.
Because fiber-rich foods slow food absorption and lower postprandial blood glucose spikes, people with diabetes should consume more grains and fiber-rich vegetables. Salt intake should be limited to less than 6 grams per day. People with diabetes should stop smoking and limit alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption can cause blood glucose fluctuations, and severe hypoglycemia may occur on an empty stomach in large amounts and be difficult to detect.
After determining the total daily calories and the composition of sugars, fats, and proteins in your diet, you can make your own recipes by converting calories to foods based on 4 kcal per gram of sugar and protein and 9 kcal per gram of fat. The recommended distribution of calories among the three meals is 1:2:2, or 1:1:1.
A basic rule when choosing foods for people with diabetes is that those that may raise blood sugar quickly, and foods that are high in sugar or fat or starch, should be eaten sparingly. They are easily converted to glucose. For example, candies, preserves, sodas, sweet cookies, sweet bread, pastries, roast pork, dumplings, potatoes, corn, and taro are high in sugar or starch and are prone to hyperglycemia after consumption. And animal offal, egg yolk, fatty meat, peanuts, and walnuts are high in fat, leading to an increased risk of atherosclerosis in diabetics.
There are some tips that people with diabetes can learn when it comes to eating habits.
- Serve regular meals and snack less and more often. This will try to avoid blood sugar fluctuations.
- Eat dry, not thin, and hard, not soft. Because the thinner and softer the food is, the easier it tends to be to digest and the faster your blood sugar rises.
- Eat green, not red. means that green foods are generally lower in sugar than red foods and are suitable for diabetics.