Diabetes mellitus is a systemic chronic endocrine metabolic disease, a clinical syndrome caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. It is caused by absolute or relative deficiency of insulin secretion and reduced sensitivity of target tissue cells to insulin, resulting in a series of metabolic disorders such as sugar, protein, fat, water and electrolytes. For many years, the goal of diabetes treatment is to reduce insulin burden, correct metabolic disorders, maintain normal body weight and prevent complications. At present, diet therapy is the essential basic therapy in the treatment of diabetes, both at home and abroad. Through strict restriction of calorie intake and reasonable distribution of the three major nutrients of sugar, fat and protein, as well as appropriate supplementation of vitamins, inorganic salts and dietary fiber to achieve control of blood sugar. Proper diet, moderate exercise, smoking cessation and alcohol restriction, and psychological balance are the four cornerstones of health, and proper diet is the first of the four cornerstones of health. Diabetic patients should persist in diet control regardless of whether they take other methods of treatment. The basic principles of diabetic diet therapy 1. Simple diet control is not equal to dietary therapy Diet control is the basic means of diabetes control. The fundamental reason for the poor effect of diet control is that most of the patients just take simple diet control or even starvation therapy as diet therapy, thinking that the less you eat, the better it is for disease control. In fact, not, the lack of staple food intake, lack of reasonable nutrition with, will certainly affect the body’s normal physiological activities necessary for the basic energy supply. Medical research proves that if the human body does not get enough exogenous energy supplement for a long time, on the one hand, it will lead to excessive decomposition of fat and protein in the body, resulting in body wasting, long-term malnutrition, and even starvation ketosis. On the other hand, insufficient calorie intake, resulting in low blood glucose, will instead stimulate the secretion of hormones related to blood glucose, causing rebound excessive increase in blood glucose, making the condition more difficult to control. This is the reason why most patients with newly discovered blood sugar abnormalities undergo dietary control under the advice of doctors, while the results often fail. 2.Make a scientific and reasonable diet treatment plan The key to a scientific and reasonable diet treatment plan is to ensure the basic calorie intake, while also ensuring a reasonable supply of nutrition. This requires calculating the patient’s standard weight and calculating the total calories required daily according to his work intensity or activity, then allocating calorie sources according to the ratio of carbohydrates to 60%, proteins to 15% and fats to 25%, and also analyzing the amount of nutrients and calories contained in various food components before finally selecting and matching foods. 3.Control of total calories is the primary principle of diabetic diet treatment The calorie intake should be able to maintain or slightly lower than the ideal weight. Obese people must reduce their energy intake, and lean people can increase their calories appropriately to increase their weight. 4.Supply the right amount of carbohydrates At present, it is advocated not to control carbohydrates too strictly, carbohydrates should account for about 60% of the total energy, the daily intake can be in 250 grams-300 grams, obese people should be in 150 grams-200 grams. Cereals are the main source of energy in daily life, supplying about 38 grams of carbohydrates per 50 grams of rice or white flour. Other foods, such as milk, beans, vegetables and fruits also contain certain carbohydrates. Avena sativa, oatmeal, buckwheat noodles, corn flour, mung beans, kelp, etc. all have the function of lowering blood sugar. Now the market can often see “sugar-free food”, “low-sugar food”, etc. Some patients in the consumption of these foods, not only did not improve, but blood sugar rose. This is due to people’s misunderstanding of “low sugar” and “sugar-free”. People think that these foods do not contain sugar, and relax the control of food consumption, and the unlimited intake of these foods will also raise blood sugar. In fact, low-sugar foods refer to foods with low sucrose content, while sugar-free foods refer to foods that do not contain sucrose, but these foods are composed of starch, which can be converted into glucose and absorbed in the body, so they should also be controlled. 5, supply sufficient dietary fiber Research suggests that foods containing more dietary fiber can reduce fasting blood sugar, postprandial blood sugar and improve glucose tolerance. Vegetables, wheat bran, beans and whole grains all contain a lot of dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is a non-starch polysaccharide, which includes cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and mucilage. Dietary fiber cannot be decomposed by digestive enzymes in the stomach and intestines, but can be metabolized by bacteria in the large intestine to produce short-chain fatty acids, which provide nutrition for intestinal flora, while a small amount of short-pouch fatty acids are also absorbed by the body to provide energy. Pectin and mucilage can retain water, swell the intestinal contents and increase the volume of stool, thus being able to reduce the time of food transport in the intestine. The soluble fiber of oats can increase insulin sensitivity, which can reduce the rapid rise in blood sugar after meals, so that the body only needs to secrete less insulin to maintain metabolism. Over time, soluble fiber can reduce circulating insulin levels and reduce the need for insulin in diabetics. Therefore, it is advocated that the amount of dietary fiber should be increased in the diabetic diet, which can also lower cholesterol and prevent diabetes combined with hyperlipidemia and coronary heart disease. 6, supply sufficient protein The protein supply in the diabetic diet should be sufficient, but too much protein will increase the burden on the kidneys. When the kidney function is normal, the protein supply of diabetic diet should be similar to that of normal people. When combined with kidney disease, the amount of protein should be reasonably arranged under the guidance of a nutrition doctor. Milk, eggs, lean meat, fish, shrimp and soybean products are rich in high-quality protein. At present, it is advocated that protein should account for 10-20% of total energy. Cereals contain vegetable protein, if you eat 300 grams of cereals a day, you can consume 20 grams to 30 grams of protein, accounting for about 1/3-1/2 of the daily protein requirement. vegetable protein has a lower physiological value than animal protein, so vegetable protein should also be properly controlled in the diet. Especially in the case of combined kidney disease, the consumption of vegetable protein should be controlled. 7, control fat intake Some diabetic patients mistakenly believe that diabetic diet treatment is only to control the amount of staple foods. In fact, it is not. Nowadays, it is advocated not to restrict carbohydrates too much, but to strictly control fat is very necessary. Controlling fat can delay and prevent the occurrence and development of diabetic complications. It is now advocated that dietary fat should be reduced to 25% of total energy, or even lower. Saturated fatty acid fats such as butter, lamb fat, lard, cream and other animal fats should be restricted, and vegetable oils such as soybean oil, peanut oil, sesame oil and other fats containing polyunsaturated fatty acids should be used, except for coconut oil. Peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts and other fat content is also not low, also need to be properly controlled. Cholesterol should also be properly controlled to prevent complications. Foods with high cholesterol should be properly controlled, such as animal liver, kidney, brain and other visceral foods, eggs are also rich in cholesterol and should be eaten one per day or one every other day as appropriate. 8, supply sufficient vitamins and inorganic salts Where the condition is not well controlled patients, prone to complications of infection or ketoacidosis, attention should be paid to the supplementation of vitamins and inorganic salts, especially the increased consumption of vitamin B, vitamin B preparations should be given to improve neurological symptoms. Coarse grains, dry beans, eggs, animal offal and green leafy vegetables contain more B vitamins. Fresh vegetables contain more vitamin C and should be supplemented with attention. Among elderly diabetics, chromium should be increased. Chromium can improve glucose tolerance and lower serum cholesterol and blood lipids. Foods containing chromium include yeast, beef, liver, mushrooms, beer, etc. It is also important to eat more foods that contain zinc and calcium to prevent tooth loss and osteoporosis. Diabetic patients should not eat too salty to prevent the occurrence of hypertension, the daily salt should be under 6 grams. 9, diabetic patients should not drink alcohol Alcohol can produce energy, but alcohol metabolism does not require insulin, so a small amount of alcohol consumption is allowed. It is generally considered appropriate not to drink alcohol, because in addition to supplying energy, alcohol does not contain other nutrients, long-term drinking is detrimental to the liver, prone to hyperlipidemia and fatty liver. In addition, some patients are prone to panic, shortness of breath, and even hypoglycemia after taking hypoglycemic drugs. 10, diabetic patients should reasonably arrange three meals a day Diabetic patients should reasonably arrange three meals a day, each meal should contain carbohydrates, fat and protein, in order to help slow the absorption of glucose. 11, diabetic patients should eat less fried food should control fried food, vermicelli potato food and fruit. But not not to eat potatoes and fruits, should learn to master a variety of food exchange methods on their own, so as to achieve balanced nutrition. Second, the common method of dietary control Food exchange method This method is easier to grasp than the fine algorithm, more reasonable than the coarse algorithm, has been promoted in many countries in the world. Each region in China can develop a diabetic food exchange table according to the local dietary habits and the nutritional composition of the main and side foods. At present, China divides food into 6 categories according to its composition, and develops the weight of one exchange unit of each category of food, the amount of calories, the three major nutrients and the equivalent exchange table of each type of food. The doctor can guide the patient to calculate the total calorie requirement and the quantity of the three major nutrients for the whole day, and then choose the type of food and the number of unit servings that one likes and is suitable for with reference to the exchange table, and make a recipe for the whole day. Blood sugar rise index Diet therapy is an important measure to prevent and control diabetes, among which the food exchange method has been widely used, such as replacing 25 grams of rice with equal amounts of cornmeal, buckwheat noodles, doughnuts, green beans, etc.; replacing 25 grams of pork with 60 grams of eggs, 80 grams of carp, etc. However, research has found that the “quality” of different things is not the same, and even if you eat different foods containing equal amounts of carbohydrates, the magnitude of blood glucose increase in the human body will be different. This is why experts have developed the concept of the glycemic index (GI) to improve dietary therapy for diabetes. The GI is the percentage of blood glucose level in the body after eating 50 grams of valuable carbohydrates with equivalent amount of glucose and bread within a certain period of time. foods with high GI, after entering the body, are digested and absorbed quickly, resulting in higher blood glucose concentration, while foods with low GI are the opposite.