Diabetes
Research
Diet &
Lifestyle
Diet
& Diabetes
The diet advocated for diabetics is
not a 'special diet'. It is a healthy diet which is recommended for
everyone. Everyone with diabetes has different dietary requirements
depending on age, weight, activity. It is suggested that your GP refer you
to the state registered dietitian at your local hospital who will be able
to give you more specific advice.
A summary of dietary recommendations made
by the British Diabetic Association is as follows:
- Avoid being overweight. It is more
difficult to control diabetes if you are overweight.
- Eat regular meals and a wide variety of
foods. It is important to eat regular meals so that your blood glucose
level does not swing from one extreme to another. This is particularly
important if you are taking tablets or insulin for your diabetes.
- Eat high fibre carbohydrate foods. e.g.
brown rice, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal bread, oats, vegetables, fruit,
beans and lentils. This will help control your diabetes.
- Reduce your intake of sugar and sweet
foods e.g. sweet cakes, chocolate and sugary drinks.
- Reduce your intake of fried and fatty
foods which are very high in calories.
- Avoid special diabetic products e.g.
diabetic sweets, diabetic chocolate, diabetic biscuits. These are not
necessary, contain the same amount of fat and are not significantly lower in calories than their non-diabetic counterparts.
- Use salt in moderation for good general
health.
- Drink alcohol in moderation.
The following is a list of more detailed
suggestions with regard to day to day eating patterns.
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Fruit
& Vegetables & Diabetes
Most people do not eat enough fruit and vegetables. So make sure you
eat enough to obtain fibre, vitamins and minerals as well as maintaining a
healthy digestive system. There is no fibre in animal products like meat,
cheese and eggs. Fibre is also removed from foods as they become more
refined so try to eat unrefined products such as wholegrain bread, brown
rice, etc. Don't just add bran to refined foods because it does not
contain the wholegrain nutrients. Try to eat at least 3-4 pieces of fruit
per day. If you are eating tinned fruit buy the ones in fruit juice rather
than syrup. Sweeten stewed fruit with artificial sweeteners. Eat small
amounts of dried fruit as it is a concentrated form of sugar and it should
be eaten in small amounts. Grapes and mangoes are quite sweet and if you
eat them in large amounts this may affect your blood glucose level.
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Carbohydrates
& Diabetes
The basic foods themselves will mostly be those you have always probably
eaten. it may be that you have heard that you should cut down on starchy
carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, potatoes and chapatis. This is not
true. It is the refined carbohydrate foods e.g. sugary cakes, that you
should be careful about. Starchy foods, often known as complex
carbohydrates, should form the basis of your meals. Eat these types of
foods at every meal and make it the main part of the meal. Aim to eat the
same amount of starchy foods each day. Eat more potatoes (boiled and baked
rather than fried or roasted). Choose rice and pasta for a change. There
are many breakfast cereals to choose from.
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Protein
& Diabetes
Make use of pulses (beans, peas and lentils). Add them to stews and
casseroles. Vegans should ensure eating low fat protein foods e.g. pulses
(soya bean products such as tofu are a good choice). Nuts are nutritious
but high in fat and therefore calories so if eating nuts as part of a main
meal do not use them as snacks especially if you are overweight.
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Fats
& Diabetes
If you need to use oil or fat, choose an unsaturated one e.g. olive,
rapeseed, sunflower or corn oil. Use reduced fat spreads and
non-hydrogenated reduced fat margarines. Granose produce a vegan low fat
margarine and all their margarines are made with non-hydrogenated fats.
Most saturated fats and hydrogenated fats tend to raise the blood
cholesterol level. Saturated fats are usually found in animal foods such
as butter, lard, dripping, fatty meat and full fat dairy products. Use
less oil in recipes than suggested. Where possible do not use oil for
cooking but cook by boiling, casseroling, baking, grilling, steaming or
microwaving. The British Diabetic Association recommends making meat, fish
and cheese the smaller part of meals (which is easy for vegans!) and
filling up on starchy foods and vegetables instead.
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Added Sugar
& Diabetes
Do not panic about the added
sugar in savory foods such as baked beans or tomato ketchup. It will not
be enough to affect your blood glucose levels. Eating healthy regular
meals will help to stop you getting too hungry and resorting to sweet
foods. As long as your day to day eating patterns are healthy and your
blood glucose levels are good, the occasional celebration meal or little
bit of chocolate cake will do no harm. If you are going to eat something
which is very sugary then do so after a meal. However, if you are
overweight, the fewer sweet cakes and biscuits you eat the better.
Eat reduced sugar or no added sugar jams and pure fruit spreads. Use fresh
fruit for snacks. Plamil sugar free rice pudding or sugar free soya milks
are useful.
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Fluid
(including alcohol) & Diabetes
Drinking lots of fruit juice, even if unsweetened may make your blood
sugar level rise too high. If you like juice, take it with a meal rather
than on its own. If drinking because you are very thirsty then dilute it
with water or better still drink the water on its own. Drink at least 6-8
cups of fluid a day. Avoid sugary drinks and use the sugar-free ones where
you can. Men should have no more than 3 units of alcohol a day, women
should have no more than 2 units. Don't save up all your units and binge
at the end of the week. Alcohol can cause hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar
level). Drinking alcohol also makes it harder to recognise a hypo and
recover from it.
e.g. 1 unit = 1/2 pt beer, lager, cider or
1 pub measure of sherry or
1 standard glass wine or
1 pub measure spirit
Try to ensure the following:
- don't drink on an empty stomach or miss
a meal so you can have a drink
- If you drink beer or lager, choose
ordinary ones preferably with an alcohol content of less than 5%. low
sugar 'diet' beers and lagers tend to be higher in alcohol and are
best avoided.
- Use sugar-free or slimline mixers
- Choose medium/dry varieties of wines or
sherry
You may also be at risk of having a hypo up
to several hours after drinking alcohol. It is therefore important to have
something to eat with your drink or shortly afterwards.
Source : The Vegan Society
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Aloe Vera
& Diabetes
Two placebo-controlled studies were conducted
at the Medical Plant Information Centre, faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol
University in Bangok investigated the application of Aloe vera juice
derived from the preserved gel in the treatment of patients suffering from
diabetes mellitus.
In the first study(1), 72 patients (aged
35-60 years) with a high fasting blood sugar level and a typical diabetic
glucose tolerance test result were assigned to a treatment or placebo
group, and were matched according to age, sex and weight. The patients in
the treatment group received one tablespoon of Aloe vera juice (80%) twice
a day for 42 days. The Aloe vera juice was prepared at the Faculty of
Pharmacy at Mahidol University in Thailand from Aloe vera gel with the
addition of flavourings and preservatives.
Fasting blood glucose levels were measured
weekly and triglyceride and cholesterol levels every two weeks. The
results showed that the average (mean) blood glucose level of the patients
in the Aloe juice group was significantly reduced from the second week of
the study and continued to fall throughout the treatment period, whereas
there were no changes reported in the placebo group. Furthermore, in the
treatment group, blood glucose levels fell from an average of 250.36 (+/-
7.65mg%) to 141.92 (+/-4.12mg%) by day 42. Triglyceride levels also fell
significantly in the Aloe group after two weeks from 220.31 (+/- 11.40mg%)
on day 1 to 122.72 (+/- 5.46mg%) by day 42. Once again, no significant
changes were observed in the placebo group. No changes in cholesterol were
observed in either group.
In another study, the researchers monitored
72 patients (aged between 35-70 years) with diabetes mellitus who had been
unsuccessfully treatedwith glibenclamide. 23 of the patients were women
and the remaining 49 were men.
The patients were assigned to either the
placebo or treatment group, and were matched according to sex, age and
weight. The patients in the treatment group received one tablespoon of
Aloe vera juice twice a day, plus glibenclamide (5mg) twice a day for 42
days. The placebo juice was reported to have the same colour, taste and
smell as the Aloe juice with the same dosage of glibenclamide.
The results after two weeks showed that the
mean fasting blood glucose level of the patients in the Aloe juice and
glibenclamide group was significantly reduced and this continued to fall
as the study progressed. Mean blood glucose levels fell in the treatment
group from 288.14 (+/- 8.45mg%) on day 1 to 148.03 (+/- 4.61mg%) by day
42. Triglyceride levels also fell significantly in the Aloe and
glibenclamide group after 4 weeks. In the treatment group triglyceride
levels
(1) Yongchaiyudha S, Rungpitarangsi V,
Bunyapraphatsara N, et al. Antidiabetic activity of Aloe vera juice. I
Clinical trial in new cases of diabetes mellitus. Phytomedicine 1996;
3,3:241-243.
(2) Bunyapraphatsara N, Yongchaiyudha S, Rungpitarangsi V et al.
Antidiabetic activity of Aloe vera juice. II Clinical trial in diabetes
mellitus patients in combination with glibenclamide. Phytomedicine 1996;
3,3:245-248.
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