So What Can I Eat since I’m Diagnosed as Diabetic?
Burn fat with exercise. Being overweight causes a cycling negative effect on the body. Your body becomes more fatigued with excess weight and that causes you not to feel like doing things that will help maintain a lower weight. Eat a moderate meal without any exercise at all will result in increased weight. Don’t envision yourself having to spend 3 hours at the gym to become healthier. It isn’t that surge of exercise you need. Gradual increase in exercise (even if it only means a walk around the block) is critical to breaking that negative cycle.
Eating well balanced meals are the key to maintaining your health as a diabetic. Combine this with a daily exercise regime to use more calories than you take in. “Give me meat and potatoes!” used to be my motto. Then the doctor told me my triglycerides were up and if I didn’t start eating better I’d end up with diabetes. Talk about a scare! That caused me to start eating on a smaller plate, taking smaller portions and eating more vegetables. Eating fewer calories than you use (i.e. eat 1200 calories – use 1400 calories) is the key to gradual weight loss and a healthier body.
Cooked vs raw vegetables – which is better? Microwaving versus baking or boiling is not a good alternative because the cooking process, itself, is actually killing those enzymes. Include raw fruits and vegetables in your diet to provide many of the enzymes your body needs. Vegetables are good for you because they contain fewer calories yet a lot of fiber. Eating lettuce or carrots help you feel full so you have a tendency to feel like youve eaten a lot without having taken a lot of calories into your body.
Don’t feel like a “health nut” if you consider squeezing your own juice. That’s a stereotype given to people who generally put health above all else in life. Well, let’s face it. If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, you SHOULD be taking better care of your health and squeezing your own juice is one way to do that. Using a blender and avoiding adding extra sugar will give you juices that have a lot of good enzymes, lower sugar content and are better for you. You might even try guava or red grapes. They make a tasty juice as well as controlling your blood sugar level.
Our society has become obese, as the doctors like to say it. Fast food restaurants fry foods and pour the sugar drinks, shakes and little sweet pies. That makes it difficult to find a way for a diabetic to eat out. The result is taking most of your meals at home.
Foods rich in fiber help clean fat and blood glucose from your system. Naturally, this lowers the blood sugar levels. We talk about foods high in fiber being vegetables and a lot of those are found in salads. Naturally, we consider salads good for you to keep your body clean. The next thing to consider are the salad dressings. Take care here because things like mayonnaise and extra sugars are used to enhance the dressing’s flavor. If you pour on the dressing, you’re defeating the benefit of eating the salads in the first place. Moderation is the key to using dressings. Another option is to use low-calorie / low-fat dressings.
The pancreas produces enzymes to digest food in addition to insulin to regulate the sugar level of the blood. Over a period of time, the pancreas starts to lose its ability to produce both in most people. This simply means a good diet becomes more important as people get older. Many doctors end up suggesting patients add a dose of acidophilus to their diet to ease the stress placed on the pancreas by adding bacteria into the system that assists with the digestive function.
Four of the fat-fighting compounds you can always count on are calcium, fiber, omega-3s and vitamin D. Calcium is found in dairy products. When considering dairy keep in mind it’s best to use fat-free or soy milk products. Whole grains, fruits and vegetables are high in fiber. Walnuts, flax seed and fish contain a lot of omega-3s while vitamin D is found not only in dairy products, but also in eggs and fish like tuna, salmon and sardines.