Diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by persistent hyperglycemia it is a metabolic disease caused due to the imbalance in the blood sugar level that requires medical diagnosis, treatment and immediate controlling with some precautions.

The primary reason for categorizing food into six different groups is that foods vary in their carbohydrate, protein, fat, and calorie content. In our diet, bread is essential source of carbohydrates which provides energy, vitamins, minerals and fibers which help in maintaining blood sugar levels. Others sources are Beans, oats, barley and peas. As a whole grain takes longer time to digests these are among the wisest choice. Avoid Potatoes, Corn and Pasta as these are very rich in carbohydrates. 

Starch/Bread List

Starch/Bread on an average contains fifteen grams of carbohydrate, three grams of protein, a trace of fat, and eighty calories. Wheat bread, whole grain, pasta, cereals are best examples.

Vegetable

Each vegetable serving contains about five grams of carbohydrate, two grams of protein, and twenty-five calories on an average. Cabbage, carrot, Fenugreek leaves, spinach, bitter melon are best examples.

Fruit

Most of the fruits provide fifteen grams of carbohydrate and sixty calories. Fruit juices are less preferred as the fiber contained is not utilized and hence glucose level is high. Examples apple, grapes, oranges, papaya are best among fruits.

Meat

Meat and substitutes usually contains seven grams of protein. You are preferably advised to consume more lean and medium-fat meat, poultry, and fish in your meal plan.

Herbs

Taken regularly, herbs that contain powerful antioxidants can help reduce inflammation, which may lead to the development of type2 diabetes and is also implicated in heart disease, kidney problems, and other life threatening conditions.

Hence, being a vast choice of food in our day to day life we choose the best combination of minerals, vitamins, protein, carbohydrate and fats to regulate the effect of diabetes. Hence, it is important to find out what to eat and what not to eat for diabetes. Discuss taking herbs with your doctor and make sure to monitor your blood sugar levels regularly, when you factor herbs into your new active lifestyle and smart eating plan, you strengthen organ systems weakened by type 2 diabetes – and you just might be able to avoid taking blood sugar-lowering drugs. Here are some that show promise.

A person diagnosed with diabetes should take care not only in the amount of simple carbohydrates and complex, but also in the amount of protein and lipids, because diabetes is a disease of the “blood sugar” but this is only a symptom but a disease of the metabolism of other nutrients, the primary responsibility being the lack of insulin.

Less Carbohydrates?

The traditional food plans that require the patient not eat any more food like pasta, bread and potatoes, which came on the market products like noodles and bread for diabetics and gluten-free cookies, among others.

These products have the characteristic of having fewer carbohydrates. But in return, to keep them consistent and similar to the originals, they have additives that contain proteins and lipids, which may endanger the health of your kidneys and arteries.

Recall that these nutrients should also be accounted for in the food of diabetics.

Besides being more expensive, thanks to advances in nutritional research found that the diabetic does not need and can eat so much like the rest of the family.

In the “Consensus guidelines for diabetic food,” organized by the Sociedad Argentina de Diabetes, reaffirmed concepts that match the idea that the person with diabetes does not need to eat special foods, but on the contrary that needs is to learn to eat foods and common food, in a certain order and proportion, depending on your lifestyle, energy needs and personal tastes, harmonizing food when used with insulin and / or with oral hypoglycaemic .

The main idea is to consume all types of food, knowing when, how, how and how often consumed. To some extent, is similar to a healthy eating plan.

Of course it is always essential to consult a professional subject, and to plan food for a diagnosis of diabetes is not a list of prohibitions but rather a set of food arranged in a scientific manner.

Food Plan Recommendations:

The recommendations of the meal plan can be given in the form of fixed menus or tables or by sharing food, a more complex system initially, but provides greater flexibility in the long term. These systems are combined, can provide lists of food exchanges for a fixed menu.

The type of eating plan is very dependent on the characteristics of each person, being an essential adaptation to habitual lifestyle. It must be considered if there is hypertension, dyslipidemia, renal or liver or other processes to make the necessary adjustments in the meal plan.

Insulin Dependent Diabetes Type I

Type I diabetics must strictly respect the schedules of each meal during the day. In turn, these hours are distributed according to the type of insulin and its peak of action. Therefore, it is inadvisable to skip any meal or abruptly change their hours of feeding.

Likewise, total carbohydrates consumed daily recommended, distributed as follows:

      1 / 7 for breakfast
      2 / 7 at lunch
      1 / 7 at tea
      2 / 7 at dinner
      1 / 7 collation that will increase the peak action of insulin. (may coincide with any other food supplemented

Insulin Independent Diabetes Type II

Must take special care to evenly distribute the total amount of carbohydrates consumed per day at each meal. Ie, all foods must have an equal amount of carbohydrates.

Food for diabetics suggests:

     Skim milk 
      No more than three eggs per week.
      Defatted meat (poultry without skin, fat-free vaccine, not fried fish).
      All kinds of vegetables Group A and B.
      A daily serving of vegetables in the group C , or replaced by an equal amount by weight cooked (after cooking) of flour, cereal or pasta.
      All kinds of fruit.
     Legumes replacing cereals.
      Maximum 70 grams of whole grains per serving (size of a well of coffee).
      Preferably integral bread and crackers and low fat tenor.
      Crude oils.
      Sugar-free drinks, low calories. Low-calorie beverages must be consumed in a controlled manner.
      Avoid sugar, sweets, candies and kneaded bread or confectionery. (All kinds of food with simple carbohydrates).

Once calculated calorie requirements necessary, we must provide a 55-60% in the form of carbohydrates. In diets for exchange, an exchange of HC is equivalent to 10 g of HC.

Each exchange is an HC amount of food, among other nutrients, contains 10 grams of carbohydrates. For example, in a 2000 kcal diet should be 60% HC (1200 kcal). As each gram of HC provides 4 kcal, 300 g of HC is what we need to generate 1200 kcal. 300g 10 g of HC exchange, involving exchanges of HC 30, which will be distributed throughout the day under the guidance of the specialist and the type of insulin treatment.

Examples of foods that are equivalent to an exchange of HC:

      5 g of toasted wheat bread (rusks)
      20 g white bread
      50 g cooked lentils
      200 g broccoli
      200 grams of asparagus (large 8-10)
     35 g baked potato
      35 g of fried potatoes (home)
      18 g of commercial potato fried (chips)
      75 grams of prunes (2 pieces)
      100 g of tangerine (1 piece)
      75 g of apple (1 small)
    100 g Peach (1 medium)
      150 g melon
      100 g Orange (1 small)
      50 g banana (1 / 2 small)
      200 g of cow’s milk
      250 g plain yogurt

Common General Recommendations:

I can take sweeteners are used to replace sugar and sweetener have a power much higher than refined sugar. Are the heated cyclamate, aspartame and saccharin. The most recommended of all is aspartame. In general must be the maximum because excessive intake can cause side effects.

The Sorbitol is used in sugarless chewing gum. It is also important to respect its peak to avoid side effects.

Should restrict salt consumption: consumption should be restricted when there is salt hypertension. Diabetes requires no special restrictions on salt content of the diet.

Can I drink alcohol: general recommendations for a person with diabetes does not differ from those recommended for the general population. Absolute abstinence should be advised in cases of pregnancy, pancreatitis, advanced neuropathy, hypertriglyceridemia, or alcohol abuse. If alcohol is the maximum recommended intake of 2 drinks / day for men and 1 drink / day for women. It is believed that one drink contains 15 grams of alcohol.

Alcohol can have a hyper or hypoglycaemic. Depends on the amount of alcohol consumed in a short time and if it is taken with or without food. To avoid the hypoglycemic effect of alcohol are advised to take some food. One should keep in mind that 1 gram of alcohol produces 7 calories are called empty because they have no nutritional value.

Can I rely on special food for diabetics? Generally depends on the composition, and that under this label foods recommended and discouraged. It is important to avoid products labeled them know their carbohydrate content and caloric distribution. In case of doubt it is best to avoid them. The consumption of dietary products for diabetics and should always be controlled, accessed and recommended by a specialist.