The use of any type 2 diabetes medications still cannot fully compensate for the impact of poor nutrition on blood glucose levels.Proper nutrition is an essential part of effective type 2 diabetes management and will help you achieve your blood glucose goals.
People with type 2 diabetes, with or without overweight, arterial hypertension, etc. , nutrition methods will differ slightly.
The vast majority of overweight people with type 2 diabetes. Being overweight prevents your own insulin from working effectively, keeping your blood glucose levels high.Therefore, weight loss is an indispensable condition for rational treatment!Even a small weight loss (5-10%) improves carbohydrate metabolism, especially in the early period of the disease.
How to achieve weight loss?
It should be noted right away that there are no special products or herbs for weight loss. At the moment, there are no drugs that allow you to lose weight very effectively and completely safely by themselves, without following diets.
The only reliable way is to limit energy consumption in the body.(it is indicated in calories), i. e. i. e. compliance with the ruleslow calorie food. The resulting energy deficit leads to the fact that the "conserved" energy reserves in adipose tissue will be released to meet the various needs of the body, and the weight will definitely decrease.
Energy carriers in food are its three components:proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The most caloric of them are fats, they contain 9 kcal in 1 gram; in proteins and carbohydrates - 4 kcal in 1 gram.
The most effective way to reduce calories in your diet is to reduce its fat content. It is not only safe, but also useful for modern man, because our diet is unfortunately saturated with fat. Compared to fat, the calorie content of protein and carbohydrates can be considered average, but they still need to be slightly limited to achieve a good weight loss effect.
There are a number of products that do not need to be restricted when losing weight. On the contrary, it is these products that can compensate for the aforementioned restrictions and supplement the reduced amount of food. This food group is mainly represented by vegetables, which are low in nutrients but high in water, as wellplant fiberswhich are not digested. Plant fibers bring many benefits to the body: they improve bowel function, help absorb vitamins, have a positive effect on fat metabolism, etc.
There are three groups of products that should be used in different ways to lose weight.Looking at these groups, you will definitely have an association with the traffic light.
Maximum limit
High-calorie foods: high in fat, alcohol, sugar and confectionery
Examples:any oil, lard, sour cream, mayonnaise; cream, fat cottage cheese and cheese; fatty fish, poultry skin, canned meat; fish and vegetables in oil; fatty meat, smoked meat, sausages; sugar, sweet drinks, honey, jam, jams, sweets, cakes, cookies, chocolate, ice cream, nuts, seeds, alcoholic beverages.
Moderately limited (eat half of previous normal portion)
Medium-calorie products: protein, starchy, dairy products, fruits and berries.
Examples:milk and sour milk products with normal or low-fat / skimmed fat, cheeses with a fat content of less than 30%, cottage cheese with a fat content of less than 4%, eggs, lean meat, fish, pasta, bread and lean baked goods, cereals; fruits, potatoes, corn, ripe peas and beans.
Use without restrictions
Low-calorie foods: vegetables (except potatoes, corn, mature peas and beans) and low-calorie drinks.
Examples:radishes, radishes, beets, carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, bean pods, young green peas, lettuce, greens, spinach, sorrel, any cabbage; tea, coffee without sugar and cream, mineral water.
Is it possible to follow a calorie-free diet without counting calories?
This is entirely possible if the above principles of product selection are followed. In addition, experts have long recognized that it is not the number of calories that a person needs to consume that matters (it is quite difficult to specify exactly for each person), but how much a person actually reduces his diet!
The indicator of proper adherence to the principles of a low-calorie diet will be the achievement of the result: weight loss! If the weight does not decrease, this indicates that it has not yet been possible to significantly reduce the calorie content of the diet.
How do different carbohydrates affect blood glucose levels?
Carbohydrates are the only nutrients that directly raise blood glucose levels, but that's no reason to drastically limit them.
Carbohydrates should be sufficient in the diet of any person, including those with diabetes (at least 50% of total calories), because they are the body's source of energy. Also, different carbohydrates have different effects on blood glucose levels.
There issimplecarbohydrates (they are called sugar), which are very easily digested, because they consist of small molecules and are quickly absorbed in the digestive tract (after 10 minutes). They immediately and very strongly increase blood glucose levels. Sugar and honey are made from these carbohydrates, there are a lot of them in fruit juices (they are also in natural fruits, but because of the fibers the absorption of carbohydrates is not so fast), in beer. Such carbohydrates are also found in liquid dairy products, but because of the fat, the carbohydrates are not absorbed as quickly.
Another type of carbohydratecomplex(starches), they also raise blood glucose, just not as fast and not as much as simple carbohydrates. Representatives of such products: bread, cereals, pasta, potatoes, corn. The starch molecule is large, and the body has to work hard to absorb it. Therefore, the glucose produced by the breakdown of starch is absorbed more slowly (after about 30 minutes), so its level in the blood increases less.
Culinary processing of starchy foods (any grinding, long-term thermal exposure) contributes to an increase in blood glucose levels. This means that by using certain processing and cooking methods, it is possible to avoid a sharp rise in blood glucose levels when eating starch. For example, it is better to cook potatoes not in the form of mashed potatoes, but to cook them whole with the skin, so that they remain dense. It is also better not to cook porridge for too long. It is better to cook them from large whole grains (buckwheat, rice).
Enriching food with vegetable fibers prevents the increase in blood glucose levels. Therefore, it is better to buy whole grain or bran bread instead of fine flour. Fruits and berries should be consumed in their natural form, not in the form of juice.
There are following types of carbohydrate products –"Free", after which the blood glucose level does not rise or rises slightly. These products include almost all types of vegetables in normal amounts (except potatoes). For example, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, dill, radish, turnip, zucchini, eggplant, pumpkin, pepper, etc. Among the products of this group, beets and carrots contain the most carbohydrates, but after them, the increase in blood glucose is not very high. Therefore, if you eat them in moderation (as a side dish, no more than 200 g), they can also be ignored.
Do I need to count carbs?
A person with type 2 diabetes who is taking oral diabetes medications or just following a diet does not need to accurately count the amount of carbohydrates in their food. Many people with diabetes have heard about the so-called bread units. A system of such calculations exists for those who receive insulin. This makes it possible to correlate the amount of carbohydrates consumed with the doses of short-acting insulin that these people with diabetes inject before meals.
Special "diabetic" products
Sweeteners can make food sweeter without raising blood glucose levels or causing weight gain. But in this case, we are only talking about low-calorie sugar substitutes. These are aspartame, saccharin, cyclamate, potassium acesulfame, sucralose, stevioside. They have absolutely no effect on blood glucose levels and weight. However, most "diabetic" foods (cookies, chocolate, waffles) contain sorbitol, xylitol or fructose instead of sugar, which have almost the same amount of calories as sugar. Therefore, if you are overweight, you should limit them as much as possible, just like regular sweets.
Partial diet
Partial mode is multiple meals a day (5-6 times, but still not more often than after 2. 5-3 hours) in small portions. This is useful because hunger can occur on a low-calorie diet. Eating more often will help reduce it. In addition, a small portion of food contains few carbohydrates, and this will make the work of the pancreas easier.
Alcohol
Due to its high caloric content (7 kcal 1 g), alcohol can contribute to weight gain. In addition, it directly worsens fat metabolism and blood pressure indicators. So limit your alcohol consumption as much as possible.
Alcohol is known to have a negative effect on the liver. This can cause hypoglycemia if a person with diabetes is taking glucose-lowering drugs and insulin. Never drink alcohol on an empty stomach!