DIABETES NUTRITION

Summary: Learning the essential task of diabetes nutrition in the fight against diabetes.

Does having diabetes mean you have to skip dessert all the time? Are M&M's, Twinkies, and hot fudge sundaes all part of a distant past? Do you have to avoid the candy aisle in the grocery like you would a person with leprosy?

Not exactly. Diabetes nutrition doesn't necessarily restrict you to cut off your sugar intake. Reducing your intake of foods rich in sugar or not adding sugar to your foods and beverages is good enough.

Diabetes is a serious disease. What a person eats, how much he eats, and when he eats, will dictate his risks. Other serious complications, like kidney failures, heart disease, and strokes may arise as a result of improper diabetes nutrition. Thus, a good diabetes nutrition along with some physical activities are strongly advised to effectively fight this dreaded disease and its complications. Some patients are being prescribed with diabetes medicines as well to achieve a healthy blood glucose level.

While blood glucose levels vary depending on the patient's history, the target levels for diabetic patients are: blood glucose levels ranging from 90 to 130 before meals; and a level less than 180 after an hour or two from the start of a meal.

Achieving the desired level of blood glucose is not a slow and painful process. A diabetes nutrition scheme may be suggested by your doctor along with a referral to a professional dietitian or nutritionist to aid you in your meal planning. However, some patients need not do extreme modifications to their diet. Small and gradual diet modifications can do wonders. An overweight person increases his risks of having diabetes seven times. An obese individual is 20 to 40 times more likely to have the disease than a person with a normal weight.

Your diabetes nutrition plan also influences the effectiveness of your diabetes medicines. Doctors of diabetic patients will most likely require them to take their meals on specific times as well as the prescribed medicines, to ensure that one will complement the other.

Some people may engage in long and strenuous exercises, hoping to reach their desired blood glucose levels. Experts do not recommend this. Instead, patients are highly advised to spend about half an hour of brisk walking every day to lessen the risk of diabetes.

As with other diseases, your deep awareness on diabetes and its complications will help you deal with the possible risk factors. It might be difficult to sometimes do away with the things that we love to eat but a solid diabetes nutrition program might just save us the heartache of totally letting go of all those yummy stuff for good.

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