Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common diseases in the world. Despite all its complexity, there are methods that can greatly facilitate a person's life. First of all, you need to follow a certain diet.
If you adhere to a properly prescribed diet, then diabetes will not affect the general well-being in any way, and in addition, the likelihood of various kinds of complications, including heart attack, stroke, etc. , decreases.
Types of diets
The diet for diabetes is determined depending on the type of the disease itself and the age category. So there are general principles for building proper nutrition, which are adjusted based on the individual indicators of the human body.
Since it is impossible to cure the disease, a certain menu is assigned to reduce the danger from it. Eating the right food at a clearly specified time is essential for:
- reducing the risks of chronic and acute complications,
- maintaining good health and relatively strong immunity,
- preventing or losing weight gain,
- keeping blood sugar levels within acceptable limits.
There are two types of diabetes. The first, in other words, is called insulin-dependent. Its development is associated with damage and death of cells located in the pancreas and responsible for the production of insulin.
With it, nutrition is aimed at maintaining the process of insulin therapy and is rather an additional method of controlling the disease. Its principles are similar to those followed by healthy people in achieving a good figure and well-being.
The main difference is the need to calculate the amount of carbohydrates. Since the treatment of type 1 diabetes consists in taking insulin, then you need to monitor what percentage of the daily diet is given for carbohydrates. As a rule, it should be no more than 60%.
Since type 2 diabetes, it is insulin-independent, develops in obese people, then, accordingly, the diet is in the first place. At the initial stage of the disease or mild, the point is to rationally get rid of excess weight.
When diabetes of this type reaches a moderate or even severe form, then in addition to diet, medications are prescribed to lower blood sugar, or insulin. It is worth noting that in such cases, you also need to pay special attention to physical activity. Thanks to them, such a problem as obesity can be solved without surgery.
The most popular diets are the so-called 8 and 9 tables. The eighth dietary table is applicable for those who are overweight or have a tendency to be overweight. The ninth is taken as a basis for determining the diet for diabetics.
Diet number 9 for diabetes
Diet No. 9 is considered curative and is prescribed to normalize metabolism (carbohydrates). It also aims to prevent disorders associated with fat metabolism. Its calorie content should not exceed 2500 kcal.
Such a diet is characterized as follows:
- calorie content should be reduced by eating animal fats and carbohydrates that are easily digestible (except for sweets and sugar),
- partial restriction or complete elimination of cholesterol and salt,
- consuming more vitamins and fiber,
- the protein content should be within the normal range.
All healthy diets, including the ninth, are based on correct food intake. You need to eat often and in small portions. In total, the frequency should be 5 or 6 times a day.
Fried or stewed foods should be eaten as little as possible or forgotten altogether. In the first place should be baked and boiled. It is best to design a menu for the week, as it will make it easier to keep track of it. Particular preference should be given to the following products:
- lean meat
- lean fish
- vegetables that contain no more than 5% carbohydrates,
- fruits (not all),
- natural drinks without sugar.
As for condiments and eggs, their consumption should be limited. This is especially true for egg yolks. The amount of proteins per day should not exceed 1. 5 pieces. In addition to the fact that it is necessary to exclude sweets from the menu for diabetes, pasta, pasta and puff pastry, pickled vegetables are also prohibited.
Bananas, dates, figs, grapes and all its derivatives should not be consumed categorically. The same applies to fats such as pork, lamb and beef. To get the necessary fats, you should eat butter (no salt) and vegetable oil in moderation.
Diet number 9 is the basis that is used in the appointment of the necessary nutrition. Depending on the personal indicators of the person with diabetes, it is adjusted. There are different types of diets that you can combine and find the one that suits you best.
What is a bread unit?
Since the point in proper nutrition for diabetics is to consume carbohydrates in a certain amount, then you should know how that cherished norm is determined, on which depends how much and what foods you need to eat.
All products, which include carbohydrates, have different physical properties and calories. These characteristics are not subject to the usual measuring method. In addition, nutrition in diabetes mellitus requires increased control over one's own daily intake.
In order to make it easier to determine how much you need to eat this or that product and not go beyond what is permitted, nutritionists have introduced the term "bread unit". The concept is used in cases where a diabetic is prescribed insulin intake.
With such a measured unit, it is much easier for a person to understand what can be eaten and drunk, and what not. He draws up his healthy menu based on personal indicators, and can also change some foods for others containing carbohydrates.
As a rule, a person should consume from 18 to 25 such units per day. Since there should be five meals, it is logical to rationally distribute this amount at all times. The main "dose" should enter the body in the first half of the day. To keep track of the number of units of bread consumed, you can write yourself a menu by day.
How many calories per day to consume?
The diabetes mellitus diet requires the rejection of many foods and dishes that could previously have been included in the daily diet. However, do not confuse food that allows you to normalize sugar levels with the one that is needed to lose those extra pounds.
Nutrition for type 1 diabetes is aimed precisely at correctly calculating how much insulin is needed. Caloric content in this case does not play such an important role. It must be monitored so as not to gain weight.
The type 2 diabetes diet does require increased control of calorie intake, as it often develops in the presence of obesity. However, it is also not worth bringing their count to fanaticism.
The number of calories per day is calculated depending on the individual indicators of the body. The diet itself should be low in carbohydrates, but it does not imply a complete lack of carbohydrates. You need to eat your fill, but it is important not to overeat.
When the question arises of what you can eat with type 2 diabetes, many believe that you need to sit almost on breadcrumbs and water. This is absolutely impossible. Food should be complete, containing vitamins and fiber.
There are various recipes for delicious, satisfying and at the same time healthy dishes that will not allow you to recover, but at the same time a person will be full of strength and energy. What specific foods should be consumed and what the approximate number of calories is allowed per day, negotiate with your doctor.
Useful and unhealthy foods
Low-carb diets are different. For a healthy person, they are less stringent than for someone who has been diagnosed with diabetes. But they have the same meaning. They differ in the main list of products, which are divided into healthy and harmful for diabetics.
Useful
- all kinds of vegetables,
- greens (spinach, sorrel, dill),
- mushrooms,
- meat and fish (lean),
- Coffee and tea,
- mineral water.
Harmful
Moderately increasing sugar:
- potato,
- cereals,
- pasta, including hard varieties,
- dairy products.
Strongly increasing sugar:
- sweets,
- honey,
- drinks with added sugar,
- alcohol,
- grapes and its derivatives,
- hot and salty seasonings.
This division of products is generally accepted and is often taken as a basis when developing menus for diabetes mellitus. But what is good for one person may turn out to be bad for another. Since everything is relative, an individual diet is prepared for each diabetic.
How to eat for obesity
It is believed that in order to lose weight, you must adhere to a strict low-calorie diet. But the point is, it doesn't work. Numerous studies have shown that with a decrease in the calorie content of your diet, apart from a constant feeling of hunger, up to hungry fainting, nervousness, and other things, nothing else happens.
With such a diet, it will be possible to lose weight literally by a few kilograms, but if at the same time the body was distinguished by elasticity and good muscles, then this is all that will leave it in the first place. Subcutaneous fat will not go anywhere, and sometimes, on the contrary, will accumulate even more.
A protein diet involves an active intake of proteins and a parallel reduction in the amount of fats and carbohydrates. The approach itself is not bad, but it also has its own nuances. Again, it is impossible to overdo it with proteins, and it is completely forbidden to exclude fats from the diet. Lack of carbohydrates will lead to a loss of vital energy.
In the end, it all comes down to a low-carb diet again. Itself is necessary to lower sugar. In losing weight, she is not downright a lifesaver, but of all the presented she is the best. Its merit is that all the necessary elements that are needed to maintain vital activity enter the body.
Thus, when there is a rational amount of natural fats, proteins and carbohydrates, the body does not need to make deposits. Metabolism begins to work like a clock, there is no chronic hunger, the symptoms of the disease practically disappear, and the person becomes more active.
Diet for type 1 diabetes
To maintain a healthy body with type 1 diabetes, the same low-carb diet is needed. But in this case, it must be strict. The table number does not play a special role here, although diet number 9 is often taken as a basis.
The problem is that even the effect of insulin is very different, therefore it is rather difficult to normalize the indicators. That is why it is necessary to adhere to a certain diet. The less carbohydrates enter the body, the less insulin is needed.
It should be understood that your own diet is interconnected with your personal insulin dosage. Therefore, when developing your menu, you need to take into account the amount of the drug. It is better to schedule this by day to make it easier to follow.
Diet for type 2 diabetes
Since type 2 diabetes is less complex than type 1 diabetes, diet is essential to lose weight and prevent it in the future. Again, a low-carb diet is also recommended. Of course, this is an approximate diet that is being adjusted. Its meaning is in the normalization of glucose and insulin in the blood, as well as in the control of insulin resistance.
Some people practice taking various diet pills and treatment with folk remedies. You should forget about the first one, because at best there will be no sense from these drugs.
Folk remedies, as a rule, consist in any herbal infusions and decoctions. If you really understand medicinal plants, then perhaps something will come of it, but you should not make it the basis of treatment.
Renal failure
Against the background of the disease, renal failure may develop. It should be understood that it is not caused by dietary protein, as many mistakenly believe, but by high blood sugar levels.
The active development of such an ailment is suspended when the glucose level returns to normal. For this, diet helps. Proteins are not excluded from the diet, but you need to work with carbohydrates. Proper nutrition available to the common people can even lead to the fact that the kidneys are fully restored.
However, if the process is taken to an extreme, then there will be no return to healthy kidneys. Moreover, in such a case, a low-carb diet can accelerate the destructive process. In order not to bring to this, you need to monitor your condition, and to control your nutrition, a table created for yourself will help, where dishes and doses of insulin are scheduled, if necessary.
Other important points
Diabetes can develop at any age. In children, it can occur against the background of the fact that there was an overeating of flour products, sweets. Finding the problem in time and starting to solve it correctly, you can avoid complications.
In women, the disease can occur for various reasons. Constant stress, abundant nutrition (mostly unhealthy foods), as well as inactivity can cause excess weight and, as a result, type 2 diabetes.
Quite often there is a situation when the disease arose during pregnancy. This is due to hormonal imbalances. In addition, a woman during this period can actively consume foods that can cause the development of diabetes.
As a rule, there is a less strict diet for pregnant women, which is aimed at normalizing processes in the body and partially losing weight, but at the same time without harm to the fetus.
With gestational diabetes mellitus or diabetes during pregnancy, strict nutrition should only be negotiated with a specialist. The diet should be adjusted taking into account the fact that there is a parallel development of the fetus. By excluding any products, you can harm the unborn child.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus develops slightly less frequently in men than in women. This is due to the fact that they have a slightly accelerated metabolism. But junk food, alcohol addiction and little physical activity can easily lead to such a problem.