Healthy Dieting at Home

If you have just recently been diagnosed as a diabetic, you are probably wondering just exactly what you are supposed to eat. After your diagnosis and once your medications are straightened out, this should be your main concern. This will vary with each person due to age, weight, how active you are to begin with and of course just your general overall health. But as a general assumption, low fat, low carbohydrate and high protein diet will be what your doctor will be discussing with you. Of course this is a very wide open array of food. It is not just one or two kinds of food that you can eat. You can eat almost anything, but of course you have to watch your serving size and there are certain things that you should naturally avoid. You will just need to educate yourself a little.

Fruits and vegetables are filled with vitamins and fiber, plus they are low in fat. Keeping more than one type of each in the house will give you some variety. For meat you should choose only lean meats chicken or fish. Also, skinless poultry is a better choice than poultry with the skin still on. If you do find yourself eating any high fat meat make sure you limit your choices to a minimal amount and try not to make a habit out of it. If you are using ground meat try ground turkey or chicken. If you must have ground beef, get the leanest you can. Choose whole-grain bread over white bread, and stock up on fat-free and sugar free items. Also only drink diet drinks of any kind because these contain no sugar. For example, diet pop, diet iced teas or Crystal Light.

You have to be careful when buying food to put in your cabinets. Watch the expiration date on the package. You do not want food to go bad if you do not eat it in a week. Packaged foods are probably the most convenient but you have to watch for sugar, carbohydrates and fats. Also sodium is a good thing to keep an eye on. Plus you can read just the food labels alone and look for things like reduced sodium, fat free, no sugar added or low carbohydrates. At least things like this cause me to then read the nutritional facts label on the back. Usually the claim on the label is correct, but I have seen plenty of times when I read a label that says less sodium and when I check the nutritional facts, that can will have just as much sodium as the next can of the same product that does not state less sodium on the label. Read food labels first and the nutritional fact part of the label next in order to help find good choices.

When you cook with fats, use liquid fats over solid fats. The best liquid choices are canola and olive oil. Fat is high in calories so use fat sparingly because all diabetics have to keep an eye on their weight. To a type 1 diabetic who takes insulin cooking oil types not seem like a big deal. I am a type 2 who does not take insulin so I watch my diet probably a little more. However, I know a lot of type 1 diabetics who say no big deal, I will just take a little more insulin. I was not like this when I took insulin. I took exactly what the doctor said, no more no less. I still followed a good diet. Therefore, I recommend that type 1 diabetics follow the same rules as type 2 when it comes to eating. Watch all fats. Also, use healthy ways of cooking like steaming, boiling or baking as much as possible. You can add flavor by adding herbs and spices when cooking. I prefer Mrs. Dash because they taste great and they are a salt substitute. I use the table blend in cooking and after cooking, anywhere at all

Snacking is a very important part of a diabetic diet. This helps to keep your blood glucose from dropping to low in between larger meals. Personally I prefer fiber plus bars because then I know I have enough fiber in my diet alone just from those bars. Atkins snack bars is another good choice for snacks but look at the nutritional facts on anything because something might have to many carbohydrates or to much sugar for your individual diet plan. Also pretzels, popcorn and even yogurt if it has splenda in it is a good choice as well. You just have to read the nutritional facts and remember that you are buying a snack, so judge accordingly to your individual diet.