Can Diabetics Eat Carbs?

Eating With Diabetes: Smart Snacking

20 Diabetes-Friendly Snack Ideas Whether you want to lose weight or simply eat healthier, enjoying a couple of snacks each day is a smart habit for many people. Eating a planned snack between meals can help curb your hunger (and therefore prevent overeating at mealtime) and also increase your energy levels when you need a boost. Snacks offer an additional benefit for people with type 2 diabetes: They can help optimize your blood glucose control. So if you haven't incorporated snacks into your diabetes meal plan yet, now may be the time to start. Here's what you need to know to snack smart, along with some carbohydrate-controlled snack ideas you can try today! 3 Considerations When Planning Snacks The number of snacks a person with diabetes should eat during the day depends largely on your eating preferences, your weight-management goals, and the timing of your major meals. People with diabetes can eat snacks throughout the day for a number of reasons—simply enjoying a mid-morning snack or planning them into their day for better blood glucose control. Exactly how many snacks you should eat—and when you eat them—is very individualized. Meeting with a registered dietitian or certified diabetes educator is the best way to make sure your diabetes meal plan meets your needs. However, here are a few basic guidelines that can be helpful when planning snacks. How many hours pass between your meals? In general, people with diabetes who want to optimize blood glucose control should not go longer than five hours without eating. If you consistently eat your main meals every 4 to 5 hours, then you may not need any snacks between meals. However, if your main meals are generally spaced out at longer intervals, snacking between meals can help you achieve your best blood glucose co Continue reading >>

Treatment Of Diabetes: The Diabetic Diet

The mainstays of diabetes treatment are: Working towards obtaining ideal body weight Following a diabetic diet Regular exercise Diabetic medication if needed Note: Type 1 diabetes must be treated with insulin; if you have type 2 diabetes, you may not need to take insulin. This involves injecting insulin under the skin for it to work. Insulin cannot be taken as a pill because the digestive juices in the stomach would destroy the insulin before it could work. Scientists are looking for new ways to give insulin. But today, shots are the only method. There are, however, new methods to give the shots. Insulin pumps are now being widely used and many people are having great results. In this Article Working towards obtaining ideal body weight An estimate of ideal body weight can be calculated using this formula: For women: Start with 100 pounds for 5 feet tall. Add 5 pounds for every inch over 5 feet. If you are under 5 feet, subtract 5 pounds for each inch under 5 feet. This will give you your ideal weight. If you have a large frame, add 10%. If you have a small frame, subtract 10%. A good way to decide your frame size is to look at your wrist size compared to other women's. Example: A woman who is 5' 4" tall and has a large frame 100 pounds + 20 pounds (4 inches times 5 pounds per inch) = 120 pounds. Add 10% for large frame (in this case 10% of 120 pounds is 12 pounds). 120 pounds + 12 pounds = 132 pounds ideal body weight. For men: Start with 106 pounds for a height of 5 foot. Add 6 pounds for every inch above 5 foot. For a large frame, add 10%. For a small frame, subtract 10%. (See above for further details.) Learn More about Treating Type 2 Diabetes The Diabetic Diet Diet is very important in diabetes. There are differing philosophies on what is the best diet but below is Continue reading >>

Can I Ever Eat Carbohydrates If I Have Diabetes?

The main thing to remember with diabetes is carbohydrate control. Your total daily intake of carbohydrates should be at least 130 grams (g) per day, ideally 40% to 45% of your total caloric intake. If you regularly take medication or insulin for your diabetes, it's helpful to maintain meal-to-meal consistency in distributing your carbohydrates throughout the day. What does this mean? It means you still need to eat plenty of carbs, which contain sugars, but you also need to become educated about selecting foods with a low glycemic index, which is a system of ranking how quickly certain carbohydrate-containing foods raise your blood glucose levels. Foods with a low glycemic index will raise your glucose levels more slowly and help your body stay on a more even keel. Absolutely! Carbs are essential to the health of all people. But when it comes to carbs, it's important to discuss type 1 and type 2 diabetes separately. In type 1, the body does not produce insulin, the hormone needed to process sugar or glucose. So when carbs are consumed, additional insulin has to be injected to cover the rise in blood sugar. Depending on body size, composition and other factors such as medications etc., a certain amount of insulin has to be injected for each gram of carb consumed. Once this is known, a person with type 1 diabetes can consume as much carb as they want and just adjust their blood sugar with insulin. However, more carbs consumed leads to more insulin required and will cause weight gain. People with type 1 should not consume excessive amounts of carbs just because they can lower their blood sugar with insulin injections. In type 2 diabetes, the body is often resistant to insulin. So, in response to carbs too much insulin is released in the body causing weight gain and poor con Continue reading >>

Carbohydrate Controlled Diets

Tweet One area of confusion for diabetics and their diets is carbohydrates. So, should you eat carbohydrates or avoid them? Carbohydrates have a direct influence on blood sugar levels and so diets followed by people with diabetes tend to focus either on the quantity of carbohydrate intake or the speed at which carbohydrates are absorbed by the body. In the UK, patients diagnosed with diabetes are generally recommended by health professionals to follow a low GI diet rather than a low-carb diet. What is a carbohydrate controlled diet? A carbohydrate controlled diet is a diet in which carbohydrate intake is either limited or set at a particular value. Setting carbohydrate intake at set values or limits can be used by people with diabetes help stabilise blood glucose levels. Examples of carbohydrate controlled diets include: Fixed carbohydrate intakes A diet involving fixed intakes of carbohydrate through the day can help to simply diabetes control and may be helpful to people on insulin, and particularly those on fixed dose insulin regimens. Having a fixed intake of carbohydrate each day offers less flexibility in terms of meals but can offer more consistency over blood glucose control. People with type 1 diabetes will still need to have competence in carbohydrate counting. Restricted carbohydrate diets Restricted carbohydrate diets set a limit on how much carbohydrate you take in over the course of a day or for each meal. Low carbohydrate diets are a form of restricted carbohydrate diet. Restricted carbohydrate diets may specify a maximum value of carbohydrate intake. However, sometimes this is not needed, particularly if the diet suggests avoiding many of the kind of foods with higher carbohydrate intakes. How do restricted carbohydrate diets work? Restricting carbohydra Continue reading >>

Can A Diabetic Safely Eat Carbs To Prep For A Marathon?

Hi Duane. First of all, congratulations on your goal of running a marathon. This is a terrific way to stay motivated to exercise, and your type 2 diabetes should not get in the way. To help answer your question, I contacted internationally known sports nutritionist and author Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD. She explained that the more you train, the better your body will be able to utilize carbohydrates, so you do not need to fear carbohydrates, even with type 2 diabetes. She made a few suggestions for the most appropriate way to eat carbohydrates while still maintaining good blood sugar control. All of these tips will also work well for people without diabetes training for a marathon. Most important, you should fuel your body evenly throughout the day by eating mainly high quality carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables along with lean protein with every meal and snack. Try oatmeal for breakfast with an egg or a few egg whites, a turkey sandwich for lunch with a side of carrots and hummus, fruit and yogurt or nuts for an afternoon snack, and whole wheat pasta with turkey meatballs and a nice salad with olive oil for dinner. On longer training days, you will need more carbohydrates during and after your run. On runs lasting longer than 90 minutes, you will need to consume carbohydrate calories at a rate of about 200-240 calories per hour (or about 50-60 grams carbs/hour, depending on your body size). Don't worry about consuming carbohydrates during exercise as they will be burned very quickly by the body. You can consume carbohydrates in the form of a sports drink, sports gel, dried fruit, or even gummy candy. It is important to experiment during your training to determine what fuel source of carbohydrates works best for you. After exercise, it is important Continue reading >>

Healthy Carbs For Diabetes

1 / 9 Making the Best Carb Choices for Diabetes "When you say 'carbohydrate,' most people think of sugar," says Meredith Nguyen, RD, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator at the Methodist Charlton Medical Center Diabetes Self-Management Program in Dallas. But that's only half the story. Carbohydrates are also starches and valuable fiber, which are found in many nutrient-rich foods that should be part of a diabetes diet. Sugar is the basic building block that, depending on how it's organized, creates either starches or fiber. You need about 135 grams of carbohydrates every day, spread fairly evenly throughout your meals. Instead of trying to avoid carbs completely, practice planning your diabetes diet with everything in moderation. "There's nothing you can't have," Nguyen says. "The catch is that you might not like the portion size or frequency." Use this list of healthy carbohydrates to help you stay balanced. Continue reading >>

How To Manage Diabetes With A Carbohydrate-friendly Diet

Eating right is essential to the treatment and management of diabetes. For people with diabetes, managing carbohydrate intake and making healthy food choices is helpful and important. What Is Diabetes? Diabetes can be thought of as a disease caused by the body’s inability to process carbohydrates properly. Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, enables the body’s cells to absorb glucose (blood sugar). In people with diabetes, the cells don’t respond properly to insulin. Or, in some cases, the body doesn’t produce any or enough insulin to properly manage blood sugar levels. For many with type 2 diabetes, it’s both. The result is that blood glucose levels become abnormally high, potentially causing serious complications. Managing carbohydrate intake is one of the best ways to avoid these complications and control blood glucose levels. What Is a Diabetes-Friendly Diet? The key to managing blood sugar levels is managing carbohydrate intake. This is because carbs are responsible for raising blood sugar levels. Managing the quantity of carbs is the primary goal, although choosing slow-digesting, high-fiber carbs is helpful too. Besides carbs, you may also need to limit your sodium intake, limit saturated fats, and avoid trans fats. It’s also important to incorporate fiber and healthy fats into your diet. People with diabetes are at significantly higher risk for hypertension, high cholesterol, and heart disease than the general population. It’s important to take these risks into consideration when planning meals. What Should I Limit? Certain foods are harmful to your health if you have diabetes. Limit the following foods as much as possible: Trans Fat Listed as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats on a label, these are best avoided or limited to less Continue reading >>

How Low Is Low Carb?

Many agree: People with diabetes should eat a low-carb diet. Last week we looked at what “carbs” are. But what is meant by “low?” How much carbohydrate should you eat? The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, (PDF) recommend that healthy people get 50–65% of their calories from carbohydrates. A study posted on the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Web site agrees. For a woman eating a below-average 2,000 calories a day, 50–65% would be 250–325 grams of carb a day. The Dietary Guidelines call for “a balanced diet that includes six one-ounce (28.3 g) servings of grain foods each day.” This would mean 170 grams of carbohydrate from grains alone each day. And the average American diet includes many other carb sources. Most men eat closer to 3,000 calories a day, so their numbers would be higher. Sixty percent of 3,000 would be 1,800 calories, equivalent to 450 grams of carbohydrate each day. Anything less than the recommended range is sometimes considered “low-carb.” Most popular low-carb diets, like Atkins, South Beach, Zone, and Protein Power, are much lower, from 45% of calories down to 5%. Many diabetes experts recommend somewhat lower carb intakes than ADA does. On our site, dietitian Jacquie Craig wrote, “Most people need between 30–75 grams of carbohydrate per meal and 15–30 grams for snacks.” So that sounds like between 120 and 300 grams a day. Dr. Richard Bernstein, an MD with Type 1 diabetes and a long-time advocate of the low-carb approach to diabetes, suggests much lower intakes. He says eat 6 grams of carbs at breakfast, and snacks, 12 grams each at lunch and dinner. So that would be about 40 grams of carbs per day. If 12 grams per meal sounds like a small amount, it is. It’s about the amount in an average slice of bread. An Continue reading >>

Why Won’t We Tell Diabetics The Truth?

I’m appalled constantly at the misinformation we nutrition experts are telling folks with diabetes. It’s all over the place. The “everything in moderation” mantra, and how we need to eat less meat, less fat, and more whole grains, is a pervasive theme drilled into young dietitians, and spread to the public through our dietary guidelines. This information is making people sick. Last week, the following ad popped up in my Facebook newsfeed several times for “10 Foods That Are Great For Diabetics“. (This click bait article is also making the rounds on several other sites.) Here are the foods: dates, berries, garlic, flax seeds, apples, broccoli, oats, melons, kale and barley. Now, I don’t think that kale is BAD, but this list is like telling alcoholics to drink a little more orange juice or sprinkle some chia seeds into their martini and omitting the fact that they need to stop drinking booze. In our quest to avoid the truth and focus on individual super foods that will save us, this post is telling diabetics that dates are so amazing because 7 of them provide 4g of fiber. They forgot to mention that 7 dates equals 126g of carbs with no fat, so that’s pretty much like a syringe of sugar shot directly into your blood if eaten on an empty stomach. None of these top 10 lists had protein, and the only fat was flax seeds (for their omega-3’s) but what about fatty fish or fish oil, which is much more bioavailable? Why aren’t we instead telling them to avoid excess carbohydrates, because the last time I checked, you can actually reduce blood sugar by… not eating sugar! I’ve been on a protein and meat vindication kick lately, looking into how much protein we need, how much we’re eating, and what the best sources are. For this post, I decided to switch gea Continue reading >>

Starvation Can Cure Type 2 Diabetes

A new study shows that starvation (eating 600 kcal/day) can cure type 2-diabetes, just like gastric bypass surgery. Again, there is no need to explain the effect of the surgery with other speculative theories. The resulting starvation reverses diabetes. And the starvation isn’t even necessary to do that. Guardian: Low-calorie diet offers hope of cure for type 2 diabetes Unnecessary starvation If a type 2 diabetic stops eating (carbs) the symptoms of diabetes starts to go away. But starvation or surgery are unnecessarily painful ways to do it. Luckily diabetics can eat real food to satiety, as long as they avoid sugar and starch. The food that quickly turns into simple sugars in the gut. Cutting away their stomach or starving themselves is not necessary. All they need is good food. More Across the river for water: Surgery for diabetes PS A Gastric Bypass operation protects from eating too much carbohydrates in two ways. Number one: you can only eat miniature portions of anything. Number two: the smaller amounts of starch you eat is not digestedd as easily as the duodenum with the starch-digesting enzyme amylase is diverted from direct contact with the food. Continue reading >>

31 Healthy Ways People With Diabetes Can Enjoy Carbs

Photo by cookieandkate.com Whether you've just been diagnosed with diabetes or you've been managing it like a pro for years, chances are you always need new recipes to add to your repertoire. Or maybe you have a family member/friend/date who has diabetes, and want to cook dinner for them. Fear not. You don't have to cook special, "diabetic" meals. Or, despite popular myths, obsessively avoid carbs. Many people think that if you have diabeetus (as Wilford Brimley would say) that means you can't eat carbohydrates. But, in fact, people with diabetes should get about 50% of their daily caloric intake from carbs — like anyone else looking to follow a healthy diet. You just need to consider three things before chowing down: the type of carb, adding a protein, and portion sizes. These factors all impact blood sugar and can help keep sugars within normal range (aka glycemic control), which is the ultimate goal in diabetes management. NBC Studios / Via uproxx.com Here's what's going on: When you eat carbs, your body breaks them down into sugar (aka glucose) which is used for energy. Glucose is the ideal energy source for most bodily functions, including — most important — brain power. And insulin is a hormone that takes care of keeping your blood glucose in a safe range by transporting glucose from the blood into your body's cells. When a person has diabetes, their insulin is either not working effectively, is being produced inefficiently, or in some cases not being produced at all (depending on the type of diabetes). As a result, they have elevated levels of glucose in the blood. That's likely where the whole no-carbs-or-sugar misconception came from. "Just don't eat carbs or sugar and you'll be fine," right? Nope. It's not a carb thing, it's an insulin thing. Your body d Continue reading >>

Low-carb Diets For People With Diabetes (may 2017)

Save for later Diabetes UK has put together this position statement to explain how low-carb diets might be used to help manage diabetes. We used the best level of evidence to inform the recommendations and conclusions. Where available, we used evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses, but also included good-quality randomised controlled trials. The current evidence suggest that low-carb diets can be safe and effective for people with Type 2 diabetes. They can help with weight loss and glucose management, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. So, we can recommend a low-carb diet for some people with Type 2 diabetes. But there is no consistent evidence that a low-carb diet is any more effective than other approaches in the long term, so it shouldn't be seen as the diet for everyone. At the moment, there is no strong evidence to say that a low-carb diet is safe or effective for people with Type 1 diabetes. Because of this, Diabetes UK does not recommend low-carb diets to people with Type 1 diabetes. Evidence for low-carb diets in children reports adverse effects such as poor growth, a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, and psychological problems. So, we don't recommend low-carb diets for children with diabetes. People should be encouraged to eat more vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, pulses, seafood, nuts, and to eat less red meat and processed meat, sugar-sweetened drinks, sugar-sweetened foods, and refined grains such as white bread. Douglas Twenefour, dietitian and Deputy Head of Care at Diabetes UK said: "It is extremely important that dietary recommendations are based on good evidence rather than individual opinions. This position statement has been put together using the best evidence available, taking into consideration anecdotal reports and f Continue reading >>

What To Eat, How Much, And When

Meal planning is one of the most important things you can do to keep your blood sugar in control. Paying attention to what you're eating, how much, and when might seem like a huge challenge at first, but these tips can help make it easier. Quality: What Can I Eat? Having diabetes doesn't mean you can't eat food you enjoy. You can keep eating the foods you like. Just make sure to include lots of nutritious, healthy choices. Healthy, nutritious choices include whole grains, legumes (dried beans, peas, and lentils), fruits, vegetables, non-fat or low-fat dairy, and lean meats, such as fish and poultry. These foods are high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and lean protein, and low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and refined sugar. Healthier food choices aren't only good for people with diabetes. They're good for everyone. People who eat a variety of these foods every day have a well-balanced diet and get the nutrients their bodies need. Quantity: How Much Can I Eat? Learning about serving sizes is key to meal planning. Food labels on packaged foods and many recipes tell you what a serving size is. These labels tell you how many calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fat are in each serving. You'll need to know serving sizes to help you choose foods that keep your blood sugar from going too high after you eat. If you take fast-acting insulin to control your blood sugar, knowing the serving size will tell you how much insulin you need to take before you eat. Eating carbohydrates affects your blood sugar more than other foods. The more you eat, the faster and higher your blood sugar will rise. Eating fat and protein can affect how quickly your body turns carbohydrates into sugar. When you know the amount of carbohydrate, protein, and fat you're eating at a meal, you can learn to c Continue reading >>

Can I Eat Rice If I Have Diabetes?

Diet plays an important role in staying healthy, especially for people with diabetes. Many people wonder whether high-carbohydrate foods such as rice are healthy to eat. This article will explain how to count carbohydrates, how to incorporate rice into the diet, and what the healthy alternatives to rice are. Diabetes basics Diabetes mellitus is a group of diseases where the body does not adequately produce insulin, use insulin properly, or both. Insulin plays a crucial role in allowing blood sugar to enter the cells and be used for energy. There are two main types: type 1 and type 2 diabetes. People with diabetes have abnormally high levels of blood sugar. This can damage many organs in the body if left untreated. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases recommend the following steps to manage diabetes: making healthy choices in eating engaging in regular physical activity or exercise taking medications, if required A nutritious diet is important in keeping blood sugar levels at a healthy level. The healthy range is 80 to 130 milligrams per deciliter mg/dL before meals or below 180 mg/dL after meals, according to the American Diabetes Association. People with type 1 diabetes require insulin. Various insulin delivery systems and protocols are used to manage blood sugar levels both between and at meal times. People with type 2 diabetes often manage their condition with diet and exercise, and with medications as needed to keep their blood sugar levels within the target range. These medications vary in how they work. People with diabetes will have different treatment plans, and they will respond to food, exercise, and medication differently. It is important that people consult with a doctor to get personalized recommendations on target blood suga Continue reading >>

Diabetics Count Carbs, But Can't Give Them Up

COUNTING carbs? Diabetics were doing it long before low-carbohydrate diets like Atkins or South Beach were all the rage. But with some important differences, according to experts in diabetes and nutrition. Diabetics, they say, should not do without starches entirely, as the Atkins and South Beach diets do in their opening weeks and some diets advocate as routine. Carbohydrates need to be kept in check by diabetics because of the metabolic changes they set off, said Cathy Nonas, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. ''When we eat carbohydrates and they're broken down into blood glucose, insulin is sent out,'' Ms. Nonas said. ''If you watch out for your number of carbohydrates, you won't tax your pancreas as much, you won't need so much insulin. That would be one reason to count carbohydrates.'' That means limiting how many grams of carbohydrates are eaten each day, which is the chief method diabetics use to watch glucose levels. Gram amounts are available on food packaging. Mary M. Austin, president-elect of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, said that did not mean there was a ''magic number of how many carbohydrates you should eat, even for people with diabetes.'' Calculations of an acceptable number of carbohydrates depend on factors like total caloric intake, weight and height, amount of exercise and whether a person is trying to maintain weight or lose it. For diabetics, other factors enter the equation -- what medications a person takes and how much insulin goes into the body. A doctor should be consulted about changes in diet to assure that insulin and medication are adjusted accordingly. Ms. Austin says that the South Beach and other low-carb diets have spurred some of her patients to greater consciousness about what they eat and in wha Continue reading >>