Can People With Diabetes Eat Popcorn?

Can people with diabetes eat popcorn?

Popcorn can be a healthful snack for most people, depending on how it is prepared. With its fairly low calorie and high-fiber content, air popped popcorn is often a go-to snack for dieters.
However, people with diabetes have more to worry about than their waistlines when snacking on popcorn.
People with diabetes can eat popcorn but need to choose carefully the type of popcorn, how it is cooked, and how much they eat, due to popcorn's high carb content.
Nutritional information
Air-popped popcorn offers very few calories per cup. In addition, a cup of air-popped popcorn contains a little over 1 gram (g) in fiber. It also contains about 1 g of protein and about 6 g of carbohydrate.
Additionally, popcorn contains zero cholesterol and is almost fat-free, far less than 0.5 g per cup. The total calories in a 5-cup serving are between 100-150.
Popcorn qualifies as a whole-grain food. One serving can provide about 70 percent of the recommended daily intake of whole grain.
Popcorn is full of vitamins and minerals. A single serving of popcorn contains a number of vitamins and minerals, including:
vitamin A
vitamin E
vitamin B6
pantothenic acid
thiamin
niacin
riboflavin
A serving of popcorn also contains iron and trace amounts of manganese, calcium, phosphorus, copper, magnesium, potassium, and zinc.
The popcorn's hull or shell is the source of much of its nutritional value. The shell contains beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which are important for maintaining eye health.
The shell also contains polyphenols with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which may protect aga Continue reading

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7 Good Carbs for Diabetes Nutritionists Want You to Eat

Healthy carb: Oatmeal
iStock/Magone
Eating oats (the kind without added sugar) can slightly lower both fasting blood sugar levels and HbA1c, a three-month measure of blood-sugar levels, shows a review study by Beijing scientists. Have ½ cup cooked. Make a savory oatmeal: Top with a soft-cooked egg and mushrooms and onions sautéed in low-sodium vegetable broth.
Healthy carb: Sweet potato
iStock/margouillaphotos
These orange spuds are digested more slowly than the white variety, thanks to their high fiber content. Season with a dash of cinnamon, shown to help control blood sugar. Have ½ cup cooked. Make a snack: Top a baked sweet potato with cinnamon and almond butter.
Healthy carb: Brown rice
iStock/WEKWEK
Whole grains like brown rice contain all three parts of the fiber-rich grain kernel, while white rice and other refined grains have only the endosperm intact. The fiber helps to slow the speed at which carbohydrates hit your bloodstream.
Have ⅓ cup cooked. Make rice pudding: Mix rice with equal parts light coconut milk, and combine with dried cranberries and cinnamon; cover and soak overnight.
Healthy carb: Lentils
iStock/rimglow
The new 2015-2020 Guidelines for Americans recommend eating more protein-rich pulses, such as lentils and beans. And for good reason: Along with 9 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber, ½ cup cooked lentils contains potassium, which helps to control blood pressure. This is especially important because two in three people with diabetes have high blood pressure or take medication to lower blood pressure, according to the American Diabetes Asso Continue reading

Does Gestational Diabetes always mean a Big Baby and Induction?

July 3, 2012 by Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN
© Copyright Evidence Based Birth®. Please see disclaimer and terms of use.
This question was submitted to me by one of my readers, Sarah.
“I have a question about gestational diabetes. It seems like everyone I know who has had it has ended up being induced. Does gestational diabetes automatically mean induction? Does it automatically mean big babies? It seems like people get diagnosed and then give up on a natural childbirth and are treated as a sick person.”
I talked to Dr. Shannon (a family medicine physician), and she echoed Sarah’s perceptions about gestational diabetes:
“I would say that ‘routine care’ in the U.S. is to induce at 38 to 39 weeks for gestational diabetes (leaning towards 39 weeks nowadays) if the mom’s glucose is uncontrolled or if she is controlled on medication. However, women can technically be treated as ‘normal’ if their gestational diabetes is well controlled and baby’s growth looks normal on a 32 week scan. So people just might want to know they will get major push back from their provider if they refuse induction. It’s tough. Many OB’s cite the risk of stillbirth as a reason for induction, because the risk of stillbirth in women with regular diabetes is higher. However, there is no evidence that the risk of stillbirth goes up in gestational diabetes.”
Evidence Based Birth® offers an online course on Big Babies and Gestational Diabetes (3 contact hours)! To learn more, click here!
Dr. Shannon brings up several good points. First, she is talking about “routine care,” whi Continue reading

Type 2 Diabetes Overview

What Is It?
When you have this disease, your body does a poor job turning the carbohydrates in food into energy. This causes sugar to build up in your blood. Over time it raises your risk for heart disease, blindness, nerve and organ damage, and other serious conditions. It strikes people of all ages, and early symptoms are mild. About 1 out of 3 people with type 2 diabetes don't know they have it.
People with type 2 diabetes often have no symptoms. When they do appear, one of the first may be being thirsty a lot. Others include dry mouth, bigger appetite, peeing a lot -- sometimes as often as every hour -- and unusual weight loss or gain.
In many cases, type 2 diabetes isn't discovered until it takes a serious toll on your health. Some red flags include:
Cuts or sores that are slow to heal
Frequent yeast infections or urinary tract infections
Itchy skin, especially in the groin area
Diabetes can damage blood vessels and nerves in your genitals. This could lead to a loss of feeling and make it hard to have an orgasm. Women are also prone to vaginal dryness. About 1 in 3 who have diabetes will have some form of sexual trouble. Between 35% and 70% of men who have the disease will have at least some degree of impotence in their lifetime.
Some health habits and medical conditions related to your lifestyle can raise your odds of having type 2 diabetes, including:
Being overweight, especially at the waist
A couch potato lifestyle
Smoking
Eating a lot of red meat, processed meat, high-fat dairy products, and sweets
Unhealthy cholesterol and triglyceride levels
Other risk factors a Continue reading

What Causes Type 2 Diabetes?

Insulin resistance and high levels of insulin and lipids all precede the development of metabolic dysfunction. Which metabolic factor is to blame?
Type 2 diabetes is a multifactorial metabolic disease.1 Obesity, elevated levels of lipids and insulin in the blood, and insulin resistance all accompany the elevated blood glucose that defines diabetes. (Diabetes is defined as fasting blood glucose concentrations above 7 millimolar (mM), or above 11 mM two hours after ingestion of 75 grams of glucose.) But while researchers have made much progress in understanding these components of the metabolic dysfunction, one major question remains: What serves as the primary driver of disease?
Lifestyle choices characterized by inactivity have been postulated as one possible cause. Researchers have also pointed the finger at nutrition, postulating that poor food choices can contribute to metabolic disease. However, there is thus far weak support for these hypotheses. Changing to a healthy diet typically does not result in significant weight loss or the resolution of metabolic dysfunction, and it is rare to reverse obesity or diabetes through increased exercise. Furthermore, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between body-mass index (BMI) and activity level, though exercise clearly has many other health benefits.
With such macroscale factors unable to explain most cases of obesity and diabetes, scientists have looked to molecular mechanisms for answers. There are at least 40 genetic mutations known to be associated with type 2 diabetes. These genes tend to be involved in the Continue reading