Diabetes is a chronic disease but one that can be managed through a proper diet. Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and grains, while eating very little sugar and fat is the right way to go for diabetics. In addition to not being able to handle sugar, diabetics are prone to other problems, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, which makes a healthy, well-balanced diet all the more important.
Instructions
1. Plan your meals for the day or week in advance. This way you will know what you are going to eat at each meal. This helps to alleviate skipping meals or choosing unhealthy foods because you were not prepared. Spread your meals out throughout the day to make sure you are not hungry. Diabetics need to maintain a normal level of sugar in the blood to prevent feeling sick.
2. Make a menu and shop for these meals in advance. First, decide if you will be shopping for the one week or two weeks. Purchase enough food for the amount of days you decide on, and be sure to include healthy snacks of your choice as well. Choose fresh fruits, whole grain breads and a few cuts of lean meats. Chicken, turkey and lean cuts of ham would be favorable choices for diabetics. Recipes that require beef can be substituted with one of the lean meats named above.
3. Prepare meals with a nonstick cooking spray such as Pam. Use the nonstick cooking spray instead of butter or shortening. Diabetics need to reduce the amount of sodium and fat in their diets as much as possible. Salt can cause an increase in blood pressure in some people, and high blood pressure could cause more health problems in diabetic patients.
4. Bake, broil or grill foods instead of frying. Frying foods in oil is not good for diabetics. The addition of fat could cause your cholesterol to increase, causing further complications to your health. Trimming the fat on the meats before cooking them is also a good idea to help reduce the overall amount in your diet. Control the portions you eat at each meal and never overeat.
Tags: blood pressure, cooking spray, could cause, diabetics addition, Diabetics need, each meal