Diabetic Diet Plan - Keeping It Simple

Your diabetic diet plan can be simple and easy to follow. But that is not the problem for most of us. It's the years of bad habits that make a diabetic diet so hard. Worst of all, many of us grew up on foods that were not good for us.

Have you heard the term poor as churchmice? That was us, seven children of a pastor who liked to start new churches. We were raised on white bread, powdered milk, Kool-Aid and cheap cereal.

The changes may be drastic. That's why it's a good idea for a type 2 diabetic not to try to make them all at once.

Fast Weight Loss Diets

There is a simple trick to losing weight in a hurry. It's not a diabetic diet plan, but it works. Here it is - take out a food group.

A lot of diets cut out most of the carbohydrate group. They eat almost no fruit or grains, and no starch, and that leads to quick weight loss.

More drastic diets go all the way to liquid protein and almost nothing else. Basically it is starvation, and I know from personal experience that you lose weight fast.

Other diets cut out fats, and you lose weight since fats are high in calories. Then there are low protein diets like vegan and vegetarian that cause weight loss too.

Do you see the trick? When you get rid of one of the three main food groups you will lose weight. The question you have to ask yourself, though, is can you do it for the rest of your life? Because that is what it will have to be.

Do you know how many people lose weight only to gain it back? Most of us. A diabetic diet plan needs to be better than that.

What's Wrong With Doing It Fast?

Absolutely nothing, if you need to lose weight fast for surgery or to save your life. But if you are in it for the long term, there are problems with eliminating food groups in a diabetic diet plan. One is that the super fast weight loss ends when your body adjusts to the new diet.

Second, carbohydrates are the group that has the antioxidants. They are miracle workers for things like eye and nerve health, and they've been proven to reverse damage done by peripheral neuropathy in type 2 diabetes.

Carbs are also known to help you stay out of the hunger zone longer, which is very important when you are trying to control calories. The glycemic index is a wonderful tool. It helps you understand how carbohydrates fit into a diabetic diet.

Your body needs protein. Proteins are the building blocks of muscles and the other structures. Vegans and vegetarians know they need to get protein somehow, and they work hard to make sure they get it other ways.

Fats are an easy target for weight loss diets. We've been told for years that fats are evil, fats are bad for us, but many nutritionists are saying now that this aversion to fats was shortsighted and stupid.

The more they learn about what fats do for us, the more they realize that we need them. The fats in salmon and nuts and avocadoes are not just beneficial but necessary for type 2 diabetic health.

And chocolates are now good for us? That's right. It's because of antioxidants. If you want facts, check out this chocolate website for some healthy diabetic recipes.

If Fats Aren't the Enemy, What Is?

Our enemy has always been processed foods. Ready-to-eat meals, which includes fast food, can destroy a type 2 diabetes diet in one calorie-packed, nutrient poor meal.

There are web sites like CalorieKing that give you free calorie counters for most fast food restaurants, and those numbers make a great reality check.

Restaurants are not our enemy either. There are ways to eat out and not blow a diabetic diet plan all to smithereens. It used to take some doing, but lots of restaurants have diabetic meals right on the menu now.

Has your problem been that eating out is like a trip to a candy store? You already know you are going to eat things you would not eat at home. That mindset is a problem for me, so restaurant visits are rare.

What is it about processed foods that makes them so bad for a type 2 diabetic? One problem is that processing takes out fiber and all the other things that make whole foods good for us.

There is also the liberal use of salt and sugar, and appetite enhancers that make us hungrier. That's something we do not need if our diabetes diet is low calorie.

Added ingredients in processed food like breading and hydrogenated oils can turn a good diabetic food into a high calorie, high glycemic one.

Label makers conceal calories and sugars, making label reading difficult. That's why it's good to know what you're looking for when you read those labels.

Processed food has little or no fiber to slow down the digestion of all that high glycemic food. That means it gets into your bloodstream fast, as if it was pure sugar.

Keep Your Diabetic Diet Plan Simple

There are some simple rules to help type 2 diabetics:

1. Do most of your grocery shopping around the outside walls of the grocery store and avoid the inner aisles where the processed foods are. The outside walls are where you'll find fresh vegetables and fruits, the good carbohydrates. Anything with a short shelf life is most likely a whole food and better for you.

2. Find some whole grain bread. Some taste like sawdust and some are really good. Find the one you like. There's whole grain pasta too.

3. Don't buy crackers and potato chips. They're comfort food that's packed with empty calories and they turn to glucose as fast as sugar does. Good diabetic snacks will take some thought at first. There are some good ideas and snack recipes here.

4. Don't eat most of your calories in one big meal. The best diabetic diet plan is six small meals a day. That might be a huge change, but you can ease into it. Right now I'm at three small meals and two snacks.

5. If you want to keep some sugar in your diabetes diet, find a way to make it work using fiber and fats to slow down digestion of the sweet things you want. Here are some desserts you can try.

6. Don't expect sugar free foods and drinks to make diabetes go away. Artificial sweeteners have been around since 1890, and obesity and diabetes are bigger problems today than ever.

The Secret to a Successful Diabetic Meal Plan

Don't change everything at once. You became diabetic gradually, and if you change your diabetic meal plan in small ways, moving your diet toward what's best for diabetes health, you are more likely to stick with those changes.

Aesop said it. "Slow and steady wins the race." You can only sprint short distances.

Drastic changes will work for a little while, but it is small changes over time that will become a part of you. They make a difference in life and in a diabetic diet plan too.

Go to a diabetic life home from a diabetic diet plan.

Go back to the top.

_____________ Mini Site Map for a Diabetic Diet Plan_____________

10 Foods to avoid on your diabetic diet plan - reduce blood sugar spikes and improve insulin resistance by removing these foods from your daily life.

Diabetic snacking on the go can be a challenge, but there are ways to stay on your diabetic diet plan no matter where you are.

A diabetic meal plan uses the things you like and makes a wise plan you can stay with.

Diabetic food is simply healthy food.

Sugar free foods are not really free foods, but a few might help you with a low calorie diet.

Artificial sweeteners, the different kinds and how each is best used, as well as problems with them.

Snacks for a type 2 diabetic, what's good and good for you.

Some snack recipes to help you switch gradually to the six small meals a day diet.

Superfoods add the power of antioxidants to your snacks and recipes.

Carbohydrates, the good and the bad, and how they fit into your diabetic meals.

Desserts, recipes and ideas to put comfort food back in your type 2 diabetic life.

Diabetic cookie recipes, some sugar free ones and some wheat free ones to try.

Your recipe invitation, a chance to share your favorite diabetic recipe.

New! Comments