Eating well

Learning that you have to live with a disease like diabetes can come as quite a shock. Even harder is having to re-evaluate all your habits. It’s a lot to handle all at once. A team of health professionals can help you identify and progressively make the necessary changes.

Eating is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Eating healthily to control your blood sugar can be a major challenge. Eating habits, which are developed over many years, can be hard to change. Nevertheless, diet is one of the key elements in treating diabetes.

Trying to change everything at once is a recipe for failure. By making gradual changes and setting precise and realistic goals, you will increase your chances of success. When you’ve met your first goal, move on to the next one.

Dietary goals

1) Meet your nutritional needs : the diet recommended for people with diabetes is based on Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating. A balanced and varied diet is the best way to reach your goals.

2) Get to and maintain a desirable or healthy weight: diabetics who are overweight generally have more trouble controlling their blood sugar and need higher doses of medication or insulin to lower their blood sugar. By losing weight, diabetes is easier to control with less medication or insulin.

 Calculate your healthy weight using the Body Mass Index (BMI)

For several years, we have been using waist measurement to more accurately predict the risk of developing diabetes. How? Measure your waist at your navel.

Recommended values:

Body Mass Index (BMI)	Waist measurement
	Women		Men
	Less than 88 cm (35")	More than 88 cm (35")	Less than 102 (40")	More than 102 cm (40")
	Risk of developing diabetes
25 – 29.9	Increased	High	Increased	High
30 – 34.9	High	Very high	High	Very high
35 – 39.9	Very high	Very high	Very high	Very high
40 or more	Extremely high	Extremely high	Extremely high	Extremely high

3) Control your blood sugar with these simple rules: eat three (3) well-balanced meals per day, restrict your intake of sweetened foods (honey, syrup, jam, sugar, etc.), and have your meals and snacks (if needed) at regular and set times.

4) Prevent heart disease: cutting back on the total amount of fat, especially animal fats, in fact your diet helps reduce the risk of developing heart disease. Saturated and trans fats, in particular, should be avoided.

Consulting a dietitian will help you put these goals into concrete dietary action.

Composition of foods

Carbohydrates, proteins and lipids (fats) are the energy components of food. They give cells the energy they need to function. Non-energy components in food include vitamins, minerals, fibre and water.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates include all the food sugars. There are two main categories of carbohydrates:

1) Simple carbohydrates : the most common are glucose or dextrose, fructose, lactose and sucrose.

These simple sugars are found in fruit and fruit juices; in some vegetables and their juice, like carrots, turnips and green peas; in milk, yoghurt and, of course, in sweetened foods like pastries, chocolate, jams and syrups.

2) Complex carbohydrates : these long chains of glucose molecules are better known as starches.

They are found in starchy foods: breads and other bakery products, crackers, cereal, rice, pasta, legumes and potatoes.

Carbohydrates directly affect blood sugar levels. That is why it is so important to control the amounts you eat. People with diabetes are advised to choose nutrition-packed carbohydrates; i.e., full of vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Proteins

Proteins are essential for building, repairing and replenishing all the organs of the body. It takes on average of two hours to digest proteins.

There are two types of proteins:

1) Animal proteins: found in meat, poultry, fish, organ meats, eggs, dairy products.

2) Vegetable proteins: found in legumes, nuts, grains, peanut butter and tofu.

Proteins have little direct effect on blood sugar. They can often help control your appetite because they make you feel full.

Fats

Fats play a role in the transportation of certain vitamins and in providing the body with essential fatty acids. However, too much fat, especially saturated fats and trans-fats, may cause high cholesterol and obesity. Fats take an average of four (4) hours to digest, and they contribute to that full feeling after a meal.

Attention! Some fats are hidden in foods: poultry skin, cold cuts, fried foods, certain cheeses, nuts and grains, sauces, vinaigrettes, mayonnaise, pastries and chocolate.

Vitamins and minerals

Only small amounts of vitamins and minerals are required each day, but they are indispensable to life.

Most foods contain a variety of vitamins and minerals but no single food contains all the essential elements in sufficient quantities to meet the body’s needs. That’s why it is so important to choose a variety of foods every day.

Your daily vitamin and mineral needs should be met with a balanced diet. However, vitamin supplements are sometimes necessary for people with special needs or an inadequate diet.

Fibre

Fibre is vegetable matter that our bodies cannot digest. Fibre helps to keep our bowels regular and also makes us feel full. When eaten in large quantities, fibre can also slow down the absorption of sugars and control the level of cholesterol in the blood.

Fibre is found in whole-grain cereals, some vegetables (corn, cabbage, broccoli, etc.), wheat bran and oat bran, legumes, and in many fruits (apples, strawberries and citrus fruits).

Conclusions

People who live with diabetes must make sure they eat well-balanced meals with at least one food from each of the four (4) food groups (dairy, fruits and vegetables, meats or meat alternatives, and grains) from Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating.

In addition to eating meals at the same time every day, the portions need to be adapted to the needs of each individual person. Ingesting too much food at a meal can greatly raise blood sugar levels. Hence, it is better to eat smaller meals and, if needed, have a nutritious snack between meals and in the evening.

Source: Diabetes Quebec and Marie-Claire Barbeau, dietitian, Diabetaid Education Service. Revised in February 2004.