The Food Manager

Nutrition, along with exercise and medication (insulin or oral Diabetes pills), is important for good Diabetes control. Good Diabetes control means keeping your blood-sugar level as close to normal (non-diabetic level) as possible. Diet care is an every day necessity. We bring you some tips to help you manage the way you eat:

Make changes in your diet gradually

It may take longer to accomplish your goals, but the changes you make have a better chance remaining with you, and becoming habits.

Set short-term realistic, goals

If weight loss is your goal, try to lose 2 kgs in two weeks, not 20 Kgs in one. Success will come more easily, and you'll feel better about yourself.

Reward yourself

When you achieve a short-term goal, treat yourself to a movie, buy a new shirt, read a good book or visit a friend. Do the things you like to do.

Measure foods

Be careful about serving sizes, and learn to estimate the amount of food you are served when dining out. Measuring all the food you eat, for a week or so will certainly help you learn the art of estimation.

Measure the food after it has been cooked

Uncooked foods sometimes weigh less after being cooked. This is true for most meat. Also, starches often swell when cooked, so a small amount of uncooked starch can become a much larger amount of cooked food. It makes sense, thus, to measure your food after it has been cooked.

Read food labels

"Dietetic/Diet" on a food label means that something in it has been changed or replaced. There may be less salt, less fat, or less sugar, but dietetic food is not necessarily sugar-free or calorie-free. Some dietetic foods may be useful - you can eat dietetic foods that contain up to 20 calories per serving three times a day, as free foods.

Recognize sweeteners

There are two types of sweeteners in the market: those that contain calories and those that do not. Sweeteners with calories, such as fructose, sorbitol, and mannitol, can cause cramping and diarrhea when used in large amounts. And these sweeteners have calories, which do add up. Sweeteners without calories include saccharin and aspartame, these may be used in moderation.

Act on delays

If a meal is unavoidably delayed, you may need to prevent an insulin reaction with fast-acting sugar. You may also have to eat a small snack.

Do not delay food after intake of medicines

Insulin shots as well as oral drugs are designed to bring down your blood sugar levels drastically. Hence it is very important to eat something after the drug has been taken to ensure that you don't end up hypoglycemic.