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meals
and snacks must be balanced to provide a mixture of carbohydrates,
fats and proteins. Children must have adequate calories for
growth; a teenager's meal plan should allow flexibility to match
an often erratic schedule. Adults may need to reduce fat,
cholesterol and protein to guard against kidney and heart disease.
An overweight person with type II diabetes needs to focus on
weight loss by cutting 200 to 300
calories from his daily diet and increasing exercise to burn up
more.
For
most
diabetics,
complex
carbohydrates
(vegetables, reads, cereals and pasta) should make up the
bulk of the
diet. Because their fiber content
slows
the
release of
glucose,
high-fiber starches--such
as
whole-grain bread, beans,
peas
arid lentils—help suppress a
sharp increase
in
blood
sugar
after high-carbohydrate meals. High-grade protein (lean
meats, meat substitutes and low fat dairy items) should
supply 10-20% of daily calories. Fruits
are
a nutritious source of simple sugar. If you
use canned fruits,
buy them packed in natural juices instead of syrup. Ounce
for ounce, dried fruits have more concen trated
sugar
than
fresh.
Be
careful
to
limit salt and salty foods if you
have high
blood
pressure, a complication of diabetes.
In contrast to earlier ADA recommendations,
the current dietary guidelines allow leeway in eating
simple carbohydrates.
It is no longer an
iron-cladl
rule that syrups, sugars and sweeteners must be avoided in
favor of vegetables, breads, cereals, pasta and other complex
carbohydrates. The emphasis is now on monitoring total
carbohydrate consumption rather than the source of the
carbohydrate. So, a cookie will have no more effect on blood
glucose than mashed potatoes,
provided
the
total
amount of carbohydrate is the same. Still, all
carbohydrates are not equal when it comes to nutrition. Starches
provide vitamins, minerals and fiber, whereas sugar and sweeteners
provide mostly calories; therefore, starches should make up the
bulk of the diabetic diet, and sugar only a small amount.
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