For people with diabetes, eating is never an easy task.
If you eat more, you will be afraid of a sharp spike in blood sugar. If you eat less, you will be worried about hypoglycemia. Even every bite of food you take is like walking on a swaying tightrope.
In fact, controlling blood sugar within the ideal range is not as difficult as imagined.
Experts from the Chronic Disease Management Center of Shandong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine emphasized that drug treatment does have a certain importance. However, lifestyle intervention, especially dietary control, is the foundation for stabilizing blood sugar.
Many people with diabetes have noticed that when they slightly adjust the combination of three meals a day, and also slightly change the order of the three meals a day, their blood sugar can become even more "obedient".
Today, based on the concept of chronic disease management in traditional Chinese medicine, we have sorted out a practical and easy-to-operate diabetes diet plan, starting from staple foods to snacks, and clearly describing every detail.
Choosing the right staple food will keep your blood sugar levels at bay
Many people with diabetes simply skip staple foods in order to control sugar. This is a big misunderstanding.
The main source of energy for the body is staple food. If you don't eat staple food, it will easily cause blood sugar fluctuations and lead to malnutrition.
The key is "how to eat" and "what to eat".
Try to avoid polished rice noodles as much as possible because they raise sugar quickly.
This can both increase dietary fiber , enhance the feeling of satiety and slow down the rate of blood sugar absorption.
If you like to drink porridge, you can drink multi-grain porridge or mixed bean porridge in moderation. However, you must remember not to make it too soft and rotten, and pay attention to the "dry and thin combination". Eat a few mouthfuls of vegetables or steamed buns before drinking porridge, and swallow slowly in small mouths.
It is advisable to keep the three meal times fixed, such as 7 a.m., 12 noon, and 6 p.m. The amount of staple food for each meal needs to be controlled, set to 1 tael for breakfast, 2 taels for lunch, and 1 tael for dinner.
It should be noted that these root vegetables include potatoes, corn with high starch content, sweet potatoes, lotus roots, and yams. After eating them, you need to reduce the amount of staple food accordingly.
Try not to eat foods that are high in oil and carbohydrates, such as fried foods, spicy soups, and noodles.
There are enough vegetables and the order is particular
Green leafy vegetables are "good friends" for people with diabetes and can be eaten in unlimited amounts.
More choices in cooking methods Boiled or Stir-fried , avoid braised and fried.
If you feel hungry between meals, you can increase your consumption of vegetables with lower sugar content such as cucumbers and tomatoes. This can satisfy your craving without affecting your blood sugar.
In addition to what you eat, the order in which you eat is also crucial.
Follow a simple principle: eat meat and eggs first, then eat vegetables, and finally eat staple food. The whole process must be chewed carefully and swallowed slowly.
The benefit of doing this is that protein and dietary fiber are used as the basis first, and then the absorption rate of carbohydrates in the staple food can be slowed down, thereby making the blood sugar condition after meals more stable.
For example, at lunch, if you first eat a few bites of lean meat or eggs, then eat a large plate of fried vegetables, and finally eat multi-grain rice, you will find that you will feel fuller and the blood sugar rise curve will also be flatter.
Protein and fruit, choose the right one to be healthy
Protein intake should be adequate and of high quality.
Guaranteed every day 1 egg , Half a pound of milk , 2 taels of lean meat , divided into three meals.
Avoid high-cholesterol foods such as fatty meat, animal offal, sea cucumbers, shrimps and crabs.
If you have kidney disease, you need to follow your doctor's advice to reduce your intake of soy products, eggs and meat, and limit your salt intake to 2 to 3 grams per day.
Regarding fruits, many sugar lovers want to eat them but are afraid to eat them.
In fact, when blood sugar is under stable control, you can eat low-sugar fruits in moderation.
Don't eat it immediately before or after meals, and don't squeeze fruit into juice.
Tropical fruits such as bananas, dragon fruit, and lychees contain high sugar content, so avoid them as much as possible.
Of course, if your blood sugar has fluctuated greatly recently or is not well controlled, you should stop eating fruits for the time being.
Be wary of hypoglycemia and move around after meals
On the road to sugar control, hypoglycemia is a risk that must be guarded against.
In general, when you go out in daily life, you should always bring some candy or biscuits. Once you have palpitations, trembling hands, cold sweats, and fatigue, these are symptoms of hypoglycemia, so eat them as soon as possible.
If you find that hypoglycemia is not caused by eating too little at the last meal or exercising too much, it is most likely a problem with the dosage of the drug. You must consult your doctor in time and make adjustments.
If you encounter special circumstances and cannot eat on time, you must also stop taking medication or reduce the dose. Safety is the first priority.
in addition, exercise after meal It is a "booster" for reducing blood sugar.
After eating, rest for half an hour, then go out for a walk, and then jog for a while. This can effectively help the muscles consume blood sugar, thus making the post-meal blood sugar lowering more ideal.
Exercise is not about intensity, it is about persistence.
For sugar lovers with different body types and activity levels, the caloric content of the diet also needs to be personalized.
For women with a normal body shape, if they want to control their calories throughout the day, they should control them within the range of 1,300 to 1,400 kcal. For breakfast, they can follow the combination of light soy milk and steamed buns. For lunch, choose multigrain rice with anhui fish, mushrooms and green vegetables.
For men, with a normal body shape and a calorie range between 1500 and 1600 kcal, it is okay to choose a bowl of tomato and egg noodles with fresh corn for breakfast.
However, for those with diabetes who are more active, the caloric needs should be increased to the range of 1700 kcal to 1800 kcal to ensure that they can have the most sufficient physical strength.
In addition, in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, there are some very good methods of using tea as an auxiliary conditioning method. For example, there is a tea made from green berries, dendrobium and Ophiopogon japonicus that can produce body fluids, or there is a method of boiling water with watermelon rind, winter melon rind and trichosanthin and drinking it. They all have the effect of clearing away heat, promoting body fluids and assisting in controlling blood sugar.
Generally speaking, there is no convenient way to manage diabetes diet. It relies on continuous meticulousness and perseverance every day.
Replace staple food with grains, eat vegetables and meat first, then eat staple food, arrange snacks appropriately, and continue to take a walk after meals. These seemingly small habits, accumulated together, can have a huge power to stabilize blood sugar.
Please keep in mind that the ultimate goal of controlling blood sugar is not to deprive us of the fun contained in the process of eating, but to enable us to develop longer and enjoy life more healthily.
