What to expect in a diabetes diet
A diabetes diet is currently the best means of further deterioration in the condition of the 16 million diabetics in the US alone. And the half again as many people you have the disease would benefit greatly from a diabetes diet.
Since diabetes is caused by the disruption of insulin production in the pancreas when the level of blood sugar, known as glucose, increases after a meal. Glucose, helped by insulin moves from the blood into the body's cells, and get turned into energy. When glucose cannot enter cells, it remains in the blood where it is filtered by the kidneys and eliminated from the bloodstream via urine.
Diabetes often runs in families and can be accompanied by obesity and high cholesterol. So if diabetes is in your family you have a higher risk of developing diabetes as well. But mainly a lack of exercise, a diet rich in fats and processed products and subsequent obesity will significantly increase your risk for diabetes and make a diabetes diet essential for overcoming the disease.
Control your sugar intake
When you eat sugar-rich foods, the pancreas produces more insulin so as to turn the sugar into energy. And saturated fats are transformed by the liver into sugar, which triggers the same response in the pancreas. When the body does not use this energy, it stores it as fat in the liver and on the stomach and hips. Sound familiar? Therefore the more sugar and fat we eat, the more space our body requires to store these.
A diabetes diet consists of unprocessed foods
When your diet consists primarily of vegetables, cereals and other fiber-rich foods cooked with olive oil, the pancreas does not need to produce any extra insulin. Fat is therefore not deposited in the body and the blood sugar levels remain stable. By cutting back on sweet and fat-rich foods, blood sugar levels remain in a balance. If you are already diagnosed as diabetic, this can delay the onset of diabetes and can help you manage the condition better.
