Diabetic Diet

A diabetic diet is necessary when your pancreas does not produce enough insulin to control excess sugar levels in your blood. It is thus often referred to as sugar diabetes.

Diabetes Types

Type 1 Diabetes

Some children are born with, or develop diabetes at a young age.  They need to inject themselves with insulin to control blood sugar/glucose and must eat a strict diabetic diet. Exercise needs to be balanced too.  Life can be on a very fine balance.

Type 2 Diabetes

Late onset, often mid-life, diabetes is usually diet related. Type 2 diabetes is increasing alarmingly, worldwide.  Also, more younger people are becoming Type 2 diabetics.
When your diet is high in carbohydrate and fat and the energy supplied is unused, they convert to body fat and sugar(glucose) in your blood.  Eventually, your pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to cope with the excess glucose.

Diabetic Diet Essentials

A diabetic diet is low in empty carbohydrates, saturated fat, sugar and salt.  It must contain a balance of all essential nutrients to keep you healthy. It is, however, high in good carbohydrates which convert slowly to glucose once in the body.

The Mediterranean diet is a well balanced diet recommended to reduce the risk of diabetes, despite the high consumption of olive oil.  There are claims you can reverse diabetes using this diet.

The Mediterranean diet is high fibre in fruit and vegetables and unsaturated fat.  Olive oil, an unsaturated fat, is believed to improve blood glucose control which could help to prevent Type 2 diabetes developing.

Regular physical activity also helps reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The healthy fat (olive oil) and high amounts of (good) carbohydrate essential for a healthy diet unfailingly convert to fat and too much blood glucose if not burnt as energy.

Diabetic Diet Summary

• To control diabetes, or to prevent the onset of diabetes, you must avoid empty carbohydrates and most fat.
• Olive oil, although a fat, is actually good for diabetics.
• You must eat a healthy diet, for example the Mediterranean diet, for all the essential nutrients you need for a balanced healthy body.
• You need to learn to balance your diet with your activity level.
• As with every diet, you need to exercise to use up excess carbohydrate and fat which are essentials for healthy nutrition.

This page explained about the need for a diabetic diet when you develop type 2 diabetes, or when your Dr says you are heading that way.