Best Diets For Diabetes: A Quick Diabetes-Friendly Eating Guide!
Diabetes is one of the most common lifestyle diseases found in today’s population. However, there are also diabetes patients who are infected not by the cause of their lifestyle pattern but also due to pregnancy and genetics. It is always important to keep your lifestyle on track if you are already infected by this disease or prone to the same.
One of the key things to be taken care of while regulating your lifestyle is nothing but having a keen eye on your diet. Diabetes patients are advised not to skip their meals and have them at regular intervals every day. A calorie-deficit diet would benefit them in all senses but make sure you are packing your diet with all the essential nutrients. In this post, you’ll get to see five of the finest diets for diabetics. So stay tuned.
What Impact Do The Diet Choices Have On My Blood Sugar Level?
Choosing your meals in lesser quantities and greater nutrients is the best to keep your blood sugar level in control. It is also advised to take more vegetables and fruits instead of bread and rice to control the carbohydrate intake which can easily spike your blood sugar levels.
Moreover, having fruits can control your sugar cravings which can help you restrain yourself from having sweets and chocolates that can be highly consequential when you are someone with a higher blood sugar level.
Top 5 Diets For Diabetes People: What Are They?
Here we’ll discuss some of the most effective and best diabetes-friendly diets that everyone needs to know about. Please take a look.
1. DASH Diet
Even though the DASH diet is curated for those who are suffering from hypertension, you can definitely go on with this diet if you are a diabetes patient since this diet can also help in reducing blood sugar levels and does not contain anything potential to spike the sugar levels.
Fruits and vegetables occupy a prime percentage of this diet followed by whole grains and dairy foods that are low in fat. Fast foods, carbonated and sweetened beverages are strictly controlled in this particular type of diet. However, you can still enjoy poultry, pulses, nuts, meat, beans, and so on. But red meat and foods containing saturated fat do have restrictions in the DASH diet.
2. Mediterranean Diet
Here is another type of diet you can follow to reduce your blood sugar levels by being a bit experimental and adapting yourself to the traditional cuisine habits of the Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Portugal, Southern Italy, and so on. Don’t worry you can still have tasty foods and foods that comfort you while making these slight changes.
The key principle to be followed in the Mediterranean diet is to have foods unprocessed which can make your preparations much easier. You are advised to have fruits, cereals, legumes, and olive oil without processing. Fish, meat, and dairy products are also included in this type of diet in moderation.
3. Ornish Diet
Ornish Diet is made for vegetarians who are suffering from an increased blood sugar level. If you are someone looking to switch entirely to a vegetarian diet, you can also consider following this specific diet. Ornish diet is not to suit people trying to make dietary changes for a short period of time, rather this becomes a lifelong commitment that you must follow.
The main attractive feature of this particular type of diet is that there is no calorie restriction leaving you unfulfilled most of the time. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, low-fat dairy products, soy products, etc. are the major components of this diet. Even when you are quitting meat, fish, and poultry, it allows you to eat egg whites as a replacement.
4. MIND Diet
This is a combination of the diets such as Mediterranean and DASH diets. Apart from the blood sugar levels, the MIND diet is also helpful in preventing brain dysfunctions like Alzheimer’s mainly caused by old age. Increasing fruit intake is the key idea of this diet type. Green leafy vegetables, berries, nuts, olive oil, whole grains, fish, beans, and poultry, are considered friendly in this diet plan. Sweets, cheese, butter, and fried food are advised to keep at bay.
5. The Flexitarian Diet
Are you a meat lover but wish to benefit from a vegetarian diet to control your blood sugar levels? Then this type of diet will undoubtedly suit you. Just like the diets mentioned above, fruits and vegetables occupy the majority of portions in this type of diet too. The flexibility of this diet is, it does not make you count the calories you are consuming or follow some hard and fast rules that may destroy your happiness and satisfaction in following a diet.
The name of this diet is derived from the combination of the words, “flexible” and “vegetarian” with permission to relish animal products frequently to satisfy your cravings as well as the nutrient requirements. People have reported significant positive results in their blood sugar levels by following this particular type of diet.
Final Thoughts: Best Diets For Diabetes
Diabetes patients can enjoy their meals without heavy compromises to their taste buds. Sugar cravings would never bother you since you are allowed to focus more on fruits. Some of the best diets for diabetes are mentioned above and choose a diet plan according to your convenience and lifestyle patterns.
FAQs
It is advised to have 2-3 portions of fruit varieties in a day to satisfy the nutritional requirements of your body. You can also satisfy your sugar cravings with this.
You should definitely reduce your carbohydrate intake especially if you are a diabetes patient. But also make sure to have an equal quantity of carbohydrates every day at regular time slots.
Generally, it is important to do the same. But there are also diets that would help you eat mindfully while you don’t have to strictly count the calories.
Even if vegetables are important there are certain vegetables you should avoid. Corn, peas, and white potatoes are some of them.
Analyze your lifestyle and preferences and choose one. But also remember to consider the opinion of your doctor if you are taking medications along with the diet plans.