Using Nutrition as a Tool to Fight Diabetes
Using Nutrition as a Tool to Fight Diabetes
For those living with diabetes, knowing what you can eat can be a challenge when it is filled with what you cannot eat. However, it is one of the best tools when you are looking to manage diabetes and live well with it. The three considerations a diabetic needs to remember are that there are always healthier versions of food, carbohydrates counting is not just a fad, and diabetic specific formulas (eg. Glucerna) can be a convenient nutrition source.1, 5
Making Healthy Choices is Actually Simple
If something is sold in the “snacks” or “beverages” aisle or available at a “fast food” place or is labeled as “refined”, you should probably eat less of it as a diabetic. The reason for this is that sodas, fast foods, and refined grains all have a high glycemic load (raises blood glucose fast). Before you reach for a snack, ask yourself if it can be made at home or if any of the junk options can be replaced with whole, fresh, and lean or healthier options. If they can be, they always choose the healthy swap.1, 3
Using Carbohydrates Counting
Similar to calories counting, carbohydrates counting is one of the ways to plan out your diabetic meals. It helps you keep account of the types and quantity of carbohydrates you are eating. Once you know the amount you are eating, you can either add more or less within a meal or make up for it in snacks to ensure a healthy blood glucose range. Carbohydrates are measured in grams and the amount each food has is based on how well you know the item. There are plethora of resources online and at your local Dietitian for it. Generally, if any final food product or dish has sugars, starches, fibers, fruits, grains, vegetables, some meats and milk ingredients.2, 4
With that in mind, a diabetic is looking to get between 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates in their mains and 15 to 20 grams in their snacks. To make carbohydrates counting easier without having to use scales, you can use the Healthy Plate model of ½ plate of fruits and vegetables, ¼ plate of proteins, and ¼ plate of starches and grains.3, 4
Choosing the right Quality and Quantity of Carbohydrates
Not all carbohydrate types are created equal. Fruits and whole grains are excellent sources of carbohydrates for energy with plenty of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that may help reduce the risk of diabetes. Versus a fruit pastry tart tastes good, it is loaded with calories. Instead of focusing on what you cannot eat, let us list the nutritious foods that will help keep you fuller longer. The key factor of quality carbohydrates is that they are slowly digestible and rate low on the Glycemic Index (Rating of 0 to 100 on how fast it raises blood glucose2). The fibers in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables are not naturally digestible by our bodies, thus requiring our digestive enzymes to break down the starches into glucose. This slows the release of sugar into the blood, thus stressing the body’s insulin-making machinery less and giving you the ability to control your diabetic conditions.3, 4
Another nutrition tool option for fighting diabetes is using diabetes-specific formula (DSF) as part of your quality carbohydrate rich food choices. For this, Glucerna, No.1 Doctor Recommended Diabetes Nutritional Formula in the US#, can help provide the needed diabetic nutrition to start action from day 1*. Specifically designed to have 4x Myo-inositol^ (an important carbohydrate responsible for mimicking insulin action) to help you better manage your blood glucose and manage your diabetes. Glucerna also contains 28 vitamins and minerals, heart healthy lipid blend, and nutrients that can help improve immunity, it can help manage blood glucose response in 3 months++.5
When you have type 2 diabetes, nutrition is a great tool to help control and manage it. Choosing the right carbohydrates is a means of protecting you from problems caused by diabetes. They should provide the nutrients, while keeping you satisfied. You can always consider Glucerna as part of a meal or as a snack (eg. 1 to 3 servings, depending on need, 5 scoops + 200ml water per serving) to help effectively manage blood glucose levels~.
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References:
- https://caring2u.com/health_info/nutrition-the-underutilized-tool-in-the-fight-against-diabetes/
- https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/foods-fight-type-2
- https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/disease-prevention/diabetes-prevention/preventing-diabetes-full-story/
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/16-best-foods-for-diabetics#best-foods
- https://glucernamyanmar.com/eng/
~ Chee et al. BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care. 2017; Sun et al. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2008.
# IQVIA, using the ProVoice Survey, fielded to 14,550 physicians from September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021
* Glucerna has been shown to lower postprandial rises in blood glucose (Devitt et al. J Diabetes Res Clin Metab. 2012; Luo et al. J Diabetes Mellitus. 2012; Mottalib et al. Nutrients. 2016; Davila et al. Nutrients. 2019.)
^ Compared to previous formula of Glucerna
++ Sun et al. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2008.
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