DIABETIC DIET: HOW AND WHAT FOODS TO EAT - NUTRITION - 2025

The diabetic diet is based on the intake of foods that should mainly help us to maintain adequate blood glucose levels. It is not advisable to design a diet that features edibles high in sugar. What is ideal is to eat in small portions throughout the day.

When we talk about diabetes, we are talking about a disease that affects nothing more and nothing less than 347 million people in the world, which has come to be classified by the Health Organization itself as a global epidemic.

Recommended foods for diabetics

The foods that we must consume should mainly help us maintain adequate blood glucose levels. It is not advisable to design a diet that features edibles high in sugar. What is ideal is to eat in small portions throughout the day.

It is also advisable to vary the meals as much as we can, paying special attention to the amount of carbohydrates that we are going to consume, where we must eat less fat, less salt and of course always limiting the use of alcohol.

The nutrients that should basically provide us are summarized to calcium, potassium, fiber, magnesium and vitamins A, C and E.

To maintain a perfectly balanced diet as a diabetic, whether type 1 or type 2, it would be necessary to provide 50 to 60% carbohydrates, 10% to 15% protein and 20% to 30% fat.

We should also mention two terms:

- Reductive diet: The first of them refers to a diet based on the production of fewer calories.

- Balanced nutrition: It is based on the idea that different diets must be carried out depending on the person, taking into account the person's age, weight, height, sex and degree of physical activity, among many other data.

Despite the fact that in a diabetic eating plan what prevails is balance and variety in general as a whole rather than the particularities, it is possible to mention certain foods that will help our body to suffer in a better way and help us to that plus:

Asparagus

It provides amounts of folic acid and B vitamins, which help reduce homocysteine ​​levels, helping to prevent heart disease known as coronary artery disease.

Beans

According to a study conducted in 2012, different researchers concluded that a cup of these legumes a day helps control blood glucose levels as well as blood pressure.

Broccoli

One of the healthiest foods that we can find for all types of diets. It has high amounts of vitamin C and A. It also shows high levels of folic acid and fiber, without forgetting the minimum contribution of calories and carbohydrates it makes.

Fruits

The variety in this aspect is served, since it is one of the most important foods for people who suffer from the disease. The most important that we can find are:

• Grapes: With a large amount of antioxidants in their composition under the name of polyphenols, they produce insulin in our body. It contains sugar and that is why we must eat them in small quantities.
• Citrus: These fruits are rich in soluble fiber. If we are looking for powerful citrus we can turn to sour oranges, lemons, limes or guavas.
• Pears: Like citrus fruits, they show high levels of fiber. They also help prevent cardiovascular diseases and detoxify the body.
• Apples: They make our cholesterol and glucose levels regulate because in its composition it shows a fiber called pectin.
• Carrot: They have, like broccoli, minimum levels of calories, of which even the American Diabetes Association has said that eating five carrots a day is considered a "free meal" since they are practically zero with respect to calories and carbohydrates.

Fish

One of the great sources of omega -3 acids, reducing the risk of arrhythmias and lowering triglyceride levels, atherosclerotic plaque, blood pressure and lowering the level of inflammation.

Garlic

Since time immemorial, garlic has worked as a recipe for the control of people with high cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and blood pressure.

Fruit

Among the fruits that will help us the most with the disease we observe:

• Watermelon: It works as an antioxidant, protects against cancer cells and is low in saturated fat and cholesterol
• Melon: It shows large amounts of vitamin C and A, helping our eye health, in addition to having unique properties similar to those of watermelon, regulating our cholesterol levels.

There are a multitude of beneficial foods such as kale, walnuts, quinoa or red peppers, among many others.

On the contrary, French fries, white bread, flour tortillas, processed rice or cereals with lots of sugar on the starch side; Canned fruits with sugar syrup, jam, applesauce, or punches sweetened like fruits; or pickles, vegetables cooked with butter, cheese or sauces on the part of the vegetables are the worst choices we can make when it comes to eating.

Diet for diabetics

There are a wide variety of diets for diabetics. Below we are going to offer several diets as an example based on the foods and indications that we have mentioned above.

Option 1

According to the healthy and ecological website, the following table is proposed for eating food:

Breakfast

Coffee with skimmed milk or infusion of red or green tea with cereals (not sugary or chocolate) or two jams of jam without sugar as an alternative.

Midday

A piece of fruit and skimmed yogurt or a sugar-free cereal bar. We can also eat two biscuits again, but turkey or fresh cheese according to taste.

Food

Raisin salad or tomatoes with fresh cheese with lentils or spinach with chickpeas plus an infusion, black coffee or skimmed milk.

Mid afternoon

Skimmed milk with coffee or juice. If we want we can also eat about four sugar-free cookies or a skimmed yogurt.

Dinner

Tomato salad, lettuce, egg (without yolk), onion and tuna, or rice. This can be substituted for a barbecue of vegetables or coleslaw and carrots with yogurt sauce and vegetable puree. For dessert we could have a skimmed yogurt or an infusion.

Option 2

On the other hand, the homemanía portal proposes three types of menu based only on breakfast, lunch and dinner based on 1500 daily calories:

Breakfast

A glass of 200 ml of skimmed milk / 3 servings of with a total of 60 g of bread / 1 serving of protein: 25 g of turkey / 1 serving of fruit: 100 ml of orange juice.

Food

1 serving of vegetables: 125 g of mushrooms and 125 g of roasted pepper / 4 servings of starch: 90 g of raw chickpeas or 290 g boiled / 2 servings of protein: 100 g of grilled chicken / 1 and 1/2 fruit servings: 225 g of melon.

Dinner

5 and 1/2 units of carbohydrates and 1 of protein: Pasta salad (45 g raw or 150 g cooked, 80 g of canned corn, 50 g of tomato, lettuce, 50 g of carrot and 50 g of canned tuna / 2 servings of fruit: 150g of orange

What is and what is diabetes?

Diabetes (also scientifically called Diabetes Mellitus) is a disease that causes our concentrated glucose levels in the blood to increase due to a lack of insulin synthesis by the pancreas.

Insulin is the hormone that regulates glucose levels properly in our body. When dysregulation occurs, the disease is born. Such is its importance that it is an important cause of amputations, blindness or kidney failure if the population is not adequately aware of it.

We found two types of diabetes:

• Type 1 diabetes: The first causes the body to produce absolutely no insulin due to the destruction of cells in the pancreas. This cannot be prevented in any way and appears abruptly. It usually appears in childhood, adolescence, and early adult life.
• Type 2 diabetes: This second attacks insulin productivity. Basically our body manages to create insulin, but not to synthesize it effectively. It appears in old age.

There is also another third type, but under a different typology. This is called gestational diabetes, which is based on a creation of hyperglycemia. It usually appears during pregnancy and the risks translate into complications during the pregnancy and delivery process itself, as well as being able to develop type 2 diabetes in the future.

Likewise, we cannot ignore the fact that type 2 diabetes is the most common that can be found in practically the vast majority of existing cases, especially in the smallest ones, where the percentage has increased in recent years.

What are its most frequent symptoms?

Symptoms are often picked up quickly. Common among them are frequent urination, excessive thirst and hunger, muscle weakness coupled with weight loss and a continuous feeling of discomfort along with cloudy eyesight.

We can also find numbness or itching of the skin as well as possible infections in it.

How to prevent it?

As we have said, type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented in any way. However, type 2 is related to overweight and obesity problems, which by adopting the appropriate measures for a healthy life change (a union between diet and physical activity) can be prevented in an effective way.

According to Rebeca Reyes, coordinator of the Diabetes Mellitus working group of SEEN, it was concluded that “different studies have shown that physical activity and weight loss prevent the development of diabetes in people with a predisposition to it, even in those who already present some degree of impaired glucose tolerance (or prediabetes) ».

As little as thirty minutes of physical activity a day is enough to greatly reduce the probability of developing type 2 diabetes.

Data of interest

The World Health Organization provided in November 2014 a series of relevant data on this disease.

On an international level

- As we mentioned in the introduction, the number of diabetics rises to a total of 347 million. The main causes of this increase are being overweight, obesity and sedentary lifestyle.

- It is expected that by the year 2030, diabetes will be the seventh leading cause of death in the world.

- Deaths in developed countries occur in general terms in people of retirement age, while in underdeveloped countries the age range ranges from 35 to 64 years.

- Precisely, deaths due to diabetes will increase more than 50% during the next 10 years.

- Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed in 90% of the world's cases that are discovered.

- The deaths of diabetics that are produced by cardiovascular problems belong to a total of between 50 and 80% of these. Having diabetes increases your risk of heart-related disease.

- In 2012, diabetes caused the death of a total of 1.5 million people around the world.

- 80% of deaths from diabetes occur in developing countries.

In Spain

- In Spain, diabetes affects around a total of 15% of the population, and where experts warn that the figure is increasing progressively. This translates to more than five million people.

- Of the percentage shown in the previous data, 13% of the cases belong to type 1 diabetes

- 6% (more than two million) of the people who suffer from diabetes in our country, still do not know that they are suffering from it.

References

1. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/diabetes/es/
2. http://dle.rae.es/?id=Dcw8l1D
3. http://www.dmedicina.com/enfermedades/digestivas/diabetes.html
4. http://sanoyecologico.es/ejemplo-de-dieta-para-diabeticos/
5. http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/diabetic-food-list-best-worst-foods
6. http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/?referrer=https://www.google.es/
7. http://alimentacionparadiabeticos.net/frutas-para-diabeticos.html
8. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/diabeticdiet.html