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Healthy Food with Diabetes
It is easy to adapt recipes for diabetes, to create healthy low fat eating suitable for the whole family.
Key Points In Judging Suitable Recipes For Diabetes
- Low fat- especially low saturated fat.
- Low GI using foods such as milk, yoghurt, dried beans and whole grains.
- Low in added sugar or using a sugar substitute, fruit or juice as sweetening.
- High Fibre incorporating fruit, vegetables and cereal fibres.
- The total Carbohydrate (CHO) content for one serve of a recipe is about:
- 5 to 15grams of CHO for a first course.
- 20 to 40 grams of CHO for a main dish
- 10 to 20 grams of CHO for a dessert
How much should a person with diabetes eat at one time?
A person should eat small meals more frequently. The food should be sufficient to maintain weight or to lose slowly if over-weight. A most important point is that meals and food should be healthy and enjoyable. Some people with type 1 diabetes and frequent insulin injections who are not over weight will have a high-energy requirement and may have 3 large meals a day. They can adjust their insulin dose accordingly. The majority of people have type 2 diabetes and most need to lose weight.
The Golden Rules When Planning A Menu For Diabetes
- Low fat is important because the risk of heart disease and weight control are key issues. Remove all visible fat and use the minimum in cooking. Avoid high fat snack foods and takeaway foods.
- Have a reasonable quantity of carbohydrate from bread, pasta, rice, cous cous or potatoes at every meal. A complete meal is usually no more than about 50 grams of carbohydrate but may be as low as 35 or 30 grams unless for a person with type 1 diabetes or someone with very high-energy requirement.
- Use Low Glycaemic Index (GI) Foods 2 to 3 times a day for better control of blood sugars and greater satiety. Further information regarding GI is available in the article Glycaemic Index. Some low GI foods are the milk group (yoghurt and milk), wholegrain bread, pasta, traditional oatmeal, dried beans and lentils, firm bananas, apples, sweet potato and parsnips.
- If you are having multiple courses, make one substantial and the others light eg Lentil soup, followed by a grill with salad, and a light fruit dessert.
- A variety of vegetables for colour, texture, fibre and vitamins should be present. Choose a green and a red or yellow vegetable.
- Aim for good variety and remember we all want to enjoy food, just in moderation.
Recipes
Diabetic Fruit Pudding : A delicious fruit pudding for a cold winters night.
Low Fat Custard Sauce : A low fat version of traditional custard
Meat and Vegetable Cottage Pie : A balance of different coloured vegetables - a complete meal!
Added to site on : Monday, 20 September 2010