Diabetes Diet Information and Glycemic Index

The most important piece of diabetes diet information is to understand how your body’s main energy source, carbohydrates, impact your blood sugar.

Everything we eat breaks down into sugar. Simple carbohydrates like white flour, sweets, and starches, which lack fiber, impact the bloodstream immediately causing an immediate spike of energy.

Complex carbohydrates like unprocessed fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, break down slower, causing a gradual release of energy.

About half of your daily calories should come from carbohydrates. That is why it’s important to focus on the healthier carbohydrates available. This information can be found with the glycemic index.

What is the aim of a low glycemic index diet?

The aim of a low GI diet is to control blood sugar levels by limiting, but not eliminating, carbohydrate intake and incorporating more whole foods.

A glycemic index number signifies how quickly a food containing carbs triggers a rise in blood glucose.

The higher the number, the greater the response. Foods with a high glycemic index numbers break down quickly, causing an undesirable surge of blood glucose.

Excessive elevations in blood glucose is something diabetics should avoid because it can lead to hyperglycemia, which is a major complication with diabetes.

If left untreated, severe high blood glucose levels can cause you to fall into a diabetic coma because your body doesn’t have enough effective insulin to break down the glucose for use as fuel.

So it’s ideal to choose foods with a low glycemic index ranking because it will break down slowly during digestion, resulting in a gradual release of glucose into the bloodstream.

Diabetes Diet Meal Plans

Meal planning is actually very simple! Now that you understand how your body breaks down food, a meal plan that follows foods off the low glycemic index is recommended for diabetics and anyone as well. Here are some amazing low glycemic index carbs you should know about.

This is great news because you and your family can eat the same healthy foods at mealtime.

Consider the following diabetes diet information for managing your diabetes:

Eat plenty of vegetables. Fresh vegetables have a low glycemic index for the most part. Potatoes being the primary exception. For maximum nutrition eat raw. But I know that can be tough so sometimes I lightly steam, saute or bake.
With the exception of watermelons, most fresh fruits and berries are low glycemic as well. So feel free to enjoy those. But remember, anything in excess can be still be harmful.
Fat control and calorie control. Select quality lean meats like chicken breast, turkey, and white fish (salmon is ok). And cook with a heart healthy oil such as walnut oil, which is high in polyunsaturated fat and is known to reduce total cholesterol. It's also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Eat five to six small meals every two to three hours. Be sure to also include some light exercise shortly after each meal to help kick start the digestive system and prevent a spike in sugar levels.
Practice common sense. Avoid heavily seasoning your foods with salt and sugar. Use fresh herbs and pepper instead. Sodas, candy, cakes and other junk foods should be eliminated for the most part if not entirely.

Set Diet Goals and Achieve Maximum Results

The goal of this diabetes diet information is learning how to eat a balanced, portion controlled meal that allows your body’s blood sugar and energy level to be stable throughout the day.

Whether you’re living with diabetes type 1, type 2, gestational diabetes or even if you’re non diabetic; when you pay close attention to what you put in your body, you can control your blood sugar with minimal dependence on medication. Diabetes diet information

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