Health and Wellness >> Diabetes Diet and Food Tips
To Request an Action Plan to address Low Back Pain Click Here
To attend a FREE Class on this topic, Click Here
In this video, Dr. Huntoon discusses the 4 Causes of ALL Health Concerns and what you should be aware of when making your health choices.
When you have a health concern, the most important thing you could understand BEFORE beginning care is
"WHY?"
Do Not begin care until you have an answer to that very important question.
When you are ready for help, we are here to serve you. We look forward to it!
To Request an Action Plan to Address ALL Your Health Concerns Click Here
Everything below is good advice to help yourself. And you must help yourself.
If this is challenging for you, you are not alone.
If you need someone to guide you and be your support system in this process, we are here to help.
Dr. Huntoon has helped people get a hold on their weight management issues and their blood sugar control issues. Feel free to reach out for a diet evaluation and consultation for what you can do and consider what is below.
Your Doctor may tell you it is time you got serious about your weight since your blood sugar numbers are not coming down.
You will be offered medication to control your blood sugar because of all the risks associated with diabetes.
Unfortunately, all those medications will not eliminate your diabetes and may create other problems as you continue to age. Therefore, it becomes important that you consider what follows and do your best to make these necessary changes.
And the medication can be put off or delayed for some time. It requires dedication and persistence.
Diabetes is on the rise, yet most cases are preventable with healthy lifestyle changes. Some can even be reversed. Taking steps to prevent and control diabetes doesn’t mean living in deprivation. While eating right is important, you don’t have to give up sweets entirely or resign yourself to a lifetime of bland “health food”. With these tips, you can still enjoy your favorite foods and take pleasure from your meals without feeling hungry or deprived.
It can be scary to hear that your health’s on the line, especially if you feel helpless to do anything about it.
Here’s a scenario that may sound familiar: your doctor’s telling you how important it is to lose weight and transform your eating habits, but you’re already discouraged. After all, you’ve tried dieting in the past without success. And counting calories, measuring portion sizes, and following complicated food charts sounds like way too much work.
Whether you’re trying to prevent or control diabetes, there is some good news. You can make a big difference with healthy lifestyle changes.
The most important thing you can do for your health is to lose weight—and you don’t have to lose all your extra pounds to reap the benefits. Experts say that losing just 5% to 10% of your total weight can help you lower your blood sugar considerably, as well as lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It’s not too late to make a positive change, even if you’ve already developed diabetes.
The bottom line is that you have more control over your health than you think.
The biggest risk factor for developing diabetes is being overweight, but not all body fat is created equal. Your risk is higher if you tend to carry your weight around your abdomen—the so-called “spare tire”—as opposed to your hips and thighs. So why are “apple” shaped people more at risk than “pears”?
“Pears” store most of their fat close below the skin. “Apples” store their weight around their middle, much of it deep within the belly surrounding their abdominal organs and liver. This type of deep fat is closely linked to insulin resistance and diabetes. In fact, many studies show that waist size is a better predictor of diabetes risk than BMI (body mass index).
You are at an increased risk of developing diabetes if you are:
To measure your waist circumference, place a tape measure around your bare abdomen just above your hip bone. Be sure that the tape is snug (but does not compress your skin) and that it is parallel to the floor. Relax, exhale, and measure your waist.
What you need to know about diabetes and diet
Eating right is vital if you’re trying to prevent or control diabetes. While exercise is also important, what you eat has the biggest impact when it comes to weight loss. But what does eating right for diabetes mean? You may be surprised to hear that your nutritional needs are virtually the same everyone else: no special foods or complicated diets are necessary.
A diabetes diet is simply a healthy eating plan that is high in nutrients, low in fat, and moderate in calories. It is a healthy diet for anyone! The only difference is that you need to pay more attention to some of your food choices—most notably the carbohydrates you eat.
MYTH: You must avoid sugar at all costs.
MYTH: A high-protein diet is best.
MYTH: You have to cut way down on carbs.
MYTH: You’ll no longer be able to eat normally. You need special diabetic meals.
Carbohydrates have a big impact on your blood sugar levels—more so than fats and proteins—but you don’t have to avoid them. You just need to be smart about what types of carbs you eat.
In general, it’s best to limit highly refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, and rice, as well as soda, candy, and snack foods. Focus instead on high-fiber complex carbohydrates—also known as slow-release carbs. Slow-release carbs help keep blood sugar levels even because they are digested more slowly, thus preventing your body from producing too much insulin. They also provide lasting energy and help you stay full longer.
Choosing carbs that are packed with fiber (and don’t spike your blood sugar) |
|
Instead of… |
Try these high-fiber options… |
White rice |
Brown rice or wild rice |
White potatoes (including fries and mashed potatoes) |
Sweet potatoes, yams, winter squash, cauliflower mash |
Regular pasta |
Whole-wheat pasta |
White bread |
Whole-wheat or whole-grain bread |
Sugary breakfast cereal |
High-fiber breakfast cereal (Raisin Bran, etc.) |
Instant oatmeal |
Steel-cut oats or rolled oats |
Croissant or pastry |
Bran muffin |
What foods are slow-release? Several tools have been designed to help answer this question. The glycemic index (GI) tells you how quickly a food turns into sugar in your system. Glycemic load, a newer term, looks at both the glycemic index and the amount of carbohydrate in a food, giving you a more accurate idea of how a food may affect your blood sugar level. High GI foods spike your blood sugar rapidly, while low GI foods have the least effect.
You can find glycemic index and glycemic load tables online, but you don’t have to rely on food charts in order to make smart choices. Australian chef Michael Moore has come up with an easier way to regulate the carbs you eat. He classifies foods into three broad categories: fire, water, and coal. The harder your body needs to work to break food down, the better.
Fire foods have a high GI, and are low in fiber and protein. They include “white foods” (white rice, white pasta, white bread, potatoes, most baked goods), sweets, chips, and many processed foods. They should be limited in your diet.
Water foods are free foods—meaning you can eat as many as you like. They include all vegetables and most types of fruit (fruit juice, dried fruit, and canned fruit packed in syrup spike blood sugar quickly and are not considered water foods).
Coal foods have a low GI and are high in fiber and protein. They include nuts and seeds, lean meats, seafood, whole grains, and beans. They also include “white food” replacements such as brown rice, whole-wheat bread, and whole-wheat pasta.
8 principles of low-glycemic eating
Adapted from Ending the Food Fight, by David Ludwig with Suzanne Rostler (Houghton Mifflin, 2008).
Eating for diabetes doesn’t mean eliminating sugar. If you have diabetes, you can still enjoy a small serving of your favorite dessert now and then. The key is moderation.
But maybe you have a sweet tooth and the thought of cutting back on sweets sounds almost as bad as cutting them out altogether. The good news is that cravings do go away and preferences change. As your eating habits become healthier, foods that you used to love may seem too rich or too sweet, and you may find yourself craving healthier options.
It’s easy to underestimate the amount of calories and carbs in alcoholic drinks, including beer and wine. And cocktails mixed with soda and juice can be loaded with sugar. If you’re going to drink, do so in moderation (no more than 1 drink per day for women; 2 for men), choose calorie-free drink mixers, and drink only with food. If you’re diabetic, always monitor your blood glucose, as alcohol can interfere with diabetes medication and insulin.
Fats can be either helpful or harmful in your diet. People with diabetes are at higher risk for heart disease, so it is even more important to be smart about fats. Some fats are unhealthy and others have enormous health benefits. But all fats are high in calories, so you should always watch your portion sizes.
Start your day off with a good breakfast. Eating breakfast every day will help you have energy as well as steady blood sugar levels.
People tend to eat larger portions when they are overly hungry, so eating regularly will help you keep your portions in check.
Regulating the amount of calories you eat on a day-to-day basis has an impact on the regularity of your blood sugar levels. Try to eat roughly the same amount of calories every day, rather than overeating one day or at one meal, and then skimping on the next.
If you’re overweight, you may be encouraged to note that you only have to lose 7% of your body weight to cut your risk of diabetes in half. And you don’t have to obsessively count calories or starve yourself to do it. Research shows that the two most helpful strategies involve following a regular eating schedule and recording what you eat.
Your body is better able to regulate blood sugar levels—and your weight—when you maintain a regular meal schedule. Aim for moderate and consistent portion sizes for each meal or snack.
People who keep a food diary are more likely to lose weight and keep it off. In fact, a recent study found that people who kept a food diary lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t.
Why does writing down what you eat and drink help you drop pounds? For one, it helps you identify problem areas—such as your afternoon snack or your morning latte—where you’re getting a lot more calories than you realized. It also increases your awareness of what, why, and how much you’re eating, which helps you cut back on mindless snacking and emotional eating.
Exercise can help your weight loss efforts and is especially important in maintaining weight loss. There is also evidence that regular exercise can improve your insulin sensitivity even if you don’t lose weight.
You don’t have to become a gym rat or adopt a grueling fitness regimen. One of the easiest ways is to start walking for 30 minutes five or more times a week. You can also try swimming, biking, or any other moderate-intensity activities—meaning you work up a light sweat and start to breathe harder. Even house and yard work counts.
Statin mediciation, designed to lower your cholesterol levels have something important for you to know. The chief side-effect of taking statin drugs is diabetes. Therefore, if you want to avoid compounding your health concerns of cholesterol by creating diabetes, please tell your medical doctor he/she has to find a different way to eliminate your cholesterol problem because you would choose not to have diabetes and choose not to make any diabetes you already have any worse.
Consulting with a hands on Holistic Chiropractor is the best route to go to solve this difficult epidemic in our country. By having a guide and a coach who understands the nuances of your condition and can help you gain back control of your health is vital. Please consider this when choosing to help yourself.
Working with a Holistic Chiropractor who specializes in dietary and health concerns is the best source for a solution to this concern.
Helping people understand the "Cholesterol Myth" and all the ways the health care industry is pushing people to lower their cholesterol to unhealthy levels, is important. Your Medical Doctor is only doing what they are told. And because the medications being used can do it, they want everyone on the medications. It would be important for anyone who values their health to learn the truth.
Besides, having diabetes as a side-effect from taking Statin Medication would be nothing to suffer from if you know the truth. Something to consider.
And if you have questions, Please call (845)561-BACK or (845)561-2225 and set up a time for us to Consult and Evaluate you and the many Health Needs you or your family member may have. Let us answer ALL your questions, most importantly, "WHY?"
You deserve it and are certainly worth it. Don't you think?
Click to add text...
Click the link for a description of this week's show and a link to the podcast from:
Classes start at 6: 30 pm
Classes are open to the public
You Must Call 845-561-2225
for reservations
Advanced Alternative Medicine Center
Serving All Your Heath Care Needs ... Naturally!
Dr. Richard A. Huntoon
Pooler Chiropractor
Newburgh Chiropractor
Home | Chronic Health Concern | Specific Health Concern | My Child’s Health | Health and Wellness | New Patient Center | Other
Copyright © 2019 All Rights Reserved.