What is a Diabetic Diet?
A “diabetic diet” does not refer to a specific menu plan that must be followed. The term only describes a given menu that meets certain criteria. The term is also a misnomer. A person without diabetes may follow a diabetic diet. And a certain specific diabetic diet followed by one person may not be the best diet for another who is suffering from diabetes, This implies that each diabetic diet is unique, customized, and different from the others.
Basically, a diet is described as “diabetic” when it adheres to several nutritional guidelines. One is that the diet should help a person maintain his blood sugar (glucose) levels. Another is that it should aid the person in maintaining a health weight. A diabetic diet is not a weight-loss or weight-gain diet. And another criteria or guideline is that a diabetic diet should meet other basic physiological needs, such as the amount of vitamins and essential amino acids that the body must acquire. Vitamins are important to the body’s functions but the body cannot produce them. This is why we eat. We want to get those much-needed vitamins.
A diabetic diet is also focused on the amount of calories that a person consumes in one day. It is based on the concept that only a certain percentage of calories can be consumed from three macronutrients: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. About twenty percent of the calories come from proteins, and not more than thirty percent of the calories are from fats. The remaining percentage of calories comes from sources of carbohydrates. The reason for “counting of calories” is the important goal of maintaining a particular amount of glucose in the blood stream. Too high or too low glucose concentration in the blood puts the person at risk.
A diabetic diet is unlike a diet book or recipe book that you can just pick out from the shelves. A diabetic diet is a diet plan which is prepared by a nutritionist. It may still look similar to other diet plans written in books, but the diet plan made by the health professional is tailored to the specific needs of only one person. When you are on a diabetic diet, there is very little room in creativity.
That is, for dessert, you cannot replace a fresh fruit with fruit salad-in-can. This defeats the purpose of cutting back on calories. You may, however, request the nutritionist to give you options.
If you are diabetic, and had one nutritionist map out a diet plan for you,
consult first your doctor, who will give you professional advice on which
diet plan would suit you best.