How To Manage Diabetes with Diet Changes – Yale Medicine Explains

How To Manage Diabetes with Diet Changes – Yale Medicine Explains



For more information on diabetes or #YaleMedicine, visit: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/diabetes-an-overview.

A healthy, balanced diet is key for anyone with diabetes. Good nutrition not only controls glucose (blood sugar) levels, but also improves cholesterol and blood pressure—both of which can be high for people with diabetes. What, then, is the best diet to follow? There isn’t one single meal plan to recommend, but a registered dietician can help you design an individualized plan. Or you can follow a number of well-studied nutrition strategies, says Laura Wilson, a Yale New Haven Hospital registered dietician. For example, it’s important to know the difference between “good” carbohydrates, which are your body’s main fuel source, and those that are less healthy, Wilson says. “Limiting unhealthy carbohydrates, such as refined carbohydrates and sugars, is an essential tool to help minimize spikes in blood glucose,” Wilson says. “Refined carbohydrates are those made from flours or starches that have essential nutrients and fiber removed during processing and have added salt, fats, and sugars in them, and so therefore are less healthy.” One tool for meal planning is what’s known as the “healthy plate method.” The idea, Wilson says, is to divide your plate into quarters. One quarter could be whole grains or high fiber, minimally processed carbohydrates (such as a baked sweet potato, whole grain pasta or bread, brown rice, or oatmeal). Another quarter of the plate could include a healthy protein such as fish, skinless chicken, beans, or nuts. The other half of the plate should be mostly vegetables, with a little bit of fruit. “That side of the plate is much lower in calories and very high in fiber and plant-rich nutrients that are excellent for your immune system and overall digestive health,” Wilson says, adding that to the side of the plate could be other nuts and seeds or some healthy dairy products (such as soy or almond milk, low-fat cow’s milk, or nonfat yogurt with no added sugars). The idea, Wilson explains, is to make sure you get all of the nutrients your body needs from a diverse meal plan with plenty of different options.
In this video, Wilson provides more details about the role of good nutrition when it comes to managing diabetes.

0:00 Introduction
1:16 Are carbs “bad” for diabetes?
2:40 Are fats “bad” for diabetes?
4:00 What's a helpful nutrition strategy

– If you are newly diagnosed with diabetes, essentially this means that you have elevated levels of blood sugar, called glucose, in your bloodstream. There are lifestyle modifications that you can make that are within your control that will help improve your glucose levels, but also aimed at improving those cardiovascular risk factors, such as elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure. It's important to note that there is no one size fits all dietary plan that you should follow for diabetes. Assistance of a registered dietician can help plan and develop an individualized meal plan for you. And this has been shown to help reduce your hemoglobin A1C by up to one or two percentage points. And this furthermore can help reduce your risk of other complications. The focus should be on healthful, balanced eating. Unfortunately, many of us don't know what that really means. There are nutrition strategies that have been well studied, and can be very helpful to follow. Carbohydrates are certainly not bad for diabetes. However, that answer comes with a caveat, because there are some good carbohydrates, and there are less healthy carbohydrates. In fact, carbohydrates are an essential nutrient and your body's main fuel source. Limiting the unhealthy carbohydrates such as refined carbohydrates and sugars is an essential tool to help minimize those spikes in blood glucose. Refined carbohydrates are those that are made from flowers or starches that have essential nutrients and fiber removed in the processing. These refined carbohydrates typically have added salt, fats, and sugars in them, and so therefore are less healthy. Most important is to try to limit the amount of added sugars in your diet. Foods that are high in added sugars are those cakes, candies, cookies, pies, that have a concentrated amount of sugar in each serving. We never say never however, and planning to have a few treats throughout the week is a good strategy. And we can make all foods fit into a healthy diet. Fats are certainly not bad for diabetes, because fats do not directly raise blood sugar. However, there are different types of fats. There are two general categories, saturated fats and unsaturated fats. The saturated fats are known to increase the bad form of cholesterol. So we recommend significantly limiting these in your diet. We get saturated fats from highly fatty or marbled meats, skin on poultry, and also whole milk dairy products. We also get some saturated fat from two plant-based oils, coconut oil and palm kernel oil. So be aware of these often added to foods, particularly refined carbohydrates. The unsaturated fats, the ones that are best, are those that also have dietary fiber, which would include nuts and seeds. Also avocado and olives and olive oil, and any types of oils made from these plant-based sources are healthy sources of dietary fat. We can use the healthy plate method as a tool to adequately plan your meals. The idea is that we divide the plate in quarters, this way and that way. One quarter of the plate should come from whole grains or high fiber, minimally processed carbohydrates. That might include a baked sweet potato. It might include a whole grain pasta or brown rice, or oatmeal or a nice slice of whole grain bread. Another quarter of the plate would include some sort of healthy protein. That would be something like fish or skinless chicken. It might even be a plant-based source such as beans and nuts. We would recommend limiting the amount of red meats to no more than one or two times per week, or even less if you can. Certainly avoiding those processed meats that have more added fat and salt is recommended. The other part of the plate, the last half, should be mostly vegetables with a little bit of fruit. This side of the plate is much lower in calories, very high in fiber and plant rich nutrients that are excellent for your immune system and overall digestive health. To the side of the plate, we might also have other nuts and seeds, and we would also want to include some healthful dairy in the diet, whether they are plant-based sources such as soy milk or almond milk, or cow's milk dairy that is low fat dairy, 1% or skim milk, non-fat yogurt with no added sugars are excellent examples. In summary, when we create a balanced diet, we ensure that you're getting all of the nutrients your body needs, and we would have a diverse meal plan with lots of different foods for you to choose from. And so therefore, we truly can make all foods fit into a healthy diet.

#Manage #Diabetes #Diet #Yale #Medicine #Explains

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