Diabetes and Diet

People who are in pre-diabetes stage or already have diabetes, are recommended a healthy diet with right eating patterns in addition to adequate physical activity and medication prescribed by their doctor.

Food plays an extremely vital role in the management of diabetes. Following are few notable points with respect to food for diabetics:

• • Consumption of carbohydrates should be within limits. Foods containing complex carbohydrates like whole grains, citrus fruits, nuts and legumes etc. should be preferred over refined ones.
  • Each meal should have at least 10-15 grams of protein.
  • Avoid maida and maida products, processed food, deep fried food, sweets, chocolates, ice cream, packed beverages, and alcohol.
  • Fruits with high glycaemic index, such as banana, custard apple, chikoo, grapes and mango are to be avoided. However, watermelon, muskmelon, papaya and apple can be consumed. 
  • Cut fruits should be preferred over their juices.
  • Small and frequent meal portions should be eaten all through the day. 3 + 3 meal patterns, which means in addition to breakfast, lunch & dinner, a small portion of snacks should be consumed in between these meals. These snacks are mid-morning, evening & post-dinner snacks.
  • Patients on insulin should certainly have a post-dinner snack.
  • A plate of breakfast, lunch and dinner should always contain some raw vegetables, some dal or non-vegetarian food, some cooked vegetables, and curd or buttermilk, which is a probiotic and helps in digestion.