The Diabetic Food Pyramid, designed by the American Diabetic Association and the American Diabetic Association. Unlike the United States Department of Agriculture (or USDA)’s food guide pyramid, the diabetic food pyramid guides users through groups of foods based on their carbohydrate and protein levels.
Carbohydrates and proteins affect the blood glucose levels; this is the primary concern when eating foods as a diabetic. You’ll find the major differences in the pyramid are associated with foods like potatoes and grains in place of the grains, beans and other similar starchy vegetables in the vegetables group, and cheese included in the meat instead of the milk group. Also of notable difference is the servings of pasta – which is one third of a cup in the diabetic food pyramid as opposed to the one half cup portion in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid.
Grains and starches are situated at the base of the diabetic food pyramid, and these foods are considered mostly carbohydrates. Bread, cereal, rice, pasta, wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, corn, peas, and dry beans are all in this very starchy group. They are all in this bottom part of the diabetic food pyramid because they have a lot of starchy carbohydrates and they affect the blood glucose in the same way. The recommended serving of the grain and starches category is six to eleven servings daily.
Vegetables are on the next ‘rung’ of the diabetic food pyramid. Because they’re full of naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, and fiber all of them are low in fats. Always try to eat fresh or frozen vegetables that are dark green or deep yellow in color, such as spinach, kale, broccoli, romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, chilies, and peppers. Recommended servings are three to five per day.
Fruits are the next rung of the diabetic food pyramid. Included on this rung are blackberries, grapefruit and tangerines, cantaloupe, strawberries, oranges, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, and apricots. You should have two to four servings of fruit per day.
Next on the diabetic food pyramid is the milk category, because milk products contain a lot of calcium as well as other vitamins. You should try to choose low-fat or nonfat milk items, and you should consume about two to three servings daily.
Meats are next on the food pyramid. Included in this group are beef, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, tofu, dried beans, cheese, cottage cheese, and peanut butter. Nutritionists generally limit your servings of meat to two to three servings daily.
Finally, the diabetic food pyramid lists sweets, fats, and alcohol. It’s smart for diabetics to avoid these foods altogether, and that’s why they’re at the top of the pyramid. Sugary foods such as candy and cookies can give you quick energy, but aren’t very nutritious and have lots of calories. Consume these items sparingly to avoid huge spikes in your blood glucose.
The Diabetic diet is very important for any person with diabetes. While there are different philosophies concerning which the best diet is, there is generally a standard go between. This article will show you a little on what I know of the recommended diabetic diet from the caretaking of family members with diabetes – however, when you’re planning your diabetic diet, be sure to speak with a health professional.
In my experience, patients with Type 1 diabetes should have a diet that has 16 calories per pound of body weight per day. Patients with Type 2 diabetes generally have a fifteen to eighteen hundred calorie diet per day to promote weight loss and then to maintain their ideal body weight. This may change depending on the person’s age, weight, sex, activity level, current weight and body style. For example, a more obese person may need a higher calorie diabetic diet so that they can maintain a healthy weight loss – something like a fifteen hundred calorie a day weight loss regimen may be horrible for their health and do them more harm than good.
Also, carbohydrates should make up about fifty percent of the daily calorie intake of the diabetic diet. Generally speaking, lower carbohydrate intake is associated with low blood sugar levels. The benefits of this can be cancelled out by the higher fat diet taken in to compensate for the amount of carbs. Therefore, make sure the daily carbohydrate calorie percentages are between forty to sixty percent of total calories.
Most people with diabetes find that it is quite helpful to sit down with a dietician or nutritionist for a consult about what is the best diet for them and how many daily calories they need. It is quite important for diabetics to understand the principles of carbohydrate counting and how to help control blood sugar levels through proper diet. Below are some general principles about the diabetic diet.
Food is made up of three basic elements – fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the food that can be broken down into sugar; therefore the diabetic diet needs to watch them carefully as they make your blood glucose level rise. Carbs usually come from starches, fruits and vegetables, and milk.
The amount of food you can eat is related to blood sugar levels. If you eat more food than is recommended on your meal plan, your blood sugar will go up. While carbs have the most impact on blood sugars, all the calories you take in will affect your blood sugar.
Carbs can be counted in grams or as exchanges. For example, one carb equals 15 grams of carbohydrates. You will need to follow your doctor’s instructions on how many carbs or carb grams you can intake, and how the exchange relates to you. However, there are a number of ‘free’ foods – ones that you can eat without counting carbs. If a food contains less than 20 calories and less than 5g of carbs, it’s considered a ‘free’ food.
Being a diabetic is difficult, and maintaining a diet can be even more difficult after going most of your adult life without it. By following the diabetic diet, you’ll save yourself countless aches and pains associated with diabetes, all the while treating your body properly!
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I have lived with type 2 diabetes for over ten years with the help of Metformin and several other drugs, in the belief that it is irreversible, but the latest 2013 research has show that with serious weight loss and a carefully balanced diet, you can start to reverse the effects of diabetes. The NHS (and Diabetes UK) recommend a healthy, balanced diet that is low in fat, sugar and salt and contain a high level of fresh fruit and vegetables. For help in preparing a healthy diet plan visit http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diet/nhs-diet-advice.html the information is first class, and totally free.
For those who are trying the Atkins’s diet, low carb pasta provides a way to enjoy the pasta we love and crave, which would otherwise be forbidden on this particular diet. In fact if it weren’t for the many new low carbohydrate dining options that are taking the market by storm, many people would never even attempt this particular diet because of all the sacrifices that must be made. Leading a healthier lifestyle does require sacrifice, but many feel that giving up all carbohydrates is a little too much to ask for the sake of a few dropped pounds. Thankfully, we are seeing many new products that make the sacrifice easier to endure.
While low carb pasta is noticeably different than traditional pastas, this is a way of having your cake, well pasta at any rate, and eating it too. While I could easily stand a diet that cut out all meat, I must admit that giving up pastas and breads for me is almost as horrible as the thought of giving up chocolate. Thankfully, in addition to the wonderful selection of low carb pasta and low carb bread, we are also seeing an infusion into the marketplace of low carb chocolate products as well.
I must admit I was more than a little skeptical when approached about trying low carb pasta for the first time. I felt that this new creation was going to be about as palatable as cardboard. While it wasn’t as satisfying as traditional pastas it did ease the craving my carb deprived body was having for all those forbidden goodies on this particular diet. That is after all, an important function of a product such as this. Our bodies need carbohydrates. If you have any doubt, check out the biggest level of the food pyramid. Filling the need we have for those carbs, even in lower dosages and smaller portions is an important component in overall weight loss and fitness.
If your body doesn’t have the fuel it needs in order to properly function, it won’t really matter how much weight you loose, as your body won’t be able to perform some necessary tasks. Balance is important in the weight loss and fitness process. Low carb pasta is a great way to get the carbs you need in a smaller amount and in proper portion sizes. This is another common area where people fail in their diet plans. We fail to understand proper portion size and are doomed not to succeed in our weight loss goals until we take the time to understand this important concept. In addition to eating foods such as low carb pasta, it is very important that you also properly portion the pasta and the sauce as well.
Whether you are planning to lose a substantial amount of weight or a few simple vanity pounds, a low carbohydrate diet can help you achieve your goal. Be careful that you find a proper balance between what is required by the diet and what your body needs. Low carb pasta is a great way to meet certain needs while accommodating the limitations of this particular diet.
Vegetarian Food Can Help With Your Weight-loss Plans
For those on a diet vegetable soup can be an excellent way to cut calories while enjoying the wonderful nutrients and vegetables that our bodies need. The most famous of these types of diets is the Cabbage Soup Diet. The thing to remember with this diet though is it is not a very healthy long-term solution. You must go off the diet on the days that should be taken off. To stay on this diet all the time will rob you of very important nutrients that the body needs aside from vegetables. While vegetables are good for you, they are certainly not a replacement for all the other wonderful ingredients on the food pyramid.
The good news is that there have been a few variations and modern twists to the original diet vegetable soup. Those twists include things such as beef stock added to the soup or different vegetables. The important thing to remember is that it isn’t the diet vegetable soup that is the miracle worker so much as the fact that you are significantly reducing your caloric intake during the course of this diet. Calories are the bane of every dieter and if you are doubling your caloric intake on the days when you aren’t dieting, then you run the risk of erasing all the weight you lost while adhering to the rigors of the diet.
The truth of the matter is that you could probably enjoy a decent supply of your favorite vegetable soup each day as long as you are being reasonable in your consumption and enjoy very similar benefits to what you would experience on the cabbage soup diet. Your body does need vegetables in order to operate at its best. It also needs proteins and carbohydrates so consider these things when selecting a diet vegetable soup substitution if that is the way you wish to go.
While this is certainly not the preferred method for most people, a sensible diet combined with reasonable exercise and physical activity will go a lot further towards achieving your fitness and weight loss goals than enduring bowl after bowl of a so called diet vegetable soup. I wish there was a miracle pill, soup, or chocolate (especially chocolate) that could instantly transform me to my perfect size. The truth of the matter is that everything that is really worth having is worth the sacrifice required to achieve it.
If eating 5 helpings of a miracle cabbage or diet vegetable soup each day for a week will help me achieve my fitness goals then I’m willing to suffer through it. The question you should really ask yourself is how long will you reasonably be able to do what is required and how long will it reasonably take to experience your weight loss and/or fitness goals? Are you willing to combine exercise and a physical fitness routine with your diet in order to maximize your results? If so, the only question that remains, which diet vegetable soup will be the best choice for you?
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This is a good way to kick-start your weight loss if you can stick with it, but it is only a seven day plan, then you must get back to a sensible balanced diet. I have used this plan a couple of times, the first time I followed it to the letter and lost 19lbs in seven days, the second time I did Lapse a few times but still lost 10lbs. If you are Diabetic you should check with your doctor before going on any diet, but there is nothing in this plan that will harm you, and the weight loss can only be beneficial. If you are looking for a recipe and seven day eating plan you can try here, http://www.food.com/recipe/7-day-soup-diet-recipe-215370 or just Google “the vegetable soup diet plan” for more options. Whatever you decide to do please remember this is ONLY a seven day kick-start NOT a diet plan to use for longer, and I wish you the most success with your weight-loss plans.
A 1200 calorie diet is nutritionally adequate for most grown adults. Also, it’s the recommended amount of calories for safe and healthy weight loss. Starving your body with too few calories causes your body to slow down the use of its calories, which is why there is no noticeable weight loss on the scale when you starve yourself. The 1200 calorie diet has proven itself to be nutritious while at the same time allowing your body to lose weight naturally. Standard diet programs recommended by physicians, dietitians, and nutritionists use 1200 calorie diet plans as a foundation for meal plans.
There are criteria that alter the number of calories a person needs to consume each day for weight loss. Examples include age, gender, basal metabolic rate, body size, exercise regime and any medical needs. A formula is often used when calculating a person’s individual calorie requirement.
The 1200 calorie diet plan may seem like more than enough calories to suffice the average adult, with the amount of processed foods with saturated fats and refined sugars make the calories add up very quickly. For this reason, the balance of micronutrients is crucial to sustain the feeling of ‘fullness’ without consuming more calories. These macronutrients consist of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Usually, you’ll want to have at least half of your calories (or over fifty percent) come into your system from complex carbohydrates, fifteen percent from protein, and thirty percent of calories from fats (with no more than ten percent of that thirty from saturated forms).
There are many advantages to the 1200 calorie diet. For example, when you are consuming nutritious food you’re less likely to overeat because of the effect of ‘fullness’ these foods give you. Also, because you can choose from a vast variety of foods in the 1200 calorie diet, you’re allowing yourself variety in your diet all the while supplying much needed energy and a sense of ‘well-being’ to every cell of your body. It is also recommended with this diet to drink forty eight ounces of water daily with your meals and snacks. Because being well hydrated not only provides energy but it also helps your body reduces the amount of fluid in your shrinking fat cells – which is weight loss! It’s a win-win scenario.
Because the 1200 calorie diet is highly regarded by the medical community, dietitians, and nutritionists, its’ considered the safest way to lose weight. By limiting your amount of calories, you allow your body to burn the fat reserves in your body, allowing yourself to lose weight naturally. Combined with a strict regimen of diet and exercise, the 1200 calorie diet is a sure fire way to create long lasting weight loss results that will be maintainable and noticeable throughout your life. As with any diet, be sure to consult your physician to get the proper training and plan for safe and permanent weight loss.
The rice diet is a fabulous way to not only lose weight, but also lower your cholesterol and blood pressure. The diet was developed by Duke University as a treatment for diabetes,hypertension, and obesity. However, this low fat, low salt diet has proven itself time and again to be a great source for not only lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, but also weight. Because of this, many overweight diabetics should join the program as a surefire way to get their diseases under control, lose weight, and lose the prescription co-dependence. In the treatment of diabetes, the rice diet is substantially useful. It reduces the need for insulin in patents in all patients – thirty two percent of which were able to completely lose their co-dependence on insulin. The remaining percent of patients were able to severely diminish their medicinal intake for their diabetes.
In coronary artery disease it reduces the symptoms of angina pectoris and congestive heart failure – therefore making the drugs associated with it unnecessary. In conjunction with the rice diet, research shows that lowering cholesterol with diet and/or medication can reduce the risk of death from this disease, and that the diet is a very effective treatment for it. Many coronary artery disease patients have even been able to completely stop their prescription medications after using the rice diet program.
Hypertension is also affected by the rice diet. Trials have shown that the rice diet lowers the blood pressure of hypertensive patients and therefore prolongs life as it lowers cholesterol, normalizes blood sugar, uric acid, weight, and heart size.
Overweight patients can lose on average one half to one pound a day on the diet. On www.ricedietprogram.com it says, “The average initial weight for women was 204 pounds. The average weight for men was 266 pounds. The average weight loss in the first week was eight pounds for women and twelve pounds for men, but some patients have lost over 30 pounds in the first week. In four weeks, women lost an average of 19 pounds and men an average of 30 pounds. Again, some patients have lost over 90 pounds in the first four weeks.” Afterwards, sixty three percent of patents reported weighing the same or less than they did when they left the program. Such high success rates are reported across the board, and are indicative of what patients learn while in the program.
While the rice diet program may not be for everyone, it is a safe way to not only lose weight, but also fight major diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. The creators, at Duke University, have created a useful and safe method for you to lose weight (and keep it off) while under the direct supervision of a physician/doctor. If you feel that the program may be of help to you in your quest for weight loss, speak to your physician/doctor to see if the rice diet program will work for you.
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There have been many books on the rice diet, and even more focusing on different menus, some can be rather bland, with others being rather tasty as well as being healthy. The author Kitty Gurkin Rosati has written several books on the Rice Diet, I think one of her best is The Rice Diet Cookbook, anybody really interested in trying this diet should check it out. Another alternative is to open Google and type in The Rice Diet, then you can check out the relevant sites.
Swollen ankles, painful knees and hips, pain in your lower back when you stand for more than a few minutes, lack of energy, grossly obese, type two diabetes, does this sound like it describes you, well it did me just before Christmas 2012. Hi, my name is Trevor and I live in North London, UK, I am just sixty five years old, and I have had a serious weight problem now for over ten years. How did I get into this condition, well that’s simple, gradually. About fifteen years ago, my work changed, and instead of being out and about every day, I was spending more and more time behind my desk, and started putting on some weight, but I am over six feet tall and quite broad so it didn’t really show much. Working at a desk all day allowed me to smoke more, and I started to get a bad chest, so my doctor recommended that I stopped smoking altogether, and that I did with very little trouble. I was so pleased with the way I had stopped smoking, and the money I was saving, that I felt I deserved a few little treats, but as I had given up regular drinking years before, it only left food, well more to the point cakes, and rich creamy ones at that. More weight went on, but I was totally in control so I wasn’t worried, and my friends were saying, you’re not fat it’s just a bit of middle age spread, you should see the chap up the road, now he’s fat. The problem with friends is they never want to think they are being offensive, but sometimes it takes someone saying “wow what’s happened to you, you’ve put on a lot of weight” for you to take a proper look at yourself. Another disadvantage I personally have is living alone, and being able to cook rather well, when you make something nice that will do for two nights, and you enjoy it so much that you have a bit more, then realize that what’s left is not enough to keep, so you finish it off, and put more weight on. On and on it went, until December last year 2012, and I dropped a letter I was going to post, and I couldn’t pick it up, I could no longer reach the floor, in the end I got it with great difficulty but I knew it was time for a serious reality check. My scales had not seen any use for years, so I put new batteries in turned them on, stood on them and to my surprise they went straight to reset, because they only go up to 22 Stone or 140KG, so I went to my doctor who has much heavier scales and I was 159.1KG, 25 stone and she was not impressed.
That is basically how I got to where I was, so what have I done about it so far, well I can say nothing extreme or very drastic, but I have made some changes to my life style. The first thing I did was to accept the fact that something needed to be done, and then see how much weight I needed to lose, and I did have some help in that direction, as a big love in my life has been flying gliders, and now being semi retired I will have more time but I need to get under 18stone, and that is my aim for next year. In the past I have tried various fads, but they don’t seem to work long term, well not for me anyway. I think when you start talking about a diet it congers up all the wrong images, and anyway portion size I think is more important. The old saying if you are overweight just eat less and do more is very true in most cases, I know some people have medical reasons for being obese, but in most cases it’s too many burgers and chips, and no exercise. I knew for me exercise would be playing a big part, but straight away I was in trouble, because my weight was putting a strain on my legs, and I would get tired very quickly. A friend of mine who has been involved in fitness for many years suggested a simple exercise with an armless hard back chair, keeping my arms by my side just stand up and sit down 25 times at least once a day, just using your leg muscles, and it really worked and after a few days I could do it really slowly and put quite a strain on my legs. The other problem I had was walking, because of my shape I had far too much weight hanging out in front, which was causing pain in my lower back, and again my friend suggested a pair of walking poles, which really helped by taking some of the weight through my arms and off my back. I walk for at least 30 minutes every day and sometimes longer, and I have a lot more energy, and even taking time out to walk I still get far more done in a day, which is an added bonus. Food wise I have made some changes, but nothing drastic, just common sense really, the full English Breakfast with a fried slice, has been replaced with serial and a banana, with a cup of coffee, no sugar of course, my main meals I have really cut back on portion size, plus I have found by eating slowly I seem to get full with much less food, I do eat more vegetables and have cut right back on red meat and pork, and I do now eat more fruit. Some other things I have cut right back on are, bread, biscuits, cakes, but I still have a cake sometimes, and when I do I take my time and really enjoy it, so I will never say never about anything.
So where am I now, well we are half way through July 2013, and I just feel so much fitter, my energy levels are higher than I can remember, and my scales are trying to work and I think they will next week which mean I will have lost 3stone, that’s 42LBS or just over 19KG, there is a long way to go, but I know I am well on course to be under 18stone next spring, and it does get easier. I have achieved this without any drastic measures, just making relatively small changes, and sticking with it, and it took years to put on, so it is unrealistic to expect to be able to take it off in a few weeks, just stick with it and you will win. One last point, if you are going to walk for your exercise, do make sure you have a really comfortable pair of walking shoes, because nothing will put you off more than painful feet. Good luck with your weight loss, and I hope you have as much or more success than I have had. If you require more information on Walking Poles CLICK HERE For more information on Walking Shoes CLICK HERE
The Diabetic Food Pyramid, designed by the American Diabetic Association and the American Diabetic Association. Unlike the United States Department of Agriculture (or USDA)’s food guide pyramid, the diabetic food pyramid guides users through groups of foods based on their carbohydrate and protein levels.
