Popular diabetic diets do not work; make your own

People with diabetes need to be cautious about socalled diabetic diets with promises of helping them control their diabetes. Even organizations like Diabetes UK have suggested a cautious approach to using these pre-packaged meal plans. Why?

Apart from being unnecessarily expensive, diabetic diets may be high in fat and low in important good carbohydrate content. To successfully market these products, it would be expected that the same effort would be made to appeal to the tastebuds as is done in selling other food products.

Commercial competition will most definitely be a determining factor in the production and marketing of most of these products.

Regular diabetic Exchange diet

For most diabetic diets, the primary method used in the quest to achieve normal blood glucose concentration is regulation of carbohydrate intake. Early after my diagnosis, I was given a specially-designed diabetic diet based on the Exchange scheme. It included 3 meals and 3 snacks per day, but instead of normalizing, my blood glucose level became more and more erratic.

These diabetic diets are designed to address the blood sugar problem by limiting total caloric intake of the various food groups; namely, carbohyrates, milk, fruits, vegetables, etc.

The Exchange diet has been met with mixed reactions, since many diabetics find it restrictive to count carbs. By eating foods with very high fiber and complex carbohydrate contents, I have weaned myself from eating six times per day to eating not more than 3 times each day.

Opinions vary regarding the usefulness of diabetic diets. However, my experience as a type 2 diabetic has taught me that diet alone does not work. In fact, it makes no sense to take on a diet that you may not reasonably be on for the rest of your life. With the anti-diabetes diet and lifestyle, one can eat normally and maintain normal blood glucose levels without drug mediation.

It is now known that carbohydrate does not cause diabetes, however it tends to get blamed for the rise in blood glucose levels. Many diabetics now have diets that severely restrict carbohydrate intake. Where do they get the additional energy necessary for normal function?

It was previously thought that fats are a good alternative source of energy for the diabetic. we read this piece of advice, "The decrease in carbohydrate must be compensated by an increase in fat.(1)" However, more recently...

Research conducted at the University of Kentucky showed that body fat and dietary fat are the leading causes of type 2 diabetes.

References

(1) Elliot P. Joslin, M.D., (1918), Diabetic Manual for the Mutual use of Doctor and Patient, p. 66

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