Jan 25 2009
Diabetic Food
You may come across diabetic foods in supermarkets and health food stores. These products are not as beneficial as they sound because they usually contain a sweetener called sorbitol, which is high in calories and makes your blood glucose level rise just as ordinary sugar does. In large quantities, sorbitol will also give you diarrhea. And there really is no reason to eat specific diabetic food, as a normal healthy is much better for you.
Diabetic foods are not recommended as they do not help you to control your diabetes – the many low-sugar and low-calorie foods are a much healthier option.
Friends and relatives may buy you diabetic products because they don’t know what you can eat and find the labeling reassuring. Let them know that it’s fine for you to eat normal chocolate, sweets, biscuits, and similar foods as long as you don’t eat them all the time or in large quantities.
You can use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar lo sweeten food and drinks, such as tea and coffee. These products contain aspartame, saccharin, cyclamate, acesulfame K, or sucralose, none of which affect your blood glucose. However, these products are classed as food additives and have been tested for safety. Because of this, each type of sweetener has a recommended daily amount (shown on the label) that should not be exceeded.
Drinks
Sugary drinks such as glucose drinks, cola, lemonade, and orange juice are digested very quickly, which is why it is recommended that you drink them when your blood glucose level is too low. For day-to-day drinks, choose sugar-free substitutes. Tea, coffee, and other hot drinks will not affect your diabetes, but drinking them with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk will cut down on calories.
Powdered drinks can have a high sugar content, so compare labels before you buy. Using artificial sweeteners in drinks instead of sugar won’t affect your blood glucose level, but there is an argument that too much artificial sweeteners can be bad for your health – regardless of whether you are diabetic or not.
What About Alcohol. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t drink alcohol when you have diabetes, unless you have been advised not to because of other medical conditions or treatment. However, drinking alcohol initially raises your blood glucose level because it contains simple carbohydrate.
In larger amounts it can inhibit your liver’s response to hypoglycaemia, which is to release glucose. This increases the risk of a hypo if you take insulin or insulin-stimulating tablets or if you are drinking on an empty stomach.
You can reduce the risk of having a hypo by having a meal containing carbohydrate before or while you are drinking alcohol. If you can’t eat a meal, snack on sandwiches, crisps, or cereal bars, particularly if you drink more than 2-3 units of alcohol.
If you know that you will be drinking a lot of alcohol and food might be in short supply, you may need to take a smaller dose of your tablets or insulin on that day to reduce the risk of a hypo. It is better to have a slightly higher blood glucose level for a short time than suffer a serious hypo that might need hospital treatment.
You should also tell a friend what he or she should do if you have a hypo. People who don’t know you might think you are drunk when you are hypo – they won’t realize that you need help quickly if your blood glucose level falls too low.
Alcohol is high in calories, so you may need to cut down if you are trying to lose weight or avoid gaining weight. Mixers, such as tonic, cola, and lemonade are high in sugar, so drink low-calorie alternatives to prevent your blood glucose level becoming too high.
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