Diabetes Sufferers Require a Special Diet – Fact Or Fiction?

Is the widely held view that diabetes sufferers should have a special diet that avoids certain foods and which includes specially formulated diabetic foods a fact or a fiction?

Diabetics do need to pay close attention to their dietary habits to ensure they have a healthy balanced diet. So, what things should a diabetic include in their diet and what things should be eschewed? Here are my ten tips:

# 1. Avoid highly processed foods and foods that are high in fat, particularly saturated fats and trans fats.

# 2. Include a wide range of fruits and vegetables in your diet. Try to eat at least five portions of different fruits and vegetables each day.

# 3. Choose whole grain foods such as brown rice and whole wheat pasta.

# 4. Have two portions of fish per week. One portion should be oily fish, such as carp, mackerel, salmon or fresh tuna; the other portion should be white fish, such as cod, lemon sole, skate or sea bass. The fish should be steamed, baked or grilled but not fried.

# 5. Choose lean cuts of meat and remove any excess fat. Remove the skin from poultry before serving. Avoid frying when cooking meat.

# 6. Choose low fat or fat free dairy products in preference to full fat products.

# 7. Avoid high calorie sweetened drinks and carbonated drinks. In preference drink water or natural fruit juices.

# 8. Go easy on the desserts. Many of these, such as cakes and ice cream, have a high fat and sugar content. That does not mean to say a diabetes sufferer cannot have these desserts, but they should be looked on as a treat not an every day food item.

# 9. Reduce the amount of added salt in your diet. Look for foods that have reduced salt content or are low in salt. Many processed foods and snack foods are not only high in fat content, but they also contain large amounts of salt.

# 10. Introduce the principles of food combining into your dietary habits. Many diabetes sufferers have reported good results when they have used food combining in conjunction with the previous nine tips.

If you are thinking that these ten tips sound like normal dietary advice and that there is nothing specifically for diabetes sufferers, you are correct. The widely held view that diabetes sufferers should have a special diet is a fiction. A normal healthy balanced diet is an effective way to help control your diabetes.

Robert Reddin is a writer with more than 7 years experience and has numerous off-line and on-line articles to his credit. His interest in diabetes arose when a close family member was diagnosed with the condition. You can find more information about treating diabetes here

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