Advanced Wellness Solutions

Eating right is an essential part of controlling Type 2 diabetes.  While a healthy diet is important for everyone – for those with Type 2 diabetes – the right diet can mean the difference between achieving healthy blood glucose levels (A1C levels) or allowing the disease to progress to the point where diabetes begins destroying your body – and eventually your life.

One of the greatest fears of anyone with Type 2 diabetes is that the disease will progress to the point where a healthy diet can no longer control blood sugar levels.  Once you reach that point, your doctor will recommend you begin insulin injections.

So, if a healthy diet can prevent the progression of Type 2 Diabetes (in some cases – proper diet can make it so you don’t need medicine to control your blood sugar)  – what is the best diet for Type 2 diabetes.

Carbohydrates have the greatest and most immediate effect on your blood sugar.  This effect has been measured by scientific researchers and is known as the Glycemic Index.  From the site:

The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating.

Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels.

Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, and have proven benefits for health.

Low GI diets have been shown to improve both glucose and lipid levels in people with diabetes (type 1 and type 2). They have benefits for weight control because they help control appetite and delay hunger.

Low GI diets also reduce insulin levels and insulin resistance.

So the best diet for those with diabetes is a low GI diet.  What foods are low GI foods?

You might be surprised… according to the index on the site above… a banana cake made with SUGAR has a GI index of 47… meanwhile, a banana cake made without sugar has a GI index of 55.

Yeah – sometimes the GI index of food is surprising.

While it’s no surprise that a deep fried donut has a high GI (75) – it may surprise you to know that a rice cake has an even higher GI of 82.

You may also be surprise to learn that  the spoonful of sugar you put on your morning corn flakes actually has a lower GI than the corn flakes do!!!

The Glycemic Index site has an online database – which means you can enter your favorite foods into the index and see what each food’s GI index is.

By choosing lower GI carbs – you’ll find managing your blood sugar becomes much easier.  You’ll also find more than a few surprises while you’re there… such as the fact that a chocolate cake made from packet mix with chocolate frosting (Betty Crocker, General Mills Inc., Minneapolis, USA) has a GI of only 38 – making it better for your type 2 diabetes diet than a rice cake!

ENJOY!

If you’ve been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes , then you already know the basics.   Your body is still producing insulin which breaks down blood glucose into fuel which can be used by the cells in your body.  However, your cells have become “resistant” to the insulin – thus the term “insulin resistant”.   Your pancreas responds by producing more and more insulin to deal with the high blood glucose.

One of the most important elements of a good diet for Type 2 Diabetes is to control the number of CARBOHYDRATES you consume.  Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose in the digestive system.  Blood glucose levels are what you’re testing when you prick your finger and measure your blood.

You can’t live without consuming carbohydrates so you must be careful about the carbohydrates you choose to consume.   This is where the discussion gets kind of murky and we begin talking about the Glycemic Index.

Glycemic Index

The Glycemic Index or GI is a measure of how quickly the body breaks down carbohydrates.  The South Beach Diet promotes eating “healthy” or low glycemic carbs.

When you start watching the GI of foods, things will get very confusing very quickly.  For example, pound cake has a low glycemic index of 54 while rice cakes have a high glycemic index of 77.  All Bran cereal has a low glycemic index of 42 while Cornflakes have a high glycemic index of 83.

Weird Al Yankovic once wrote a song which goes, “Everything you know is wrong” and when you’re newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, sometimes you can feel like that’s what life is like.  Rice cakes are bad!  Pound cake is GOOD!

Since you can’t avoid carbohydrates entirely, you need to pick the RIGHT carbohydrates – the ones with low glycemic values.  For more information about a good diet for Type 2 diabetes pick up a copy of The New Glucose Revolution: The Authoritative Guide to the Glycemic Index – the Dietary Solution for Lifelong Health (Glucose Revolution)