Diabetic diet

A diabetic diet is a diet that is used by people with diabetes mellitus or high blood glucose to minimize symptoms (most notably high blood glucose) and dangerous consequences of the disease. A diabetic diet is a diet that is used by people with diabetes mellitus or high blood glucose to minimize symptoms (most notably high blood glucose) and dangerous consequences of the disease. Recommendations of the fraction of total calories to be obtained from carbohydrate are generally in the range of 20% to 45%, but recommendations can vary as widely as from 16% to 75%.. For overweight and obese people with Type 2 diabetes, any weight-loss diet that the person will adhere to and achieve weight loss on is at least partly effective. The most agreed-upon recommendation is for the diet to be low in sugar and refined carbohydrates, while relatively high in dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber. People with diabetes are also encouraged to eat small frequent meals a day. Likewise, people with diabetes may be encouraged to reduce their intake of carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index (GI), although this is also controversial. (In cases of hypoglycemia, they are advised to have food or drink that can raise blood glucose quickly, such as a sugary sports drink, followed by a long-acting carbohydrate (such as rye bread) to prevent risk of further hypoglycemia.) Others question the usefulness of the glycemic index and recommend high-GI foods like potatoes and rice. It has been claimed that oleic acid has a slight advantage over linoleic acid in reducing plasma glucose. People with type 1 diabetes who use insulin can eat whatever they want, preferably a healthy diet with some carbohydrate content; in the long term it is helpful to eat a consistent amount of carbohydrate to make blood sugar management easier. An article summarizing the view of the American Diabetes Association contains the statements: There is a lack of evidence of the usefulness of low-carbohydrate dieting for people with type 1 diabetes. Although for certain individuals it may be feasible to follow a low-carbohydrate regime combined with carefully-managed insulin dosing, this is hard to maintain and there are concerns about potential adverse health effects caused by the diet. In general people with type 1 diabetes are advised to follow an individualized eating plan rather than a pre-decided one. A low-carbohydrate diet gives slightly better control of glucose metabolism than a low-fat diet in type 2 diabetes. A 2018 report on type 2 diabetes by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) found that a low-carbohydrate diet may not be as good as a Mediterranean diet at improving glycemic control, and that although having a healthy body weight is important, 'there is no single ratio of carbohydrate, proteins, and fat intake that is optimal for every person with type 2 diabetes'. The ADA say low-carbohydrate diets can be useful to help people with type 2 diabetes lose weight, but that these diets were poorly defined, difficult to sustain, unsuitable for certain groups of people and that, for diet composition in general, 'no single approach has been proven to be consistently superior'. Overall, the ADA recommend people with diabetes should be 'developing healthy eating patterns rather than focusing on individual macronutrients, micronutrients, or single foods'. They recommended that the carbohydrate in a diet should come from 'vegetables, legumes, fruits, dairy (milk and yogurt), and whole grains'; highly-refined foods and sugary drinks should be avoided.