Sometimes we heed to the myths rather than the facts, that is why they are in tremendous existence in spite of spreading out awareness like clouds. There is no way back unless debating and trying to educate the innocents on these terms. There are no exceptions when it comes to myths about healthy eating for diabetes.
Okay, let us now break up the myths we have believed aimlessly since years.
Avert the fats to fight well with diabetes – This is a myth!
There is no point in this view; our body needs certain fats noticeably, and diabetes got to do little with body fats, but with blood sugar.
Fatty acid deprivation in our body ends up in a dry and lifeless skin causing pain.
Utilize polyunsaturated and monosaturated fatty acids in your diet, desisting bad cholesterol and trans fats. Olive oil rich in omega and salmon is nature’s fat resources, nuts like peanuts, butter not processed and heart-healthy fats that secures the pumping organs.
Bid farewell to the junk food – no it is not a must in winning your fight with diabetes!
Do not get me wrong, junk food is harmful to the body but giving up on all the favorites and yet little healthy foods cannot gain you great health anyways.
And as I said, diet is about moderate changes and not abolishing them completely.
The idea is to take the servings with a scoop of ice cream rather than a tub, a candy than a bunch of chocolates in hand; these ease your mental and dietary satisfaction.
Eat fibers and you must eat them abundantly – it depends!
The myth is rich fiber intake is harmless, yeah fiber intake is harmless as it does not add any glucose up levels, but anything is dangerous if not taken on a regime, excessive of fiber can cause constipation or diarrhea.
Hang on to one or two types of fiber yielding foods.
Can take all sugar-free stuff to help with your craving – Think again!
It has no point of validation. The sugar-free foods are indeed got no or less in the sugar and calorie content, but the rapid and vigorous use of sugar-free supplements in your diet may substantially add excessive weight and triglycerides in the body.
Eat sugar-free, but ‘optimal’ is the rule of thumb.
Ingredients you add into your food alone matters – no, it is not!
The ingredients traditionally designed as part of your diet alone does not make your balanced diet as well as your appetite. Eating them alone makes you lack certain minerals and makes you depressed with your food habits.
Eat a variety; I don’t stress to eat everything, eat variety amongst the foods apt for you.
Portion control: It is not only about portion size!
In spite of grumbling for the cheese and yogurts that transfers fats on to your body, give away the grazing habit of eating.
Eat in small portions, split into sizes and regiment every fat you take in. This keeps you hale.
Less sugar implies less diabetes – not at all!
People fantasize that less or no sugar inclusion in the diet before falling prey to diabetes can erode the total chances of becoming a diabetic.
No matter you eat only spices, the diabetes is not going to show mercy to you, it depends on your risk profile for diabetes, such as the overweight, your body insulin management and how active you are (e.g. amount of physical exercises you have).
Read more on risk factors for diabetes.
Stay on a strict diet every day – but you could mindfully eat the ‘junk’ from time to time!
We never take a cheat day in our diabetic diet. That is because of the fear of aggravating the blood sugars. But, it is not. We need not be on a menu for a lifetime.
You are eating all, maintaining healthy quotient benefits rather more.
Eat often – but stick to your metabolic needs!
The hell with it! We do feel the cravings and demanding appetite in diabetes but grazing on the food like a blender is a strict ruin.
Eat in a fashioned and designed pattern, eat as per the metabolism of your body.
Artificial sweeteners are essential if you avoid ‘sugars’ – That is not true!
They aren’t necessary to be there on the menu; they are just a substitute for the cut-down sugars from your diet.
There is no must of their usage; you can go utterly sugar-free if you can digest the tastes.
In fact, there is very less research about artificial sweeteners and we don’t know enough about their long-term effects on your body as a sugar substitute.
Snacks are a must – Well, snacks should be a part of your meal if only your metabolism needs it!
Even if your supposed and framed to a diet with three meals and three snacks, it is not needed to have a practice of it.
Eating sized measures every three to five hours does the work, depending on as per the need of your body metabolism.
Drink water before meals: It may help but the mindfulness is the better practice!
Drinking water before taking in the food to lessen the intake is a complete crack sense.
We can voluntarily control our portions and quantity we take using common sense or else add some water retaining fruits or foods in the diet.
Hope you found the myths about diabetes food and eating interesting. Would you like to read on about other myths about diabetes too? Just follow the link.
Great Post! It is understandable that people cannot eliminate dairy completely from their lives. Diabetics can keep their food consumptions with low GI by switching a better alternative product like diabliss which helps to reduce the risk of diabetics and balance your blood glucose level.
Dear Shani,
Omg, I didn’t know that less sugar doesn’t reduce the risk of diabetes, now I’m in so much trouble. I have a generation of diabetes and me myself am not as active as I used to be back in college. I don’t take sugar much and when drinking coffee or even making juices, I don’t even use sugar in them.
However I do consume candy and on certain occasions (When I’m sleepy), creme brulee for desserts in the restaurant. or that very famous bubble tea everyone’s talking about. Do you think that I’ll likely get diabetes too?
Dear Riaz,
Diabetes is a complex illness, and the point I made was that eating no or less sugar will not affect the fact if you would or would not be diagnosed with diabetes in the future.
The best approach is to understand your risk profile for acquiring diabetes and accordingly make changes to your lifestyle and eating habits. Read more on Risk Factors for Diabetes.
You may notice in the list of risk factors, I have noted that overweight, lack of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle as risk factors. Being mindful of those risk factors also means anyone should eat the number of calories their body needs (based on Body Mass Index) every day, which eventually guide you with how much carbohydrates or sugar your body needs.
Anything, consistently and considerably more or less, will cause our body systems to malfunction in the long run. In that case, nasty disease like high blood pressure, diabetes
and body pains may arise.
I hope this clarifies.
P.S. You may find my latest article Why Do My Leges Ache? Interesting.
I think the first thing to know is that their 2 kinds of diabetes, we have hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. We need to be able to distinguish the two and we shall know what can work for our body.
All this myths can be harmful if we don’t know what type of diabetes we have. Before considering anything, we need to see a doctor and a nutritionist to establish what will help us improve our health. This is a serious disease but we can accommodate it and live longer.
Thanks for sharing.
Dear Adyns,
Thanks for the comment. I would like to clarify the following to avoid any misunderstanding.
Broadly speaking, there are a few types of diabetes, such as Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetes Insipidus. And, Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes are the common variants of Diabetes Mellitus.
Hyperglycaemia, which is an increased blood glucose level, is a symptom of Diabetes Mellitus. The daily goal of diabetes patients is to maintain their blood glucose level at or closer to ‘healthy’ blood sugar level.
Hypoglycaemia is an unexpected drop of blood sugar level beyond the ‘healthy’ blood sugar level, which is considered as a potential ‘complication’ of diabetes. Every person with diabetes should be mindful of hypoglycaemic episodes.
As you also noted, it is essential to know what type of diabetes you have so you can work with your doctors to manage it well.
I hope this helps.
Take care.
P.S. Some popular home remedies for type 2 diabetes
are here.
Okay, I got it. It must be dual and not just focused on one factor only. Thank you for enlightening me.
I got this situation where I am very prone to Diabetes. First, hereditary. From my grandma, to my aunties cousins, it seems Diabetes is prevalent in our bloodlines. Second, my bad diet and lack of exercise.
Like you said in your article here, it must work dual. One from the diet side, that I must take note the quality of my diet, and at the same time have ample exercise.
Thanks, this really empowered me.
Hi Gomer,
It’s great that you found the article useful.
Please let us know if you have any specif questions answered.
Take care.
P.S. MediChannel is now on YouTube http://themedichannel.com/YouTube.
This was a great and useful post about the many myths that surround diabetes. I have a sister who has lived with diabetes since she was 12-years old and it has not been easy. A lot of research has happened since she was diagnosed (she is now 69!) and there are better answers and solutions than before.
The problem is that some of the old beliefs of what you have to do, what causes or exacerbates diabetes, how you have to cook food or which to avoid still hang around to this day. Some of the myths you mention were, in fact, being spread so long ago when my sister first came down with diabetes.
What is particularly useful with your article is that for every one of these myths, you provide solutions and dispel the myth. That is why I have bookmarked the page and will send it to my sister. She still is out and about and helps young people in her community that may be diagnosed with diabetes. I know she will appreciate this.
Thanks for all the hard work putting this together!
Dear Dave,
Thanks for sharing your sister’s story with Diabetes.
We are glad you found the article valuable.
There are many ways you can subscribe to MediChannel. You (and your sister) can complete the Subscriber Form, or subscribe to our YouTube, Facebook and Twitter channels.
Happy exploring and best wishes!
It was very interesting to read your article as last year I was placed into the pre-diabetes bracket with a reading of 6.1 (6 and over to 6.5 is pre) I made some minor changes to my diet as in olive spread instead of butter, cutting out palm oil in foods and just being more careful about eating sugary foods. In fariness, I tend to eat very healthily anyway so these changes were easy. On my next test, I was only 5.9 which I, of course, was really pleased about. Do you think this was just luck or the changes I introduced?
Hi Martin,
Thanks for sharing your experience if reversing pre-diabetes.
Your question is not an easy one to answer without knowing much about your medical history (including other health challenges). However, sticking with the recommended list of type 2 diabetes food and avoiding the non-recommended, definitely has an impact on your journey in reversing pre-diabetes.
Tip: Here is the Diabetic Gastroparesis Food List and the Reactive Hypoglycemia Food List.
Healthy eating plays a significant role, but that is not the only deciding factor in beating diabetes. Your exercise routine (physical life), effectively monitoring the blood sugar levels, taking any medication recommended by your doctor and managing any other health challenges all got their fair share.
Hope this helps.
Keep it up and best wishes.
Such a useful post, thank God I am not suffering from diabetes but my mother in law does and I know how much she struggles with everything especially when it is time to decide what to it or don’t it and what type of food to avoid completely. I will share with her your post I am sure she will more than appreciate it. Thank you
Hi Shani!
The human’s body is a system that exists already for millions of years! It is a moving system, limited in space and time (for now)! As other moving systems body needs energy. The proper energy. Like with the cars, you need proper fuel to get it moving. Nutrition is a very important aspect of our daily living. Sugar as a source of energy is also a very important factor of a proper diet. The brain needs a lot of sugar to function well, the muscles need sugar to move and kids need sugar as well. They have their own metabolism and diet.
As we know diabetes restricts the body’s ability to process blood sugar properly. I am not a diabetes expert but I know that there are even sportsmen with diabetes that are competing on a professional level. We are fighting diseases according to our medical scientific discoveries, knowledge, and experience. Sometimes even the medicine doesn’t have answers for all issues.
In short, in my opinion, the logic behind the proper nutrition and health is as follows: “Give the body what it needs and it will respond accordingly!” I am sure that if you treat your body system with a proper diet, it can resolve many health issues, diabetes as well. At least it can help to live with it in a much better way.
Thanks for sharing your insights about diabetes, myths about it and the proper diet.
Best regards,
Igor