The Importance of Diabetes Nutrition
In the simplest possible terms, diabetes is a chronic health condition in which the body is either not producing enough or any insulin. This results in an excess of sugar in the blood, and this excess sugar is then excreted through the urine. Eventually the condition can become quite serious and can even cause various other illnesses and diseases to develop in the body, particularly for the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart and blood vessels.
There are many different symptoms that a person with diabetes may experience, including hunger, thirst, excessive urination, dehydration and weight loss. There is no known cure for diabetes however there are many methods of treatment that are available to help sufferers manage and treat their condition as best as possible.
Diabetes Nutrition
One of the most basic and critical methods of treatment is diabetes nutrition. Although the idea that eating too many sweet or sugary foods will cause you to develop the disease is nothing more than a myth, once you have developed it, by eating a healthy and balanced diet and getting plenty of regular exercise, you will be benefiting yourself by helping to control the symptoms of the disease.
There is no single "diabetes diet" that you can follow, but by working together with your doctor or even a nutritionist, you will be able to come up with a personalized diet plan that will be able to help you and be best suited to your particular condition.
One of the first things that your doctor will tell you is that yes, you can eat sugar. You just have to make sure that it is part of an otherwise balanced diet, just as anyone else would have to, with or without the disease. You should try to include a lot of carbohydrates for proper diabetes nutrition, and these are found in fruits, vegetables, beans, dairy foods, and starchy foods as well, such as bread.
You should always try to include fresh fruits rather than canned fruits for the best diabetes nutrition, and you can eat fresh vegetables and frozen or canned vegetables, whichever you prefer. Protein is also very important, and you can find protein in everything from meat, poultry, and fish, to beans and even some vegetables.
You also want to make sure that you are drinking enough water, usually about six to eight glasses a day is recommended, but you should speak to your doctor about this because they may advise that you drink more or less than that amount for your diabetes nutrition, depending on your condition.
