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Top 5 Diet Tips for Busting Diabetes

Are you struggling to control your diabetes?

Even though you are following the diet advice given to you by other health professionals?

I hear this all the time from my clients.

It shouldn’t be this way.

Type II Diabetes is a condition which can be hugely improved by following the correct diet.

Problem is, there’s be so much mixed messaging from our health authorities on what the best diet for diabetes is.

To help you avoid all that crap, and I’ll give you my Top 5 Diet Tips for Diabetes.

These tips are backed up by the latest cutting-edge research on diabetes.

diabetes diet

1. Reduce your refined carbohydrates

Let’s cut to the chase.

Type 2 Diabetes is essentially a diet and lifestyle created disease.

Your body can’t break down refined dietary carbohydrates properly anymore, (sugars and starches).

But sadly, the current medical treatment model of diabetes care still recommends carbohydrate rich foods to diabetics!

It’s ridiculous!

The foods you need to let go of are breads, pastas, rice, noodles, grains, biscuits and pastries.

You don’t need them to be healthy.

Fruits and vegetables contain all the natural carbohydates your body requires.

Those refined carbs will constantly push up your blood sugar levels.

If you want to get serious about fighting diabetes with your diet, these are the first foods to go.

Ditching processed food is actually easier than you think.

Just by eliminating highly processed packaged foods from your shopping basket, you are halfway there.

Packaged foods have been extremely refined for palatability packed full of flours, starches and binding agents that raise our blood sugars at an alarming rate.

Not to mention loaded with excess sugars and bad fats to add flavour!

You may have been told to make sure you read the nutrition labels on your food packets for the sugar or carbohydrate content.

My advice – there are no food labels on fresh whole foods!

diabetes diet

2. Plan and prepare

Set yourself up for success.

Set aside some time on the weekend to plan the week of meals, write a shopping list and don’t stray from it.

You can’t eat it if it’s not there.

There are copious amounts of free low carb recipes available.

And use leftovers for your lunches.

You have spent the time cooking a nutritious meal for dinner, so why not eat it again!

This avoids buying a poor option on the run.

Get back in the kitchen, keep it simple and enjoy cooking knowing that you are improving your health.

diabetes diet

3. Eat plenty of good fat

The common misconception is that all fat is bad.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Healthy fats, (including avocado, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, grass fed butter, nuts and seeds, oily fish including wild caught salmon, sardines and mackerel), are essential for diabetics for a range of reasons.

When incorporated with a balanced meal, the fat slows the spiking of you blood glucose.

This reduces the effects of the carbohydrates within your meal.

These healthy fats also have anti-inflammatory compounds essential to keep our vascular system healthy.

This helps prevent common diabetic complications such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetic neuropathy.

Yes, there are fats we want to avoid like processes seed oils including canola, sunflower and safflower, trans fats including shortening in processed foods and fried foods.

These fats are highly inflammatory.

diabetes diet

4. Eat protein with every meal

Protein comes in many sources, whether that be from meat, eggs, fish, nuts and seeds.

Protein rich food has less effect on spiking your blood sugar levels than carbohydrates.

And it will keep you fuller for longer.

This is due to the increased time it takes to digest, preventing you from snacking between meals.

Proteins are your body’s building blocks, used by every cell to regenerate and repair.

They also help your body sustain lean muscle mass, which is crucial for reducing the insulin sensitivity common in diabetes.

diabetes diet

5. Stop snacking

It is a common misconception, (probably due to all the food companies trying to sell us their latest products), that we must continually snack to keep our energy levels up and stop our blood sugar from dropping too low.

Unless you are insulin dependent, or have trouble with medication dosing, all snacking will do is keep your blood sugars at high levels.

Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but in most cases constantly eating will lead to consistently high sugar readings.

Our bodies are clever things.

We can make our own glucose from different stores in the body.

For example, while we are ‘fasting’ overnight our body keeps these levels in check.

Fasting for the right person can be highly beneficial to help with insulin resistance and lower chronically high blood glucose levels.

To summarise get back to basics cooking simple low carb meals with real whole foods.

It can be as simple as that to start taking control of your diabetes.

Best of luck, Mark Kiss

diabetes diet

Some great diabetic meal ideas.

Breakfast– Omelettes with spinach and mushrooms (no bread)

Lunch– Leafy green salad with sardines, boiled eggs, pumpkin seeds avocado, dressed with extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar

Dinner– Grilled Salmon with sautéed broccoli, asparagus and green beans with garlic butter.

Dessert– Blueberries with double cream or Dark chocolate (85% or more)

NOTE: If you’re being treated with insulin or insulin releasing tablets (Sulfonylureas) you may need to taper off this medication if you are eating fewer carbohydrates. Please see your health care professional for the best possible advice.