DIET FOR DIABETIC PATIENTS

In the light of the foregoing facts, the diabetic, and for for that matter everyone else, should adopt a diet that will bring him to his ideal weight and hold him there. It should be a diet that also contains all the essential elements in proper proportions for health. In many of our homes there is far too much use of fried foods, butter, margarine, sugar and polished rice. The use of fats should be definitely restricted, as should also the use of sugar, and this includes honey.
Saturated fats are now known to contribute to hardening of the arteries and since diabetes also contributes to the same, it is doubly important that they should not be used by a diabetic patient. Saturated fats come from animal sources and unsaturated fats from vegetable sources. Even the latter should be used cautiously, for they may also contribute to increase of weight. It is customary in some places to serve very sweet drinks. Some even mix sugar with milk. This is a bad combination and should be avoided.
The amount of protein needed in the body was once estimated to be about 120 grammes a day but now half of that quantity is considered adequate. Recent investigations have shown that it is very possible to get adequate protein if a variety of vegetarian foods is eaten. Such a diet, supplemented with milk, assures one, of good nutrition. It provides the further advantage of eliminating or greatly reducing the intake of animal fat. A recent study of vegetarians in California revealed that vegetarians suffered less coronary disease than non-vegetarians, and heart attacks among them.
Canned fruit or fresh fruit makes a good dessert for the diabetic. The canned fruit should be the kind to put up without sugar, and if sweetening is necessary one can use sucaryl(Abbott). Unfortunately most desserts are high in fats and carbohydrates, so one must be careful about them. It will be better for us to do away from desiring very sweet foods and juices. Sugar should never be added to milk even for non-diabetic.
Suggestive diets are not mathematically accurate. No one can nor should measure everything he eats with the accuracy of a chemist. One should. However, educate himself to know the amount of food he can take and then test periodically to see if he is "spilling" sugar.
If after cutting down down a seasonale amount one still has excess sugar in the urine, he should see his physician to make an adjustment. The amount of food eaten should be enough to satisfy one and cause him to reach and maintain his health.
From all indication, the best diet for a diabetic patient is a vegetarian diet.

Posted in: Diabetes