Diabetic diet and diabetic fitness are two crucial cornerstones to effective diabetes management. Get these two right and you are pretty much guaranteed to have a longer diabetic life with very little of those nasty long term complications. Using diabetic diet and fitness alone has been known to be responsible for some known cases of  reversing diabetes.

Before you fall for the hype into  believing that a diabetic diet and fitness alone will reverse your curious case of the diabetes,  there has to be an understanding of the dynamics of such a theory.

It used to be that they seduced us with their fad diets and miracle weight loss products, but more and more with the global diabetic epidemic hitting closer and and closer to home they have added a new wrinkle and obviously got the celebrities to endorse these products which are touted as the normal other than the exception to the rule.

I am sure we have all heard this story line ” I was overweight, obese and diabetic, I took such and such program used such and such diet and lost a bunch of weight, stopped taking my diabetes medications and now viola am cured.” (am talking about you Sherri Shepard)

Now don’t get me wrong I think she is a funny lady especially on 30 rock but I always rant and rave when I hear these kind of sensational stories that taunt the weight loss and stopping or limiting the need for insulin and oral diabetes medications as a cure for diabetes.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, lets talk about the importance of a proper diet and fitness program for a diabetic.

Its a very simple premise, for type 1 and type 2 insulin dependent diabetics the reason they are diabetic is that the pancreas which produces insulin has failed to function completely, thus the need for synthetic insulin to control their blood glucose levels. For the rest of diabetics, the type 2 and the LADA it is simply that we have accrued over the years a resistance to Insulin the pancreas produces or simply that it just doesn’t  produce enough Insulin for the body’s needs.

A few  things then have to happen to help in the regulation of insulin in our bodies.

1. Weight loss – the lessor your body mass, the lessor the amount of Insulin needed for bodily function.

2. Fitness – will increase Insulin sensitivity needs and will help in the weight loss

3. Medication – will increase Insulin sensitivity

4. Diet -  limiting carbohydrate intake will reduce the level of glucose which is the component carbohydrates break up into. the lessor the glucose, the lessor the need for Insulin.

There is a varying degree of Insulin sensitivity in the body and it goes from individual to individual. That is why someone will only need to shed a few pounds and bring their insulin consumption to a healthy optimal level and thus the perpetuated “cure“. I must stress that this happens on an individual basis and it is not the norm.

Even without the added advantage of a diabetes cure, it is still important to have an effective diabetes diet and fitness program in place.

DIABETIC DIET

The need to create a special diabetic diet will be based on one simple element which happens to be  is limiting the amount of carbohydrates consumed in said diet and the diabetic diet menu should reflect this fact accordingly.

The art of carbohydrate  counting.

First of all no one will definitively tell you what the ideal carbs intake for you is going to be, there is no blue print on it.Each Individual’s needs are unique and your diabetes team should be able to help you out with that. The rule of thumb has always been to avoid simple carbs which gets broken down into glucose quicker ( the white breads and pasta) and instead go for the complex carbs,( the brown and whole wheat alternatives.)

As a diabetic you will learn that we do a lot of experimenting when it comes to diet as our bodies will react differently to various foods. Always sample a new item to the diabetic diet menu by taking a serving then testing about an hour later to see its effects on the blood glucose before adding the item to the menu)

There is a lot of controversy on the recommended daily intake of carbohydrates for diabetics, with ranges going from 0-200g a day.

Obviously there are factors that attribute an individual’s carbohydrate and calorie intake as a whole. Fitness Levels, Age, Overall health factors, Lifestyle, weight considerations. ( a fit and active 30 year old man requires more carbohydrates to fuel their energy consumption, while obviously a 60 year old will require less carbohydrate intake)

The American diabetes association recommends a daily intake of  at least 200 g of carbohydrates a day. as part of a 1500-2000 daily caloric intake. The daily breakdown is as follows:

1. 50% – 60 % carbohydrates

2. 20% – 30% fats

3. 10%- 20% protein.

My personal opinion on the matter and the philosophy I follow when it comes to carbohydrates is this. Carbohydrates are the problem for me while I do need them for energy requirements I do not think trying to eliminate them from my diet will not have such an adverse effect on my health and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong so I consume less than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day. There is a trend  follow out there of this philosophy most notably the Atkins diet and its nutritional approach.R

Remember Moderation is key when it comes to the diabetic diet menu and  Remember to plan accordingly.

DIABETES EXERCISE

Its a love fest: Choose activities you love doing.

Diabetes exercise programs are recommended for diabetics because of the essentials benefits that these programs provide for the diabetes self management.

1. Diabetes exercise will lower your blood glucose level
2. It will also improve your blood pressure
3. increase the overall heath of your heart and blood vessels
4. Manage weight and weightloss
5. Give you more energy
6. Release stress
7. Make you stronger
8. Help you increase your insulin sensitivity and thus improving your glucose tolerance levels

The rule of thumb when it comes to diabetes exercise is to choose a program that will increase and maintain an above normal heart rate for an extended period of time. So choosing aerobic exercise over un-aerobic exercises is optimum.

The recommended level is about 30 min a day 3 times a week.