For a diabetic a diabetic diet is very important to managing their condition, and in some cases even working towards reversing it. In general this type of diet restricts calories, while controlling the ratio of carbohydrates and fats. Here’s some more information on diabetes in general, and the diabetic diet.
Before discussing the diabetic diet it’s important to understand the two types of diabetes. In general there are two types of this disease type I diabetes which is generally diagnosed in children and young adults and was previously called juvenile diabetes, and type II diabetes which is a more common form of diabetes. With type I diabetes the body does not produce insulin, while with type II diabetes the cells generally ignore the insulin. Both forms of the disease respond well to a diabetic diet, although it is more likely that type II diabetes can actually be avoided or reversed in early stages.
In general the diabetic diet is geared towards attaining ideal body weight for controlling and managing diabetes. There is a simple formula for calculating the estimated ideal bodyweight for any person. For a woman begin with 100 pounds at 5 feet tall, at 5 pounds for every inch over 5 feet, while if under 5 feet subtract 5 pounds for each inch under 5 feet. Here’s a quick example a woman who is 5′4 tall ideally should be 100+20 pounds, in other words 120 pounds. For men start with 106 pounds for a height of 5 feet than add 6 pounds for every inch about 5 feet. So for a 6 foot tall man ideal weight would be 178 pounds.
Many people have different opinions on the perfect diabetic diet, however some general elements are in common. For a person with type I diabetes diet should be approximately 35 calories per kilogram of body weight per day, that’s 16 calories per pound of body weight per day. That means a 160 pound man should eat about 2500 calories per day. Type II diabetes requires approximately 1500 to 1800 calories per day for loss, then differing amounts of calories to maintain ideal body weight.
In a general a diabetic diet carbohydrate intake should be about 50% of the daily caloric intake. It is often believed that even lower card-levels are healthier for Diabetic patients, but higher percentages of fat in the diet has its own problems. Sometimes this can be offset by substituting mono unsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats in the place of saturated fats.
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