Overweight diabetics are encouraged by doctors to lose weight and improve their overall health. Losing weight for a diabetic should result in lower blood glucose levels and help the patient feel better. Those suffering from diabetes must find the right diet plan that will help with both weight loss and will maintaining blood sugar at manageable levels. A proper diet is sometimes the only treatment necessary for managing diabetes in the early stages.
Doctor and Nutritionist
Losing weight can help control your diabetes and possibly get you off your medications. It is important to work with a nutritionist to design a diet plan that will give you proper nutrition while keeping your blood sugar levels low enough to be healthy. The amount of insulin and medication that you require will also need monitoring by a doctor or nutritionist while you are losing weight.
Diabetics should always consult with their doctor and a nutritionist when trying to lose weight. The amount of insulin that you need will change with your weight loss, and some medications may become unnecessary.
Calories
Cutting down on the number of calories that are eaten per day is the best way to lose weight. A diabetic must make certain that they are cutting calories from all food types - protein, carbohydrates and fats - to ensure that they are maintaining a proper balanced diet. A calorie cut of five hundred calories per day will result in a one pound weight loss per week. This is a safe amount of weight to lose on a diabetic weight loss diet. A one-pound weight loss requires a 3500-calorie reduction. Five hundred calories per day eliminated from the diet will result in 3500 calories lost at the end of a week. Exercise will burn more calories as well.
Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat
A well-balanced diet is made up of the proper amounts of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. A healthy diabetic diet should be fifty percent to fifty five percent carbohydrates, thirty percent fat, and ten to fifteen percent of calories from protein sources. Sources of carbohydrate should be complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and vegetables. Carbohydrates cause blood sugar to rise, which makes them particularly important to diabetics on a weight loss diet. A weight loss program for a diabetic should carefully consider the effect of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels.
Spacing out your calories and carbohydrates throughout the day will avoid spikes in your blood sugar levels as well. Exercise also has an effect on your blood sugar levels. Monitor the effect that activity and the foods that you have eaten have had on your blood sugar by monitoring throughout the day. This will help you determine how your diet is affecting your diabetes. Weight loss will automatically cause a lowering of your blood sugar levels and can have a profound effect on your health and the amount of medications that you are required to take each day.
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