The Role of Carbohydrates in the Diabetic Diet (Made Simple)

Carbohydrates and diabetes – let’s clear the confusion

Carbohydrates can be complicated! There are simple ones and complex ones. The is also low GI and high GI. What does it all mean for a diabetic? And should we be eating carbohydrates at all? Here’s some answers to your questions on carbohydrates and diabetes and how you can use this knowledge to constuct your own diabetic diet.

Let’s simplify carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are usually referred to as “carbs.” There are low-carb diets and no-carb diets, but what exactly IS a carbohydrate? A carbohydrate refers to any of a large group of sugars or starches that the body uses by converting them into glucose.

by Robert Brook under CC BY  with wpseopix.com

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There are simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. Both types are converted into glucose to be used as fuel by the body, but the body treats the two types in different ways.

Simple carbohydrates are sugars such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, and lactose. You find simple carbohydrates in foods like table sugar, candy bars, and breakfast cereals. Other foods in this category are white flour, potatoes and white rice and all foods that are made from these ingredients. Thus cakes, biscuits, pasta and most processed foods contain simple carbs.

Complex carbohydrates are also starches. These can be found in foods like whole grains and vegetables. These are considered to have a low glycaemic index (GI), meaning they take longer to be digested than simple starches. The GI of a food can also be influenced by the way it is cooked. Basically the longer a food takes to be digested, the lower the GI.

Although complex carbohydrates are generally the better option because they are broken down a lot more slowly, they still convert into glucose and must be accounted for. Complex carbohydrates are still carbohydrates at the end of the day, although they are necessary part of the diet. Vegetables, in particular, can form a major part of the diabetic diet, combined with a small amount of complex carbs. such as brown rice for example.

Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber. Fruits can be also enjoyed, although perhaps not as liberally as vegetables. Fruits can be high in fructose, a simple carbohydrate that has a high GI

So to simplify, diabetics should choose those foods that have complex carbohydrates rather than the ones that have simple carbohydrates as they take longer to convert to glucose.

Here are diet suggestions for diabetics:

1. Choose fresh fruit and vegetables.

2. Increase your fiber consumption.

3. Eat more poultry and fish, and less beef and pork.

4. Use olive oil rather than vegetable oil in food preparation.

5. If God didn’t make it, don’t eat it!

Additionally, food portions do matter. If your allowed portion of meat is 4 ounces, then you must use a food scale and measure 4 ounces – not 6, not 8, FOUR. If an allowed serving size is one-half cup, you must use a measuring cup and measure out ONLY one-half cup. The number or calories or carbs is not only determined by what food you eat, but also by how much of it you eat.

Tagged as: carbohydrates and diabetes