General Eating with Diabetes

Some general eating advice for when you have diabetes mellitus:

• Try to eat "properly" – three meals a day, spread out over the day. This helps to control your blood sugar level as well as your appetite.

• Try eating starchy carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, cereals, and so on. The best ones are those that are absorbed the slowest.

• Reduce the amount of fat you eat, especially saturated fats such as butter, maragrine, cheese, and fatty meats; instead you should use unsaturated fats such as olive oil. But note that all fats contain many calories so cut down on all of them: don't fry or roast – try grilling, steaming, poaching, boiling, or oven baking. Try using semi-skimmed or even skimmed milk.

• Eat more fruit and vegetables – try to eat five servings a day. But how big is a "serving" of fruit or vegetables? A simple guideline is that a single serving is about as big as your fist, or a loose handful.

• Cheese: Try a stronger cheese than normal – that way you won't need so much!

• Try eating oily fish – it contains Omega-3, a polyunsaturated fat that helps to prevent heart disease. Try salmon, sardines, mackerel, pilchards.

• Cut down the amount of sugar and sugary foods you eat. You don't actually have to cut it out entirely – you can still use sugar in your cooking, for example – but you should avoid sugary drinks as your body can absorb the sugar they contain quickly and raise your blood sugar levels accordingly.

• Reduce your salt intake – most people eat far too much, and it can raise your blood pressure, which is bad for your heart. Watch out for processed foods, ready-made meals, and some takeaways (such as pizza) – they often contain huge quantities of salt. And I mean huge.

• Watch your alcohol intake.  Alcohol can sometimes nake hypoglycaemia more likely, and it also contains empty calories and so can affect your weight with no nutritional value at all! And seriously: if you suffer a hypoglycaemic attack, people may think you are simply very drunk, as the two states can easily be confused by the uninformed onlooker.

• Remember you don't have to stick to diabetic foods. Special diabetic food is not better for diabetics – such "special" foods still affect blood sugar levels, still contain fat and calories, are usually more expensive, and sometimes have a laxative effect. Instead, you should follow a healthy diet that is low in fat, sugar, and salt, should include starchy foods like bread and pasta, and should include plenty of fruit and vegetables.

• Use pulses such as peas, lentils, and beans – you could even use them as a substitue for meat in dishes such as pies, casseroles, and lasagne.

• Spread your eating throughout the day, with at least three eating points; however eating snacks during the day can also work for you. You could try:

• • Plain biscuits such as rich tea, garibaldis, digestives, ginger nuts.

  • Toast, plain cake, crumpets.

  • Fruit (fresh or dired).

  • Vegetables with a healthy dip.

  • Yoghurts.

• Take note of some advice for specific meals.