Since my diagnosis with diabetes at the age of eleven. I maintain my current healthy weight with a great diet or eating plan. If we do plan on losing more than about a stone in weight, then I would visit your doctor for more tips on how to do this without risk.
I’ve had diabetes for seven years now, but to tell you that how I maintain weight is perfect would be totally wrong of me. However, I can advise you to follow my steps because I know what works and what doesn’t. I must also say that I have been brought up by great parents who taught me to eat everything, and so I do! If there is something that you don’t like, there are loads of other diabetic recipes and ideas that you will eat and appreciate.
I am a university student and I like to buy organic produce from where I live. I believe that this is important because it can be the best good for your body and contain more nutrients and vitamins than most supermarket produce. I like to source food from my fortnightly farmer's market in town, which sells amazing meat and dairy produce and fresh in season fruit and vegetables. This is another important thing to remember, that eating fruit and vegetables in season means that they will taste better as well as doing you good. I have a lot of influence from Western European cuisine as you will tell, but I do not profess to be a chef and everything is easy to make and very convenient.
I have read countless diet books and diabetic recipe or diet books, and I came to a conclusion that I think really works. I fused all the good things from the diets but not from every diet and sort of put together my own one. I call this my Juvenile Diabetes Healthy Diet!
The rules that I would lay down are as follows
1) Change the type of snacks you eat.
Certainly my biggest downfall, although it wasn’t really apparent to me. When I started at University, I had little or no routine which meant that filling my day was difficult and popping into the kitchen for a snack, no matter how healthy it felt, was a regular occurrence. This is one of the hardest things to do for some people, but establishing a great routine is essential to diabetes care. The types of snacks to be eating are unsalted nuts, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables (I love fresh red pepper and cucumber), dark chocolate (richer and nicer, and you only want 2 squares usually).
2) Cut back the white flour and embrace wholemeal carbs.
This is the most essential part of your diet, and the thing that can show the biggest increase in weight loss. Wholemeal (especially stone ground wholemeal) is so good for you and has so much more flavor in it that switching is much easier than you think. People are really surprised at the ranges you can get in your supermarket, again remember that the bread that is best for you is the one that is freshest with the least preservatives or added ingredients. Also, brown/basmati rice is great, with a lovely nutty texture. Wholemeal pasta is great and for your potatoes I would totally recommend the smaller potatoes.
3 Stop drinking cocktails and start drinking wine.
Cocktails are full of sugar, colorants & preservatives. As a student I have had loads of practice at going out and not drinking cocktails, so my choice is Malibu and Diet Coke if I feel I have to drink something and I make it last all night. I can top up with Diet Coke (which has almost no sugar in it) and it looks as though I am drinking Malibu, who is to know. If you are out at a restaurant, red wine is much better than anything else you can order, (except water of course!) and it has been proven that the anti-oxidants in red wine are great for keeping a healthy heart. The recommended amount is one glass a day with your evening meals.
4) Start cooking more fruits & vegetables.
Fresh fruits & vegetables are a great way to get all the vitamins and minerals you need. There are different ways to cook the vegetables, but I find that raw is the best, followed closely by steamed. Both the ways preserve all their natural goodness as well. I will follow this post with another diabetes recipes.
5) Drink water more.
I know you have heard people say this many times before, but the benefits of drinking more water are more. A few tips on how to drink more water into your day are firstly to put bottles of water at all the places you go in the house or work. So keep one in your desk, one on your desk, a glass in the kitchen, the bedroom, the sitting room, etc. Try to drink all these glasses up, and you will be well on your way to 8 glasses a day. The trick is to add a glass every few days or so, if you try to drink all that water in one go you won’t be so inclined to drink 8 glasses again, trust me! Have a go, it’s amazing how great you will feel.
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