Nutrition And Diabetes
Rough estimates show that over 30 percent of infants who will be born the 21st century may develop type 2 diabetes in future. The most critical problems that are associated with diabetes are heart disorders which are the leading causes for death of diabetics. Majority of diabetics grapple with high blood pressure and they have high levels of bad cholesterol; this are the major causes of heart related illnesses. Over years, health practitioners and diabetic victims have had a hard time trying to get a solution to this prevalent condition. However, fresh efforts that are directed towards managing the causes of diabetes such as blood sugar, blood pressure and bad cholesterol levels have seen diabetes become less severe than it used to be in the past. These efforts include exercise plans, stress prevention and good nutritional patterns (Opara, 2005). It is the good nutritional patterns that are the major point of focus of this research paper.
Diabetes is of two types: Type 1 and Type 2. In Type 1 diabetes, there is no production of insulin in the patient’s body while in type 2, insulin is produced but at low levels. In both types, managing blood sugar levels is a great concern but it is more severe for type 1. Of the two existent types of diabetes, type 2 is the most prevalent. Owing to blood sugar level problems, diabetics should engage in nutritional patterns that ensure that their glucose levels do not fall into extremes. Ingesting too much food can cause rise in glucose levels in blood while ingesting very small amounts of food can cause a reverse condition called hypoglycemia.
To maintain blood glucose levels at a balance, diabetics should ensure they develop organized eating patterns that should be followed strictly. For example, diabetics should eat food of equal amounts daily. It should also be clear that diabetics should never skip meals or have their meals at a time that differs from the scheduled time of the eating plan. Recommendations about the nutritional patterns that diabetics should follow are based on empirically tested principles also called the medical nutritional therapy.
Though carbohydrates are the main sources of glucose which can lead to diabetes, research has revealed that they are still important to the meal of a diabetic patient. However, carbohydrates to be included in that diet should be those from milk with low fat levels, fruits, vegetables and whole meal cereals. Blood sugar levels in blood depend on several carbohydrate-related nutritional factors: most basically the amount and the type of starch in the meal, the sugar that exists in the diet and finally the method that is used to prepare, manufacture or process that carbohydrates-rich meal (Warshaw, Webb & Hughes, 2001). In contrary, according to several research findings, the type of carbohydrate and its source are factors of less concern compared to the amount of carbohydrates taken.
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