Month: December 2015

Pre-diabetic foods should consist of foods that are low in sugar, low in carbohydrates, low in calories, low in fat, low in cholesterol and in sodium. Wow, that’s a lot right? Not necessarily. You just do not want foods that are unusually or extremely high in these areas. The lower you can keep your daily intake in these areas the better you will be.

This can be a very tricky subject as well. Some foods that claim to be “healthy” and “nutritious” are actually just the opposite and should be avoided at all costs. For example: McDonald’s Chicken Selects Premium Breasts Strips contain 11g of fat, 1550 mg of sodium and are actually worse than eating the Big Mac!

Just because the food may be marketed as being healthy and nutritious, doesn’t mean that you should take the manufacturer’s word for it. Learn to read the nutrition labels that are federally mandatory by law to be provided to the consumer. McDonald’s now has the labels printed on the boxes that their food is served in; however, prior to ordering you can ask for a nutrition booklet and this booklet can be handy to keep in your car.

By learning to read the labels, you can ensure that you are maintaining a healthy and nutritious diet. Learn to limit your intake and your proportions. You don’t have to follow the Atkin’s low carb diet. Just limit your carbohydrate intake per meal. Consuming 30-45g of carbohydrates per meal can still be healthy.

Learn to count condiments too. You may not think that salad dressing, ketchup or steak sauce counts, but it does, just like margarine and other fats. Ketchup, salad dressing and steak sauce, as well as other condiments, contains carbohydrates, fats, sugars and calories and sometimes through excessive use, can add up extremely fast. How much salad dressing do you put on your salad? A healthy serving size is just a teaspoon or two and not ¼ of a cup.

Labels are Important – Finding the right pre diabetic foods can be just as easy as reading the nutrition labels. Those labels are there for a reason and should be taken advantage of. They are actually very easy to read and will become easier with time. Consulting with a dietician can prove to be beneficial because it will help you to learn all of the important aspects of label reading; however, you can pretty much figure it out on your own through constant awareness and by following the serving sizes that are recommended on the label.

Ask your physician what the perfect calorie intake for you should be to gain some sort of a guideline to begin with. Following a calorie guideline on a daily basis, will help you to become more aware of what you are eating and how much you are eating. You will become a more conscious eater; therefore, you will become a healthier eater and this is what pre diabetes and the pre diabetes diet is all about. Controlling what you eat and becoming a healthier eater to help deter your chances of diabetes onset, later in life.