Diabetes is often accompanied by overweight, and patients have to think about a balanced diet. It is important to take the menu seriously and change your own lifestyle in order to prevent glycemia and the accumulation of cholesterol in the vessels. If you do not make up a strict diet for yourself, guided by certain principles, then the treatment will be ineffective. With obesity, treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus requires a special diet, this is the only way to significantly improve the quality of life of a sick person.
The content of the article
Basic recommendations and principles of diabetic nutrition
Adjusting the daily menu is required to:
- Reduce the amount of extra pounds;
- Maintain a certain level of glucose;
- Reduce the stress on the damaged pancreas.
One of the principles of nutrition is to eat frequent small portions. A diabetic needs to eat five to six times a day. Breaks between meals cannot be more than three hours. This method allows you to normalize metabolic processes in the body and reduce hunger. Drinking regime is also important. It is recommended to drink no more than one and a half liters of water per day. This figure does not mean juice, tea or fruit drinks. The first meal should help the body activate important vital processes; it is recommended not to overeat at dinner.
It is easier for the body to work if there is a certain schedule for the intake of nutrients.
Specialist recommendations:
- In the daily diet, the amount of carbohydrates is reduced, first of all, this is due to substances that are quickly broken down during digestion. The diet should contain polysaccharides;
- Sugar has to be completely abandoned;
- High-calorie meals, alcohol are prohibited;
- Fried foods, smoking, pickled foods are not used;
- Cooking includes boiling, stewing, or oven cooking, or you can use a double boiler.
There are three main meals. There should be small snacks in between, including a glass of fermented milk product, a vegetable or fruit, a diet bread.
How to select products
A therapeutic diet for obesity of type 2 diabetics involves the use of dishes with a low glycemic index. By defining it according to existing tables, it is easy to compose the correct menu. This is best done with your doctor. The glycemic index values depend on a number of factors:
- A specific type of saccharide;
- Protein amounts;
- Lipid levels;
- The presence of dietary fiber;
- Heat treatment.
In addition to GI, the insulin index of foods is also extremely important, but it is more taken into account by diabetics with the first type of disease.
With obesity, the calorie content of the food consumed comes to the fore.
Scientists have long deduced what the optimal number of calories is, depending on gender and age. This level must be taken into account when compiling the daily menu.
What products can be used
The daily menu of a diabetic undergoing type 2 diabetes treatment must include foods rich in fiber. The diet requires a balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fat. We’ll have to completely abandon semi-finished products. The following products become the basis of nutrition:
- Low-fat varieties of fish;
- Bakery products made from rye flour or with bran, coarse grinding – 150 g;
- Vegetarian soups with a small amount of cereal;
- Buckwheat;
- Pasta made from durum wheat;
- Barley porridge;
- Oatmeal;
- Pearl barley;
- Eggs (1-2 per day);
- Diet meat;
- Seafood;
- Milk;
- Low-fat kefir, cottage cheese, sour cream;
- Unsweetened yogurt;
- Cheeses;
- Vegetable oil;
- Vegetable caviar;
- Vegetable salads;
- Lightly salted fish;
- Pickled vegetables;
- Unsweetened fruits;
- Fruit and vegetable juices;
- Herbal teas;
- Rosehip infusion;
- Jelly, mousse, xylitol marmalade;
- Sauces on broths of vegetables.
With a diet designed to combat excess weight, the calorie content per day should not exceed 1300-2000 kcal.
Prohibited foods
Simple carbohydrates – sugar, molasses, honey, confectionery – are replaced by fructose or sweeteners. You should forget about jams, preserves and other goodies with a high GI. Nutritionists oblige diabetics to completely exclude:
- Fatty fish and meat (pork);
- White bread and buns, sweet cakes;
- Pastries and cakes;
- Sweet;
- Fatty meat broths, soups with legumes;
- Dairy soups with pasta, semolina or rice;
- Margarine;
- Butter;
- Sausages;
- Fatty fermented milk products;
- Sweet yoghurts;
- Grapes;
- Bananas;
- High sugar juices;
- Chocolate;
- Dates;
- Dried fruits in large quantities;
- Persimmon;
- Cherries;
- Cocoa products;
- Kvass;
- Alcoholic drinks.
The diet and treatment of obesity in type 2 diabetes requires serious consideration and scrupulousness.
How to normalize insulin levels
A diet that contains a reduced amount of carbohydrates helps to normalize the amount of insulin in the blood. Due to this, the body’s fatty tissue begins to break down, which leads to weight loss. With obesity, this moment becomes very important, since it is strictly forbidden to use fasting diets for diabetics! The position that obesity is the result of insufficient willpower is a prejudice. In fact, there are specific reasons:
- Extra pounds – a direct consequence of the disease, can be caused by genetics;
- The presence of excess weight leads to a malfunction in the metabolism, the production of insulin is disrupted, the level of the hormone increases, an excess of fatty tissue also accumulates, as a result, the second type of diabetes develops.
A well-chosen diet helps to break the vicious circle.
Fasting days for obesity are necessary, but this does not mean that the patient should refuse food. It is recommended to eat meat, milk or fruit.
Daily diet for type 2 diabetes and obesity
A diabetic’s daily menu can include a variety of foods. The daily diet is approximately like this:
- Breakfast: cottage cheese with the addition of fat-free sour cream or with berries, buckwheat porridge, tea with milk;
- Lunch: cottage cheese casserole, rosehip broth;
- Lunch: soup in water or vegetable broth with the addition of pieces of lean meat, chicken and cabbage salad, fructose jelly;
- Afternoon snack: soft-boiled egg;
- Dinner: stewed cabbage with boiled fish;
- A glass of kefir, curdled milk before bedtime.
Cutlets for diabetics are cooked exclusively with steam. The purchase of a double boiler in general allows you to solve many problems, since the products in it do not lose their beneficial qualities, and the vegetables retain their vitamin composition.
Add vitamins
Diabetes mellitus requires supplementing the daily diet with vitamin and mineral complexes in order to provide the body with all the necessary substances and compounds. Useful substances are quickly flushed out of the body, since diabetes is characterized by frequent urge to urinate. The attending specialist helps to choose a course. Diabetics need:
- B vitamins, which help stimulate blood circulation, even out the blood composition, improve the state of the nervous system, accelerate tissue regeneration and increase the sensitivity of cells to insulin;
- Vitamin E – improves vision, helps restore blood pressure, strengthens the vascular system and muscles;
- Vitamin D – improves the condition of muscles and bones;
- Ascorbic acid – improves immunity, has a positive effect on blood vessels, especially the organs of vision;
- Vitamin P – helps prevent damage to the retina.
Organic acids and a range of minerals are also added.
What to do with carbohydrate addiction
Obesity is often accompanied by carbohydrate dependence. Because of it, many patients cannot withstand a diet low in calories, their weight does not change, which even leads to depressive conditions. Addictiveness to high-carb diets is no easier than alcoholism or nicotine addiction. It is characterized by uncontrolled bouts of excessive eating. It is extremely dangerous for diabetics to allow such breakdowns. To overcome this type of addiction, medications are produced, they are taken orally or by injection. The attending physician will help you choose the correct one. Medicines Diabetics are shown not only a diet; in obesity, the doctor selects drugs that help to cope with the pathological condition.
- Antidepressants are drugs that slow down the breakdown of serotonin. Quite often they have side effects, therefore, in some cases, they are replaced by drugs that increase the production of the hormone;
- Tryptophan – helps to increase the synthesis of kynurenine, serotonin, melatonin;
- 5-hydroxytryptophan – has a calming effect, improves serotonin production, is well tolerated by patients;
- Siofor – lowers glucose levels without causing a hypoglycemic effect, reduces cholesterol, favorably affects lipid metabolism;
- Glucophage – works longer than Siofor, works in a similar area.
Of the drugs that improve the synthesis of serotonin, 5-hydroxytryptophan has a prolonged effect. Tryptophan is usually taken before meals, washed down exclusively with plain water. For 5-hydroxytryptophan, an accumulative effect is characteristic, the patient’s dosage is increased gradually, while the daily portion is divided in two so that the tablets are taken before morning and evening meals. The side effects of this medicine are as follows:
- Increased gas separation;
- Diarrhea;
- Unpleasant sensations in the abdomen;
- Nausea.
However, their manifestations are quite rare. If we talk about siophor, then it provides for the release of metmorphine within half an hour after taking the pill. Thanks to it, the blood sugar level decreases, regardless of whether the patient is hungry or just ate. Glucophage differs from its analog by a longer exposure. The active substance is released within nine hours, so taking a pill is enough only once a day. Most often, there are no side effects; there are rare cases when there is a gastrointestinal reaction. Among the antidepressants that are used for established depression that accompanies diabetes mellitus, there are:
- Norpramine;
- Elavil;
- Pamelor.
They help restore the balance of chemicals, thereby improving the patient’s condition. Another group of drugs causes fewer side effects, they work as selective inhibitors:
- Prozac;
- Lexapro;
- Zoloft, etc.
Another type interferes with the absorption of certain substances:
- Duloxetine;
- Effexor;
- Pristik.
To identify how the drug affects the body of a particular patient, a weak dosage is prescribed. When no pathologies or severe side effects are detected, the dose is increased to the required one. It is impossible to select antidepressants on your own, the attending physician deals with this, taking into account the patient’s complete history.
Preventive instructions
Having extra pounds and relatives suffering from diabetes mellitus is a sufficient reason to take preventive measures, even if you have not been diagnosed. It is necessary:
- Adhere to the principles of harmonious nutrition, with a lot of vitamins;
- Do not forget about physical activity, about walking;
- Undergo routine examinations with doctors;
- Monitor your own health.
Many have heard about the correct drinking regime, natural water should be supplied to the body every day. It cannot be replaced with other drinks.
The daily diet should include herbs, citrus fruits, bell peppers. Potatoes and bakery should be limited, it is recommended to cook porridge as a second course. Gymnastics, walking in the fresh air, cycling, Nordic walking, swimming – it is necessary to include any type of sports exercise in life. Remember – proper prevention will reduce the likelihood of developing the disease.