Saturday, June 30, 2007

Diabetic Diet Tips

For the person who suffers from diabetes, their diet and eating habits can tend to become very restricted. Just how restricted depends entirely on how strong your diabetes is. If you have only got the mild type of diabetes, then your diet should only need to be controlled mildly. For the person who suffers from a very high blood sugar level though, and has a stronger type of diabetes, they will need to go on a strictly controlled diabetic diet.

This isn't really fun, especially in the beginning when you re first having to let go of all those foods that you loved and adored for most of your life. If you are a known chocoholic then you are in for desperately hard times since you definitely will not be allowed to have that much chocolate ever again. Don t despair though, there are some diabetic diets in which you can have some small amounts of chocolate, just not in the quantities for which you re used to.


What can you really have in a normal diabetic diet though? What foods are restricted entirely, and what foods can you consume in small quantities? You should ideally include at least between 40 50% of carbohydrates in your diet. The diet itself is based on many things like your age, weight, sex, and type of diabetes. There will also be a set amount of calories that you can eat for your recommended daily diabetic diet, and most times this is less than the recommended daily allowance for non-diabetic people. All of these need to be calculated and weighed in first, so there is no set calorie value that all diabetics can use.

It s also true that you can have some sugar in your diabetic diet, but this should only be taken alongside some good healthy food. There are also some free foods that you can take without it detracting any from your diabetic diet. These include reasonable amounts of coffee or tea, sugar-free tonic water, broth, water, diet soft drinks, and sugar-free gum. A nutritionist or doctor will be able to give you a better list of these free foods.



And the best thing that you could do would be to go and talk with your doctor or nutritionist as to what type of diabetic diet would best suit you. From there it is just an easy step for you to maintain a healthy lifestyle so that you can be better, and in the control of your diabetes. Diet alone might not be the answer to your diabetes, and you might need to couple your diabetic diet with regular exercise and shots of insulin. Don’t guess at what you might be needing, and go see your doctor or nutritionist as soon as possible. Who knows you might actually be able to have a slightly richer diabetic diet than you thought you could.

We have all heard how easy it is to lose weight. How many of us have tried to do it. Help yourself to feel good.
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We've heard it all before -- quick weight loss diet plans promising unbelievable results that are nothing short of phenomenal. Many people rampage their way into all sorts of quick weight loss diet plans, only to lose steam halfway and lose motivation to implement the plan. Thus, they end up right back where they started, or worse -- they've actually gained some weight afterwards. Read on to know how to select and apply the proper weight loss diet plan for you.

The term 'plan' itself denotes preparing and goal setting. It involves a highly structured, well-organized schedule of meals and food combinations you must adhere to on a stringent basis; otherwise the quick weight loss diet plan falls apart. Diets, despite their variations, all have common ground upon which each of their systems is based.

Diet Plan # 1: Ditch the Junk Foods.

Junk food is the first to go. Think of the undertaking as a challenge to be met and overcome, rather than treating it like a prison sentence.

If you go on a diet half-heartedly, fretting over the things you will be forced to give up, you will only set yourself up for failure and disappointment. Instead, set a reasonable and attainable goal and timeframe, something you're sure to achieve, and then reward yourself afterward.

Having a sense of accomplishment is a great way to stay motivated and determined to see this through. For this, the ideal diet would be a more flexible one, like the Mayo Clinic Plan, which puts more emphasis on eating healthy choices -- like having your fill of unlimited fruits and veggies -- than eliminating unhealthy ones. This plan lowers cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and cuts down the risk for heart, disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

Diet Plan # 2: Just Say No.

If you get sidetracked and find yourself indulging a wee bit more than usual (read: cheating), do not abandon your quick weight loss diet plan altogether, simply because you feel you are no longer consistent.

Just make up for your mistake by eating twice as healthily as before. Remove temptation from your life (and your pantry!). Do your grocery shopping on a full stomach so you do not feel compelled to grab every snack in sight. Stock up instead on healthier alternatives, like whole grain foods.

Know the difference between a craving and real, honest-to-goodness hunger. When you hear that jelly doughnut a-calling, imagine yourself eating some other kind of food, like chicken, for instance. If you're really hungry, you'll want to eat whatever food comes to your mind. If anything other than that jelly doughnut seems like a bad idea, then what you have is a craving that must be ignored.

Eat smaller portions more frequently, about every three hours, because when you allow yourself to get hungry, it will be that much difficult to suppress your appetite and you will have a tendency to overeat.

Diet Plan # 3: Take Your Pick.

If you prefer a more rigid and quicker weight loss diet plan, try the famous South Beach Diet. It has three phases, the first of which takes two weeks long and is the most restrictive. Its specific menus do away with most of the carbohydrates you know and love, like bread, pasta, sugar, and alcohol, making it a seemingly difficult diet to hurdle. The Atkins Plan, on the other hand, provides three meals and one snack a day. It focuses on eating lean meat and eggs, and like the South Beach Diet, targets carbohydrates first.

The ideal would be to shed one to two pounds a week. Anything more than that would be too risky as it isn't just unwanted fat you may be losing, but all-important muscle tissue as well. This is why exercise and physical activity are just as essential to quick weight loss as eating right, because building muscle helps to burn all those calories away.

There are many other quick weight loss diet plans in existence, precisely because there is no single diet that will work for everyone. Whether low-fat, low-carb, protein-rich, all-vegetarian, or whatnot, it is still up to you to decide which plan you think will suit you best. And remember, when in doubt, always consult your physician first.

We have all heard how easy it is to lose weight. How many of us have tried to do it. Help yourself to feel good.
Click Here!