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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    What are the best foods to keep my diabetes levels stable?

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    Allergy Endocrinology Food Allergies
    I have diabetes and am gluten and wheat free and I need to know what are the best foods to eat to keep my levels stable , I eat only fish or chicken fresh veg rice, oven chips once a week , bananas, Apples melon peaches, bake only with almond meal for cakes and biscuits and the occasional piece of chocolate . I was told by my doctor that the vegetables I eat contain sugar ie snow peas green beans ect . Hope you can help


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    Jessica Bailes

    Dietitian

    Hi, I’m an Inner-West Sydney based Nutritionist and Accredited Practicing Dietitian. I’m committed to helping people finding a way of eating that allows them to … View Profile

    Hi there, 
    It sounds like you're pretty confused about how best to go about managing you diabetes. 

    The most important thing with diabetes is to eat a healthy and balanced diet, with foods from all the five foods groups - meat, dairy, fruit, vegetables and grains.

    The second thing is spreading carbohydrate foods out over the day, and to not have too many. 

    Here is a very useful information sheet that explains all about how to eat healthily with diabetes. 

    Please feel free to get in contact with me if you have any more questions or want to make an appointment. 

    Sincerely, 
    Jessica Bailes, Nutritionist and Dietitian
    jessicabailes.com

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  • Kirsty Woods

    Exercise Physiologist

    Hi I’m Kirsty Woods,I would like to use my experience, expertise and passion to help you reach your weight, energy and health goalsI have been … View Profile

    Your doctor is correct in saying that some vegetables are starchy (lots of glucose linked together) and therefore impact blood sugar control. You may find this resource of interest http://www.lowcarbdiabetic.co.uk/

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  • Kate Marsh

    Credentialled Diabetes Educator (CDE), Diabetes Educator, Dietitian

    Kate works with clients with type 1 and gestational diabetes, PCOS, and those following a plant-based (vegetarian or vegan) diet. As a diabetes educator, she … View Profile

    Eating a regular intake of carbohydrate foods over the day and choosing lower GI foods is the key to keeping blood glucose levels stable. Low GI foods are those which are more slowly digested and absorbed. Unfortunately many gluten-free foods are high GI so this can be more difficult on a gluten-free diet but there are some lower GI choices including legumes, quinoa and buckwheat grains, corn, lower GI rices (eg Sunrice Low GI brown and white rice), many fruits (eg apples, pears, citrus, berries) and dairy foods like milk and yoghurt. You can read more about GI here:http://glycemicindex.com/about.php   Most vegetables have very little carbohydrate so won't raise blood glcuose levels, particularly green vegetables and salad vegetables. Starchy vegetables such as potato, sweet potato and corn do contain carbohydrate so should be eaten in moderation and balanced with plenty of non-starchy vegetables and some protein.

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    Dr Kevin Lee

    Endocrinologist, Nuclear Medicine Physician

    Consultant Physician in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Nuclear Medicine. I am on Twitter @dr_kevinlee. I am on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kevinleefracp/ I help patients with obesity, diabetes, thyroid, … View Profile

    Very good answers above by nutritional experts, thank you.

    It turns out low-carbohydrate is another option (1) to reduce glycemic excursion. There are some evidence that low-carbohydrate diet can lead to good glycemic control (2-3).

    In my experience, with the right type of anti-diabetic pharmacotherapy, low-carbohydrate diet works well in addition to achieve composite outcome of weightloss, stable glycemic profile and minimal hypoglycemic risk.

    Regards,
    Dr Kevin Lee.
    BSc(Med), MBBS, MHS(Clin Epi), FRACP
    Consultant Physician Endocrinologist
    1.    Kang X, Wang C, Lifang L, Chen D, Yang Y, Liu G, et al. Effects of Different Proportion of Carbohydrate in Breakfast on Postprandial Glucose Excursion in Normal Glucose Tolerance and Impaired Glucose Regulation Subjects. Diabetes Technol Ther. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc; 2013 Jul;15(7):569–74. 
    2. Tay J, Luscombe-Marsh ND, Thompson CH, Noakes M, Buckley JD, Wittert GA, et al. A Very Low-Carbohydrate, Low-Saturated Fat Diet for Type 2 Diabetes Management: A Randomized Trial. Diabetes Care. 2014 Oct 23;37(11):2909–18. 
    3. Bazzano LA, Hu T, Reynolds K, Yao L, Bunol C, Liu Y, et al. Effects of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets. Ann Intern Med. American College of Physicians; 2014 Sep 2;161(5):309–18.

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