[Muffie's Mom]

Animal Protein

Diets with excessive protein, especially animal protein, are associated with the development of type 2 diabetes and with the progression of diabetic kidney disease. Too much protein in the diet puts extra stress on the kidneys and can lead to further damage. This effect is greatest when the main sources of protein are animal products such as meats and dairy.

Although animal protein in meals may help to blunt the high blood sugar spikes seen in diabetes, it has the tendency to cause great rises in blood insulin levels. Researchers believe that some of the proteins found in animal products may stimulate the pancreas to produce even more excessive amounts of insulin.

Since excessive insulin may be damaging to the body, it might be best for diabetic patients to cut back on the amount of protein they get from animal sources. Meat and dairy products can be easily replaced with non-animal protein sources such as legumes, which do not cause blood insulin levels to rise so much, and which contain fiber and a variety of other important nutrients needed by diabetic patients.

Niacin or Nicotinic Acid

Niacin is a B-vitamin often used in people with atherosclerosis to lower high cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, high intakes of this nutrient can cause high blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. These effects are only seen in people taking very high doses of niacin in supplement form and not from food sources or the amounts found in most multivitamins. Diabetic patients should therefore avoid taking high-dose niacin supplements.

Iron

High levels of free iron in the body may increase the amount of free radicals and the damage they cause. Diabetic patients tend to have very high levels of iron in their bodies, which may be contributing to their problem with free radicals.

Iron is found in high quantities in red meat, but the most important source is vitamin supplements. Diabetics should not take iron supplements, even iron in multivitamins, unless they have been told by their doctor that they need extra iron.

Recommended Diet

The best diet for people with diabetes is one rich with the vast, delicious selection of whole, healthy foods that nature has to offer.

An ideal diet for a person with diabetes would provide legumes at every meal. But even if you don’t want to do that, it's still a good idea to increase your intake of these wonderful foods. And legumes are a perfect nutritional match with whole grains, providing a hearty blend of protein as well as soluble and insoluble fiber.

A bowl full of steaming buckwheat seasoned with cinnamon and creamy soy milk makes a hearty breakfast that will keep you energized throughout a long morning. Try brown rice with black bean chili, whole grain pasta with a red lentil curry sauce, whole wheat burritos with refried beans and fresh salsa, barley and lentil stew, a lemon-flavored white bean and quinoa salad, and much, much more. Legumes and whole grains provide the basis for dozens of easy-to-prepare meals that are flavorful, satisying, and exceptionally good for blood sugar control.

Skip the tasteless refined vegetable oils and reach for some pure, extra virgin olive oil to add a delicate flavor to sauces and salads, while at the same time helping to improve your health. However, don’t just pour it on already fatty foods. Olive oil can only help if you use it to replace other, less healthy oils.

To dress up a meal centered around legumes and whole grains, try a first course of butternut squash soup. Add a side dish of freshly steamed vegetables, drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil, or some steamed sweet potatoes spiced with cinnamon or minced ginger.

Sauté onions to accompany black beans topped with salsa and served with nutty brown rice. Stir-fry garlic, then add broccoli, carrots, onions and sweet red pepper; toss with whole-grain pasta and garnish with walnuts.

Try roasted red peppers stuffed with French lentils and quinoa. Add some chard, a true nutritional superstar, to your barley lentil stew. Top a cool spinach salad with toasted chickpeas. Your imagination is the only limit to the possible combinations.

Tired of flavorless sugar-free candy? Grab a sweet crisp apple, a handful of deep purple grapes, a slice of fresh pineapple or mango. Fresh fruit, which, along with delicious flavor, supplies fiber, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals, provides your taste buds with a welcome replacement for artificially sweetened desserts. To top off your new, healthy foods diet – try some grilled or baked fish filets. Cold-water, wild-caught fish such as salmon or halibut is an excellent source of good quality protein as well as the right kind of fat - a perfect choice not just for persons with diabetes, but for everyone in the family. The aroma and taste of teriyaki grilled salmon or lemon-pepper baked halibut is elegant enough for any dinner party.

Use cinnamon to spice up your meals while helping to lower your blood sugar. Researchers from the US Agricultural Research Service have shown that less than half a teaspoon per day of cinnamon reduces blood sugar levels in persons with type 2 diabetes in Pakistan. Their study included 60 Pakistani volunteers with type 2 diabetes who were not taking insulin. Subjects were divided into six groups. For 40 days, groups 1, 2 and 3 were given 1, 3, or 6 grams per day of cinnamon while groups 4, 5 and 6 received placebo capsules. Even the lowest amount of cinnamon, 1 gram per day (approximately ¼ to ½ teaspoon), produced an approximately 20% drop in blood sugar; cholesterol and triglycerides were lowered as well. When daily cinnamon was stopped, blood sugar levels began to increase. (December 30, 2003)

One thing all the meals suggested here have in common is that they would qualify as part of a low glycemic index (GI) diet. A study published in the July 2003 issue of Diabetes Care has now demonstrated that a low GI diet, even one containing Mexican-style foods such as corn tortillas, can be used to improve blood sugar control in obese type 2 diabetic patients. Despite the fact that the same amount of carbohydrates were consumed on a Mexican-style diet with a lower glycemic index (GI), this diet resulted in a significant drop in hemoglobin A1c—glycosylated hemoglobin, a measure that reflects average blood sugar levels over the prior month. In this study, 36 obese subjects with type 2 diabetes ate a higher GI Mexican style diet for 6 weeks, then followed no dietary regimen for 6 weeks, and finally consumed a low GI Mexican style diet for the final 6 weeks. During the low-GI diet, the same amount of carbohydrates were consumed, such as corn tortillas and dairy products, but participants ate significantly fewer high GI-carbohydrates, such as white-wheat bread, white long-grain rice, potatoes, high-GI fruits, and carrots, and more lower GI carbohydrates, such as pinto beans, whole-meal wheat bread, and low-GI fruits. This study clearly indicates that not all carbohydrates cause problems with blood sugar control and weight gain—just the simple carbohydrates found in high GI foods, most all of which are foods that like white bread, have been highly refined.

If you would like a piece of bread, choose whole grain rye bread rather than bread made from wheat. A study published in the November 2003 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that bread made from wheat triggers a greater insulin response than rye bread does. Finnish researchers at the University of Kupio compared the effects of eating refined wheat bread with endosperm rye bread, traditional rye bread and high fiber rye bread on several markers of blood sugar control including plasma glucose, insulin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1), and serum C-peptide in 19 healthy post-menopausal women. (GIP and GLP1 are incretin hormones secreted within the gastrointestinal tract during meals that boost the effects of insulin; c-peptide is a marker of insulin secretion) All of these markers were evaluated in blood samples taken both before and after the women ate each of the breads. Results showed that after the women had eaten any of the rye breads, their insulin, GIP and C-peptide responses were significantly lower than after they ate wheat bread. Among the different rye breads, however, no significant differences were seen in insulin and C-peptide response despite their varying levels of fiber. Researchers felt this lower after-meal insulin response could, therefore, not be attributed only to the fiber content of the rye breads, but was also due to the fact that the starch granules in rye bread form a less porous and mechanically firmer matrix than in wheat bread. This would translate into a much greater particle size being swallowed when rye bread is eaten compared to wheat, which would slow the rate at which the starch could be digested into sugar. (December 30, 2003)

Give your mouth a treat, your diet a boost, your blood sugar some much needed down-time, and your body exactly what it needs to be healthy and strong for a long time to come. Eat a diet full of healthy whole foods and see how much better you can feel.