You just found out that you have diabetes. Now what do you do? Well you will have appointments with your physician again, and he or she will likely refer you to a Registered Dietician. This person in turn will sit down and discuss with you the safe foods and the foods that are not so good for diabetics. This is where you start to feel like you lose out on all the good stuff now. That is not really the case. There are plenty of options out in the world that are tasty and filling.
Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to even more harsh problems if you do not reign in bad habits with food. Fruits and vegetables, portion control with the lean meats and you can still eat good food. Matter of fact, if you were to follow the plate method that is now recommended, you would find that you would be eating more food. You will be getting full and staying full longer. What makes the difference is the type of food that you are eating.
You will also be advised to get up and move around some more. This could be just taking a walk around a local store, maybe around the block where you live. You could do step exercises, by walking up and down a flight of stairs a few times. They will advise you to move around for 30 minutes a day. They will give you a suggested menu, a list of foods to buy and a list of foods to avoid.
Diabetes is a chronic condition, this means it cannot be cured. It can be managed and kept under control. Gestational Diabetes is one that somewhat goes away once the pregnancy is complete. That though, also depends on the mother’s diet.
Fruits
The Papaya has natural antioxidants in it that makes it a great fruit for diabetics to eat. Diabetics tend to have problems with heart or nerve damage. When you include papaya into your diet, this can help to obstruct the damage that can happen to your heart or nerves.
Many fruits are naturally sweet, Papaya included. All sugar will affect the glucose levels. Many people tend to avoid fruits because of the natural sugars. However, fruits are part of a healthy diet and should be included in the daily diet.
Glycemic Index
The GI, otherwise known as glycemic index is a table that basically rates the speed in which certain foods raise the blood sugars. Papaya scores at 60 on the glucose index. This means that Papaya falls into the medium range. The following shows the way foods are rated.
Low GI foods score between 20 and 49. This means they are good foods to eat. The medium range is between 50 and 69. The higher range is 70 to 100. The higher foods are not recommended to eat when you have diabetes. Papaya contains flavonoids, these are natural antioxidants found within the Papaya. There are some reports that state Papaya will have a glycemic effect in the body.
Other Nutrients
The Papaya is quite a nutritious fruit. There are only 67 calories in a papaya. The other nutrients that are found in a papaya include:
- 2.67 g or 10% of daily requirement for dietary fiber
- 286 mg or 6.08% of recommended daily requirement of potassium
- 95.6 mg or 106.2% of Vitamin C
- 33 mg of magnesium or 8% of the daily requirement
- 31 mg of Calcium or 3.1% of the recommended daily amount
So the Papaya is very nutritious for all people. As a diabetic, you could allow yourself to have half a papaya each day so that your blood sugar does not rise more than it should. Since Papaya is in the medium category, you may want to consider some alternatives to the Papaya. These would include:
- Apples
- Apricots
- Blueberries
- Cranberries
- Grapefruit
- Plums
- Tangerines
- Blackberries
- Pears
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
No matter which way you look at it, moderation is the key for all of us, but mostly for Diabetics. There are fruits that are not recommended at all due to the high glycemic index they have. These fruits include Bananas, watermelon, pineapples and dried dates. For many this could seem hard to do. Some people were accustomed to adding banana to cereal in order to get their potassium in for the day. However, those last fruits are often the culprits of the fruits that cause a spike in blood sugars.
Fruit can and most definitely needs to be a part of your daily diet. Fruit will fill you up when you are wanting something, but nothing too big. When you are craving sugar, fruit is the best thing to grab. Especially those that are on your list of approved fruits and vegetables. These fruits and vegetables that have natural sugars will cut that craving for you. You will be full and feel happy.
Eating Healthy
Eating a healthy diet is important for all people. When you are diabetic, you need to stick to a schedule where you eat at about the same time each day, you may have snacks at the same time each day. Everything seems to become a timed routine. Oftentimes this is necessary to maintain a normal blood sugar reading.
Maintaining a healthy eating plan will enable you to keep your blood sugars in control. You need to eat a balanced diet as well as keeping it healthy. A healthy diet includes a certain amount of carbohydrates, which include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy and legumes. You also want to ensure that you are getting protein which includes chicken, turkey, lean beef, fish, shellfish, eggs and pork. Healthy fats which include Olive Oil, Avocados and nuts should also be included.
It is also well known that eating Papaya could help decrease age related macular degeneration, asthma symptoms can also be reduced if not eliminated by this super fruit. Eating foods with beta carotene such as papaya can also help reduce the risk of certain cancers. Vitamin K, also found in Papaya, can help keep bones strong. These are just a few of the health benefits that are found in Papayas. They are a great tasting fruit and beneficial to your overall health.
Avoid
There are some foods that should not be included in your diet at all, they contain too much sodium, too much sugar, or preservatives. These foods include processed foods, and margarines. Breakfast cereals that contain added sugars need to be avoided. Candy and chocolates should be avoided also, even if they are sugar free. This would make it too easy for us to fall back into some negative eating habits.
Recommendations
Besides following the recommended guidelines, there are other things you can try that will help you with this Diabetic life. For instance, eat many small meals throughout the day. Three large meals a day are really not good for anyone. When we eat three large meals, we tend to gain weight because we are too full to move after eating.
Switching to a smaller plate will also help maintain the amount of food. Earlier I had mentioned the plate method. Following the plate method is beneficial for all of us to get the required amounts in. The plate method means to have the plate and either visually or manually split that plate into three sections. One section will be half the plate. This half will hold the combinations of fruits and vegetables that you have.
You could also keep it as all vegetables. Out of the remainder of the plate you will have two sections, each will be ¼ of the plate. One of those will hold your carbohydrates, whether this is grains, breads or starchy vegetables. The remainder of the plate will hold your choice of protein. This will generally be about 3 ounces of meat. However, let me state, when you have poultry, remove the skin. Trim off all the fats from all other meats.
Diabetics can have fruit juice, however, it is highly recommended that rather than ½ cup of fruit juice, have a recommended serving of fruit with the fiber. In other words, the peelings should stay on. Anything you can do to maintain your health is the best idea.
If you find that even though you are still having spikes in blood sugar, and you are following a recommended plan, then you must make an appointment with a professional. This could mean they need to check further into the tests or do more testing. Follow what the Medical Physician states to do, follow the diet set forth by a registered Dietician.
If need be, get your family to change their eating with you. This can help them to remain healthy and live longer also. A good diet based on nutritional recommendations does not hurt anyone. When you research, you will come with tons of great recipes that include papaya.
