Introducing Diabetic Food List + Plus

January 5th, 2010

This blog is called Diabetic Food List + Plus

and our objective is to provide information regarding a wide range of foods and how they can fit into a diabetic meal plan and a diabetic lifestyle.

And the Plus in the title indicates that our intention is to cover not only foods that apply to an appropriate diabetic food list but to also discuss other topics that are  relevant to us and our life-styles as diabetics. Those topics will include, weight-loss, exercise, symptoms and types of diabetes and the complications that can occur in some cases if and when the disease advances, especially if not properly controlled and managed.

Articles on this site to date, click to access:

How to Manage the Diabetic Condition
For the Newly Diagnosed Diabetic  – Read this First

About Foods and Diabetic Food Lists

Establishing Food Plans – Considerations

Diabetes, the Diagnosis and After

About Diabetes, A Simple Explanation

The Glycemic Index and the Glycemic Load

Low Carb Foods

My Diabetic Food Plan – Part 1

My Diabetic Food Plan – Part 2

My Diabetic Food Plan – Part 3

Body Mass Index (BMI) Chart

Men . . . Listen Up,  and Take Warning

Some Non-regular Items for Your Diabetic Food List


Other supplementary food items to consider

Cinnamon – Does It Help Combat Diabetes?

Flaxseed Chia Hempseed Fenugreek Flavinoids

Omega-3’s Onions-and-Garlic Vinegars Mulberry-Leaf

Discussing more than just food
We are not limiting ourselves to the discussion of diabetic foods and diabetic food lists as was originally intended. We also want to provide more general information on the entire subject of diabetes, including links to our other diabetes sites where more than food is discussed. We do this because it can be useful, especially to the newly diagnosed diabetic who may have questions about the disease and uncertainties regarding what they will now be facing. And that will certainly include matters relating to food, exercise, perhaps weight loss and perhaps medications, that we have written about and are linked to this site.

I am a type-2  diabetic myself, for more than 20 years now, so I can anticipate many of the questions and topics that are of interest.

Caution:
If you are a diabetic you must be under the care of a physician. Your doctor and health care team will monitor the progress of your diabetes and advise you on what must be done to control and manage the condition. But the day-to-day management is in your own hands and the actions you take may affect the outcome, beneficially or otherwise.

For those newly diagnosed, here is an introduction to being Diabetic.
And for a description of how it works, see About Diabetes.

Before discussing Diabetic Foods and Diabetic Food Lists, a general comment:
There are several factors we might consider, including selection of food items and their preparation for consumption that meet the individual’s personal tastes and preferences, most of us have grown up with family meals reflecting regional, and perhaps cultural influences, foods that are commonly available in one area may not be so elsewhere, those who live in towns near the sea are likely to favor fish more so perhaps than those growing up in farm country.

Otherwise, in the matter of foods for diabetics, the general approach is to select foods with  properties that as much as possible do not add to the problems of high blood sugars that are always with us. There are abundant nutritious and varied food items that meet that requirement, no foods are “off-limits” but portion size and frequency may need to be restricted for good blood sugar control. Go to our post for a Food List with nutritional and other information.

In an accompanying post on this site, there is reference to dietary approaches recommended by:
The ADA (American Diabetes Association)  – a high carbohydrate version.
The anti-ADA approach  – a low carbohydrate version.
and brief references to the Vegetarian and Vegan versions.
Check out the  Vegetarian Approach to a Diabetic Menu for more details.

Other articles in preparation:
Special requirements concerning the need to lose weight that will require dealing with total calories and some reference to weight loss strategies and exercise – and let’s add cholesterol and cardio-vascular references too.

On this site we will also make reference to  Supplements, Vitamins and Minerals and to food items that have properties that are said, by some, to be beneficial to diabetics, we will refer to and describe those items, and give some reference sources, with links if possible, for such things as:

Flaxseed, Cinnamon, Mulberry leaf, Fenugreek, Bilberry, Onions and Garlic, Apple Cider Vinegar, Flavinoids + others and to Minerals such as Chromium, Co-Q10, Magnesium, + others.

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Cinnamon – Does It Help Combat Diabetes?

July 21st, 2010

Cinnamon – does it help combat diabetes?

Cinnamon has been around for a very long time and is one of the oldest spices known from ancient times. It was recognized for its apparent medicinal properties by peoples of ancient Egypt, China and other Asian communities.

This article discusses some differing opinions on the use of cinnamon.

Positive Comments from The American Diabetes Association

In The American Diabetes Association’s booklet 101 Tips on Nutrition for People with Diabetes, published in 2006, some positive comments are made about the dietary inclusion of a small daily amount of cinnamon that, in a clinical research study, showed a lowering of fasting blood glucose levels after 40 days of use.

The amount used each day for 40 days was equivalent to about a half teaspoonful in the form of a ground up powder of Cassia Cinnamon. The study also showed similar lowering effects on total cholesterol, LDL (low density lipoprotein), and triglycerides. And the lowering effects continued even when the cinnamon was stopped for the following 20 days, leading to the conclusion that cinnamon may have long-lasting benefits.

The positive write-up in the ADA booklet is based on research published in the journal Diabetes Care in 2003.

And some less positive from other sources

However, two subsequent studies, one in 2006 and another one in 2008, were not able to achieve the same results. Also, in 2008, appearing in the journal Diabetes Care, a further study was published of a meta-analysis of cinnamon, a meta-analysis is an analysis of a compilation of all the published data from controlled human studies involving cinnamon. The conclusion of this study was that cinnamon was not shown to have a beneficial affect for either type 1 or type 2 patients.

In a December 2008 report, published by Diabetes Health, which made reference to and summarized the above-mentioned cinnamon studies the conclusion was that cinnamon should not be recommended for use at this time, but should be avoided until more data is available and safety concerns have been addressed.

Apparently, no opinion has been offered for the contradictory study outcomes but the thought occurs to me to ask whether the same type of cinnamon was used in the later studies as was used in the 2003 study that so emphatically announced positive conclusions. There are four species of cinnamon that have differing botanical constituents with perhaps different properties, referred to in part below.

Cassia, used in the first above-mentioned study of 2003, is native to Myanamar (formerly Burma) and is produced mainly in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Although of the same plant family, it is different from the so-called true cinnamon that grows in Sri Lanka, southern India, Madagascar, Brazil, and the Caribbean.

For instance, cassia differs in having about a ten times higher content of a compound, called coumarin, than does true cinnamon which has only an insignificant amount. Coumarin, is mildly toxic and if ingested in high concentrations, can cause liver and kidney damage and inflammation, and even relatively small amounts of coumarin can damage, at least temporarily, the livers of individuals who are extra sensitive.

What constitutes a high concentration of coumarin is not precisely defined but The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has established a Tolerable Daily Intake of 0.1 mg of coumarin per kg body weight, and also advises that, if this level is exceeded for a short time only, there is no threat to health. For example, a person weighing 135 lbs or about 61 kg would have a Tolerable Daily Intake of approximately 6.1 mg of coumarin.

Coumarin, which can also be found in several other plants, has blood-thinning properties and is used medically to reduce the blood’s ability to clot so that property should be taken into consideration if a person is already using anticoagulants. Federal authorities in Germany have called for cinnamon dietary supplements, that in their country carry health claims to reduce blood sugar and help control type-2 diabetes, to be classed as ‘medicinal products’, and should be regulated as such.

More opinions that claim beneficial effects of cinnamon

The findings of a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2007, provides more indications that active compounds in cinnamon may improve glucose levels of people with diabetes.

According to the lead author of the study, Joanna Hlebowicz from Malmo University Hospital, University of Lund, Sweden, who states that “Inclusion of cinnamon in the diet lowers the postprandial glucose response, a change that is at least partially explained by a delayed gastric emptying rate.”

The researchers measured the rate of stomach emptying (gastric emptying rate) in 14 healthy subjects with normal fasting blood glucose levels after consuming either 300 grams of rice pudding or 300 grams of rice pudding plus 6 grams of cinnamon.

The Swedish researchers report that addition of cinnamon to the rice pudding reduced gastric emptying from 37 to 34.5 per cent, and also delayed the rise in blood glucose levels after eating. No effect of cinnamon was found on the state of being satiated.

Also in a study with rats:

A placebo-controlled, double-blind study published in 2006 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, reported that cinnamon and a cinnamon extract called Cinnulin PF, could reduce blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Maybe readers to this post have tried cinnamon or are now using it, if so, it would be nice to have their input and hear what they think.

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Note about Cassia:

The presence of this moderately toxic component has prompted European health agencies to issue a warning against consuming large amounts of cassia. The amount considered high is not specified but according to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Germany, 2 milligrams of coumarin per kilogram of food is considered a safe amount to consume.

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Low Carb Foods

June 24th, 2010

Most of us living in North America eat more food than we really need to keep us in good health.  We eat too many carbohydrates and many of us also include too much protein and fat in our diets with the result that, like most Americans, we gain weight. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are the primary nutrients, together with water, minerals and vitamins, that keep us alive.

Carbohydrates supply energy
Carbohydrates, also called carbs, are the sugars and starches in breads and grains, potatoes and other vegetables, and in fruits and beans, and those foods are the major contributors of carbs as a source of energy needed by the body’s cells. After eating carbohydrate foods, the digestion process breaks them down and the glucose content is passed through the walls of the intestines into the bloodstream and there circulates to reach the cells that require glucose.

How can we determine which foods can be considered as low carb foods?
Not all carbohydrates are the same in their immediate impact and speed of entry into the bloodstream, and it is the rate at which they are reduced to the sugar in the form of glucose that helps define whether they are considered as low carb foods or otherwise. Carbs can also be classified as refined or unrefined, with white breads, pastas and white flours being especially considered as refined carbs while foods such as whole grained breads, fruits, beans and most vegetables are classified as unrefined.

To indicate the relative rate of entry of carbs into the bloodstream, a scale has been devised called the Glycemic Index, also referred to as the GI for short. The GI ranks individual carbohydrate food items with an index number that compares them to glucose that has the assigned value of 100. The other food sources are ranked in the relation of their speed of conversion to glucose and for convenience are categorized as follows:

  • high carb foods have GI values higher than 70
  • medium carb foods have a GI value of 56 to 70
  • low carb foods have GI values of 55 and lower

As can be seen, the low carb foods provide sugar at a slower rate of entry into the blood stream and this allows the body to more easily maintain a balanced amount of sugars in the blood. The high carb foods on the other hand, tend to cause spikes, blood sugars elevated to higher levels, not a preferred condition and certainly potentially harmful for people with diabetes or prediabetes.

A great deal more can be said on the topic of carbohydrates. We should distinguish between low carb foods and low carb diets. Low carbohydrate diets restrict the proportion of any types of carbohydrates in relation to the proportions of proteins and fats, whereas low carbohydrate foods can best be described as those that have lower Glycemic Index values.

Many well-known diet approaches using low quantities of carbohydrates have been described in such best selling books such as The Atkins Diet and The South Beach Diet. Taking opposite views to those popular books, there are many advocates of a medium dietary intake, represented by about 50 percent carbs, 25 percent proteins, 25% fats with no more than 10 percent of fat being saturated fats.

On my companion website, Diabetes Menu Guide, you might wish to read a related article on low carbs, to do so, just click on this link Low Carbohydrate Approach in Meal Planning. And check out these link for more on the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load.

The amount of carbohydrate in a meal or in a food item will not usually comprise the entire calorie amount of any food. To adjust the measurements for this, the Glycemic Index has been modified to produce a companion set of numerical values called the Glycemic Load. The Glycemic Load takes into account that particular amount of carbohydrate in an entire food item, giving a set of values.

High glycemic index carb foods include:

White and non-whole wheat breads, pastas, many breakfast cereals, potatoes, baked goods.

Low glycemic index carb foods include:

Fruits, many vegetables, whole wheat breads, legumes (beans and peas)

When consumed in reasonable amounts, some low glycemic load carb foods are:

Breads - whole grain pumpernickel bread, Soy and flaxseed bread, other whole grain breads.
Breakfast cereals – cooked oatmeal, All-bran, Bran Buds.
Fruits ans berries – grapefruit, strawberries, cherries, watermelon, apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, oranges, blueberries, raspberries, and others
Vegetables – cabbage, spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, and most others.
Dairy and soy foods – soy milk, low fat milk, low fat yogurt
Nuts and seeds – flax seed, peanuts, cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, brazil nuts, hazel nuts – Nuts should be raw or dry-roasted.

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Vinegar, of Possible Benefit to Diabetics?

February 26th, 2010

Diabetes is a condition that can often be controlled by making smart dietary choices when it comes to carbohydrates. In addition to this there are specific foods that we can take at meal times that have a beneficial effect for this health condition. One such food is vinegar! Several studies have been undertaken that show great promise for vinegar as a very useful aid for both diabetes I and II.

Ones such study which tested the diabetic health benefits of vinegar was conducted at Arizona State University and published in 2009. The study tested both diabetes II sufferers and non diabetics under the same circumstances. Two teaspoons of vinegar (or a placebo) was administered 5 hours before or during a high carbohydrate breakfast of a bagel and a glass of fruit juice. The results found that two teaspoons of vinegar taken during the meal was considerably more effective than two teaspoons administered 5 hours before the meal. In fact, postprandial glycemia was reduced by 20% in those with diabetes II and the non-diabetics compared to those taking the placebo!

The researchers stated that vinegar is clearly a useful tool for the diabetic condition and that the acetic acid in vinegar is the ingredient that produces this effect. The acetic acid hinders the digestive enzymes that break down complex carbohydrates, therefore slowing down the digestion and the uptake of these carbohydrates into the blood stream. It was apple cider vinegar that was used in this particular study. However it is good to know that acetic acid is a fundamental component of all types of vinegar. Visit apple cider vinegar benefits to learn of other health benefits for this vinegar.

Reducing postprandial gylcemia has more benefits for type-2 diabetes than simply helping to control blood sugar levels. Although it is not yet understood why, elevated blood sugar levels that last for long periods of time contribute to the development of heart disease. This is a fundamental reason that diabetics are at a high risk of developing heart related problems.

Diluting two teaspoons of vinegar in a small glass of water just before a meal is more palatable than drinking vinegar straight. Even better, you can add the vinegar to your cooking or pour it on your salads. Enjoy!

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