How To Lower Blood Sugar In Type 1 And 2 Diabetes?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 17:49

How to lower blood sugar levels?

Keeping blood sugar levels at the recommended level is a vital necessity for anyone with diabetes. For the sake of the cherished numbers, huge money is spent on insulin, glucometers, test strips, antihyperglycemic drugs, visits to doctors and tests. Although you can get rid of the lion's share of these costs and problems simply by reviewing your diet. And most importantly, you can significantly improve the quality of life, and, believe me, you can do it.

Today we will tell you in detail how to reduce blood sugar levels using a low-carbohydrate diet, what are its benefits, what foods can be used for type 1 and 2 diabetes, and which absolutely cannot!

A low-carb diet has its own quirks and difficulties in getting used to, but your efforts will be greatly rewarded. We do not promise that in just a couple of weeks, even with type 1 diabetes, you will be able to completely "get off" insulin and forget about it like a bad dream - such promises can only be given by irresponsible charlatans.

But a low-carb diet is guaranteed to provide you with a number of benefits:

• Complete control over blood sugar levels and no unpleasant surprises;
• Substantial cost savings on antihyperglycemic drugs;
• Stopping weight gain and even losing weight;
• Stable well-being;
• Slowing down the course of diabetes;
• Prevention of severe complications of the disease;
• Reducing the dosage of insulin and, in the long term, possibly abandoning it.

Content:

• Which diet helps lower blood sugar?

  • Low Carb Diet and Diabetic Nephropathy
  • General principles of nutrition for type 1 and type 2 diabetes
  • How often should blood sugar be measured?

• What foods are harmful for type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

  • What foods raise blood sugar?
  • How do you know which foods increase your sugar?
  • Choosing products wisely - reading labels
  • Difficulty switching to a low-carb diet

• What foods help lower blood sugar?

  • Allowed foods on a low-carb diet
  • Vegetables
  • Milk and dairy products
  • Soy products
  • Condiments and sauces
  • Seeds and nuts
  • Coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcohol
• How to get rid of constipation on a low carb diet?
• Prospects and Benefits of a Low Carb Diet
• Sample menu for one day to lower blood sugar

Which diet helps lower blood sugar?

Most endocrinologists recommend their patients to eat light and varied, not to overeat or consume sugar. Good advice, but do all diabetics understand correctly what the doctor means by sugar? Practice shows that not everything. This does not mean that you simply cannot put sugar in tea and stick to it with sweets. Hidden sugar is found in a huge number of foods, and it can be difficult to detect it with the naked eye.

Sugar, in the truest sense of the word, is not the only threat to diabetics. Starchy foods and, in general, any food rich in carbohydrates make the readings of the glucometer simply go off scale.

When this happens, the unfortunate person urgently injects himself with insulin and drinks drugs that neutralize the carbohydrate "shock". But such measures are fraught with a new misfortune - attacks of hypoglycemia. The conclusion is obvious: you need to try to keep your blood sugar level under vigilant control. And this can be done only by armed with a complete list of recommended and prohibited products, and also regularly using an accurate glucometer. Purchasing high-quality medical equipment for measuring blood sugar levels is a top priority! If the device "lies", all your efforts to normalize your well-being will go down the drain.

When you switch to a low-carb diet, after a few days, the first positive changes will appear: blood sugar will gradually decrease and freeze at the recommended level. At this point, the main thing is not to relax and continue to follow the chosen diet.

At first, the diet may seem sparse and unaccustomed to you, but most likely it's simply because you haven't cooked a daily record low carb meal before. Believe me, the assortment of ingredients will be wide, and then everything depends only on your culinary imagination. In fact, there is only one objective reason not to switch to a low-carb diet - a severe kidney complication, which we will talk about next.

Low Carb Diet and Diabetic Nephropathy

It is very difficult for patients with diabetes mellitus, who have already begun to develop a formidable complication of the kidneys - diabetic nephropathy. If we are talking about the early stage, then with the help of a low-carb diet, it is just possible to protect the kidneys from total dysfunction. The less carbohydrates you consume, the slower your nephropathy will progress.

If the kidney complication has already reached the final stage, and the glomerular filtration rate according to the test results has dropped to 40 ml / min and below, then seeking help from a low-carb diet is not only useless, but also dangerous.

That is why, before drastically changing your diet, you need to consult with your endocrinologist and be examined in a laboratory. Only a doctor can decide to revise the diet of a patient with diabetes.

General principles of nutrition for type 1 and type 2 diabetes

Before discussing in detail what foods and in what quantity you are recommended to eat, let's outline the general strategy of behavior in type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus:

• Get a convenient and accurate meter and use it as often as necessary to select the right food and develop an accurate menu. The question of saving should not even be raised, because you will then go broke on the consequences of improper nutrition, not to mention the fact that you will finally lose your health;
• Start a food diary and learn to plan your diet for several days, or better for a week in advance;
• Stick to a low-carb diet and try to resist the temptation to eat something forbidden, because every little whim turns into big trouble for a diabetic;
• Monitor your blood sugar levels and constantly adjust your insulin and antihyperglycemic medication dosage until you reach a comfortable “norm”. If you have type 2 or mild diabetes, a low-carb diet may allow you to completely stop medication;
• Walk more often, do not overwork at work, try to sleep at least 8 hours a day, and exercise regularly. Even for patients with a huge excess weight and many concomitant diseases, you can choose a feasible sports load.

On the question of costs: After a few weeks on a low-carb diet, you can improve your budget by saving on insulin and carbohydrate-regulating medications. Even if such support cannot be completely abandoned, the dosages will in any case be significantly reduced. And most importantly, you can finally stop fearing sudden jumps in blood sugar levels and the threatening consequences of this condition. Calm nerves will not slow down to positively affect your general well-being.

Consider now the principles of the lowest carb diet:

• You need to consume no more than 120 g of carbohydrates per day (with severe diabetes - 60-80 g), then you will be reliably insured against an unwanted increase in blood sugar levels. It is also important not to eat all these carbohydrates at one time, but to divide into 3-4 servings throughout the day. This will allow you to preserve the beta cells of the pancreas, which are so necessary for controlling the course of diabetes;
• Eliminate from your menu all foods that contain pure sugar, or are quickly converted to glucose. It's not just about cakes and sweets. Plain potatoes, porridge or pasta are no less dangerous for diabetics, because the starch contained in them instantly becomes glucose and affects health. These products are much more likely to cause trouble, because you will eat one or two candies, and you can wrap a plate of pasta and gravy;
• Change from three meals a day to four to five meals a day, and only sit down to eat when you're really hungry. From the table you need to get up with a feeling of pleasant lightness in the stomach.
• It is best to shape your portions so that you get approximately the same amount of protein and carbohydrates with each meal. This is important for the stability of the blood state, as well as for you to get used to eating a certain amount of food.

The discomfort will go away very quickly if you can enjoy the diet. Overeating, of course, is pleasant, but the consequences of such an attitude towards oneself are disastrous. By following a low-carb diet, you will begin to feel calm and proud of your success. Perhaps this diet will open up new horizons of taste for you, because now it is not the quantity but the quality of food that will be important.

How often should blood sugar be measured?

After switching to a low-carb diet, you will need to use your meter a little more often than you are used to.

This is necessary for two reasons:

• To make sure that a sharp restriction of carbohydrates in the diet has led to a decrease and stabilization of sugar values;
• To calculate the dosage of insulin and carbohydrate balance regulators, taking into account the changing environment.

The control measurement of blood sugar after eating a low-carb meal is done in four steps:

• 5 minutes after eating;
• After 15;
• After 30;
• In 2 hours.

The meter readings will surely surprise you. In the future, as you enrich your menu with new foods and dishes, you will need to check how your body reacts to them. There are so-called "borderline" delicacies for diabetics: tomato juice, fatty cottage cheese or nuts, for example. After eating a couple of tablespoons of cottage cheese or a handful of nuts, be sure to measure your blood sugar level after an hour, and then after another 2 hours. If everything is in order, you can sometimes include these foods in your diet. But if you have severe type 1 diabetes, it's best not to risk it.

What foods are harmful for type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

What foods raise blood sugar?

Let's tear off the masks from our enemies - we will announce a list of products that are categorically not recommended for people with type 1 and 2 diabetes. The first reaction to a long line of favorite food names can be disappointment, even despair. But not everything is so bad - at the end of today's conversation we will also present a "white" list, which will, firstly, be approximately as long, and secondly, certainly no less tasty.

Blacklisted products will surround you every day, and when you are at work, traveling, visiting, in a restaurant or cafe, the temptation can become almost irresistible. It is unlikely that anything will save you other than willpower, but if you know that today you will not be able to eat in your usual home environment, do not hesitate to take with you a light snack from the permitted products: ham, cheese, eggs, nuts. Under no circumstances eat anything from the following list:

Sweet, starchy and flour products:

• Sugar of any type (cane or beetroot, brown or white);
• Sweets, candy bars, marshmallows, marshmallows and in general any sweets, including special ones, "for diabetics";
• Cereals and cereals from them (rice, oatmeal, semolina, corn, wheat, and so on);
• Ready-made meals, the composition of which you do not know for certain (for example, store salads or cottage cheese from the market);
• Potatoes (no matter how they are cooked);
• Bread, rolls, crispbreads and in general any baked goods made from any type of flour and cereals;
• Quick breakfasts such as cereals and muesli;
• Homemade meals made using potatoes and prohibited vegetables (see list below).

Vegetables and fruits:

• Absolutely any fruits and juices from them;
• Red beetroot;
• Pumpkin;
• Carrot;
• Yellow and red paprika;
• Any beans (peas, beans, lentils);
• Onions (especially boiled or fried);
• Cooked tomatoes.

Some dairy products:

• Whole milk, especially skim milk
• Sweet fruit yoghurts and curds;
• Skim cheese;
• Condensed milk.

Ready meals and sauces:

• Any semi-finished products (dumplings, dumplings, pancakes, pizza);
• Instant soups and canned soups;
• Packaged snacks (chips, crackers, seeds, snacks, onion rings);
• Soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ketchup and in general any sauces with sugar;

Sweeteners and sweeteners:

• Bee Honey;
• Any sugar substitutes and products containing them (read on the label if xylitol, xylose, malt, glucose, fructose, dextrose, lactose, corn or maple syrup, maltodextrin are present);
• Products labeled “diabetic” that contain fructose and cereal flour instead of sugar and regular flour.

How do you know which foods raise your blood sugar?

If you have not tried this or that product before, but judging by the composition, it should suit you, first carry out control testing. Eat just a couple of spoons, and then measure your blood sugar after a quarter of an hour, and after two hours. Before that, calculate on the calculator how the indicator of the device should grow.

To make calculations, you need to know:

• Nutritional composition of the product (amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fats per 100 g);
• The weight of the portion eaten in grams;
• How much mmol / l your blood sugar level usually rises due to one carbohydrate received;
• How much mmol / L your blood sugar usually drops after taking one unit of insulin.

Such testing is simply irreplaceable in the case when you do not trust the data on the label, or there is no factory packaging at all. For example, fatty homemade cottage cheese, which, in principle, is not contraindicated for diabetics, many people buy from their hands in the grocery market. But this is a big risk, because competition forces grandmothers to sweeten their product so that it tastes better. A similar situation can arise when buying ready-made cabbage salad in a supermarket - sellers often add sugar there too.

Only armed with accurate data can you know if the consequences of using a new product meet your expectations. If the calculation results correlate correctly with the readings of the glucometer, and the value of these readings suits you, you can safely expand the menu.

Choosing products wisely - reading labels

To make your food as varied as possible, you need to learn how to carefully read the information on the labels and distinguish between the right products and the unsuitable ones. Perhaps you added something to your blacklist in vain, and undeservedly provided something in white. Above, we have provided a list of sugar substitutes most commonly used in the food industry. If you see dextrose, fructose, maltodextrin or any of the listed components in the product, be aware that this purchase will cost you more than its price.

The easiest way to control your diet for diabetes is to analyze food for nutritional value: on any package you will find data on the content of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

Our best friends are the anti-record carbs. At the same time, high fat content should not be ignored, because it is fraught not only with gaining excess weight, but also with problems with cholesterol and blood vessels. Remember that our legislation is soft: food manufacturers can deviate from the declared indicators of nutritional value by as much as 20%!

Separate, and not at all flattering words deserve so-called special products for diabetics, fat-free, dietary and other disguised pests. To make a low-calorie product, which, in principle, cannot contain fat, sugar and its substitutes are shoved there instead of fat, as well as any garbage - thickeners, dyes, emulsifiers, flavors and preservatives. This is the only way to distort food beyond recognition, but maintain an attractive taste. Along the way, you can save a lot due to cheap raw materials and chemical additives.

The dominance of "dietary" and "low-fat" foods is a global catastrophe, because of which millions of people around the world are deprived of their health every day, and food monopolists are filling their pockets.

American professor Richard Bernstein in the course of his medical practice came across an amazing discovery. He had two patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, both very thin people, who also lost weight during the low-carb diet. The question arose, how can they get better? First, the doctor suggested that they enrich their daily diet with hundreds of milliliters of healthy olive oil. This is as much as 900 kcal, but even after two months, the patients were unable to gain weight. Only an increase in the proportion of proteins in the diet helped to correct the situation.

Difficulty switching to a low-carb diet

The drop in blood sugar from a low-carb diet is rapid. In the first two weeks of the diet, you must use the meter eight times a day. If you see that the readings are consistently low, immediately adjust the dosage of insulin and drugs that regulate carbohydrate status. Injecting yourself with the usual doses is simply dangerous - this is a direct road to hypoglycemia.

Your family, friends, work colleagues (all the people who surround you on a daily basis) should be aware of your condition and be ready to help. Always carry glucagon and some sweets with you in your bag or pocket.

It is absolutely unacceptable during the transition to a low-carb diet to remain alone for a long time, without communication with loved ones and without the ability to call an emergency carriage.

The best solution would be to spend the first week in a hospital or a sanatorium. If you are unable to take a vacation or sick leave, at least do not overwork yourself, avoid stress if possible and get a good sleep. Also consider switching your family members to at least some of the low-carb foods. This will not only be a kind of moral support on their part. Eating according to the plan outlined in this article is good for healthy people, especially if they want to lose weight.

Parents with diabetes should also think about such a problem as hereditary predisposition. Let your children get used to low-carbohydrate diets from childhood, then their risk of developing diabetes in the future will significantly decrease. Do not believe modern nutritionists and pediatricians, who zealously urge to feed children with yoghurts and fruits.

There are no irreplaceable carbohydrates in nature - only some proteins and fats are vital for the human body. And vitamins and minerals are more than enough in foods from the white list of a low-carb diet.

This unexpected opinion can be confirmed by the history of the indigenous peoples of the Far North. Since ancient times, these people ate monstrously fatty and high-calorie foods: venison, seal and whale fat, ocean fish. But they were not familiar with obesity or diabetes. As soon as "civilization" invaded the north, a stream of sugar, starch and alcohol rushed after it. The health of the indigenous northern peoples has deteriorated sharply since then.

What foods help lower blood sugar?

We'll start our discussion of the low-carb diet white-list with an essential rule, without which it is impossible to keep blood sugar at the recommended level:

Any product, even the safest one, becomes deadly when there is too much of it. Whatever you fill your stomach, it will inevitably lead to a jump in sugar, because this reaction is due to the action of hormones.

There is a common phrase: "you need not live in order to eat, but eat in order to live." Words of wisdom and worth listening to. Some people with diabetes only manage to get their blood sugar levels under control after they take control of their own lives. A positive mental attitude is very important for anyone with a serious chronic illness. Think, maybe it's time to change something: find a new business to your liking, improve your personal life, take up some interesting hobby, sign up for cooking courses? There are so many good opportunities in life, you just need to want and take the first step.

Now let's move on to discussing our future menu. At first glance, the list of permitted foods is small, but further we will clearly demonstrate that it is quite possible to make a complete and tasty diet from them.

Allowed foods on a low-carb diet:

• Fresh meat and meat products, except for smoked meats, sausages and sausages with the addition of milk and sugar;
• Bird;
• A fish;
• Seafood;
• Eggs;
• Green vegetables;
• Mushrooms;
• Fatty dairy products;
• Some types of nuts;
• Vegetable oils;
• Coffee Tea.

How much meat and fat, you will be surprised. Such a diet looks wild when you consider the opinion of modern health experts. All of them unanimously say that you need to stay away from fatty meat, cheese and chicken eggs if you want to lose weight. At first glance, we are not pursuing such a goal - we just need to lower blood sugar levels. But the practice of applying a low-carb diet proves that it helps you lose weight! As for fats, not all of them are harmful.

Cholesterol is conventionally divided into "bad" and "good". Meat, poultry, eggs, olive oil and fatty sea fish contain exactly the "good" cholesterol, which is necessary for the health of our brain, heart and blood vessels.

You can easily be convinced of the truth of this statement from personal experience. Before you switch to a low-carb diet, have a blood test for a "cholesterol profile". Sometimes doctors call it the "atherogenic coefficient". After 3-6 months, repeat the test, and you can be sure that your GP will be shocked by the positive changes that have occurred in your blood during the period of following the low-carb diet.

Vegetables

A simple principle will allow you to correctly calculate a portion of a green vegetable side dish: if these are raw vegetables, you can take a full cup, if those that have been cooked, take two-thirds of a cup. This amount is roughly the same as 6 grams of carbohydrates. Onions and tomatoes, as you remember, are generally not advisable to use, but if you have mild diabetes, you can add them to a salad, exclusively raw.

Vegetables under the influence of heating do not change for the better for diabetics. Coarse dietary fiber found in vegetables becomes soft and partially converted into glucose. Therefore, blood sugar levels rise faster and stronger after consuming them. If you have a complication on the stomach - gastroparesis - all the more, consider this feature of boiled and stewed vegetables. Use your meter to find out for sure which portion is safe for you.

The following vegetables and mushrooms are recommended for a low-carb diet:

• All white and green varieties of cabbage (white cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, Peking, sea);
• Fresh herbs (dill, cilantro, basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary, thyme, mint, tarragon);
• Leaf lettuce and salad mixes (lettuce, iceberg, arugula and others);
• Spinach, sorrel, leek and green onions, celery, asparagus;
• Tomatoes and tomato juice (no more than 50 g at a time);
• Champignons, boletus, honey agarics, shiitake and other mushrooms;
• Green beans;
• Eggplant;
• Zucchini;
• Cucumbers;
• Patissons;
• Hot pepper.

Milk and dairy products

You are probably familiar with the term lactose. This is milk sugar, which, when ingested, is very quickly and easily absorbed. Of course, with a couple of teaspoons of milk added to coffee, you will not experience a sharp rise in blood sugar levels. But you won't feel the taste either. But heavy cream would have come to court: they are better suited in composition and more pleasant in effect. We have already mentioned the hidden harm of low-fat "milk": the lack of lipids is compensated by carbohydrates so that the products are not completely watery.

Drinking skimmed milk powder is more harmful for diabetics than whole cow milk. It is better to limit yourself to a tablespoon of cream if you want to revive the taste of coffee or tea - it contains only half a gram of carbohydrates.

Cheese is made from whole milk and rennet. As a result of the fermentation reaction, milk sugar is broken down, therefore, with diabetes mellitus, the consumption of almost any type of cheese is allowed. But in the process of making cottage cheese, not all lactose is neutralized by lactic acid sourdough. Nevertheless, 150 g of high-quality, fatty cottage cheese per day is quite affordable, you just need to divide this amount into three doses.

Butter is also allowed on a low-carb diet, as it contains almost no lactose. But be extremely careful when choosing your oil. Remember our recommendation - read the information on the labels. There are many clever imitations of natural cow butter on the market now. This product is very expensive, so manufacturers add cheap vegetable fats, margarine and a whole set of food additives to the quality raw materials to give the spread the taste, smell and color of real butter. Worst of all, sugar may be present in such "imitations".

The situation with yoghurts is deplorable: store shelves are full of glasses with incomprehensible liquid, abundantly flavored with sugar and tinted with fruit concentrates. And all this is sold for big money under the slogan "give weight loss!" and "strengthen your child's immunity!" For a miraculous effect, some live bacteria are scattered around the jars, most of which do not survive at all until they reach the place where they should be useful. On a low-carb diet, only natural, thick yoghurts are acceptable without any additives. They contain an average of 6 g of carbohydrates per 100 g, but proteins - 15 g. But it is very difficult to find such yogurt in stores.

Dairy products to help lower blood sugar:

• Cheese (any, except fetaxa);
• Butter;
• Fatty cream;
• Natural yoghurt;
• Fat cottage cheese (no more than 50 g at a time).

Soy products

Soy, in a way, helps diabetics compensate for the separation from milk and baked goods. Soy milk can be added to coffee or tea, or simply drunk as a standalone drink in small amounts. Cinnamon and stevia extract will help diversify the palate.

Tofu is made from soy milk. The taste of this product is specific, but the balance between carbohydrates, proteins and fats is very tempting for diabetics. The same can be said for soy flour. Mix it with egg and butter to make a baking base. Chops and pieces of fish fillets fried in a similar batter are very appetizing.

So-called "soy meat" is allowed on a low-carb diet, but be careful when buying ready-made foods made with it. For example, asparagus salad (imitation soy) contains many additives, including sweeteners or regular sugar.

Condiments and sauces

Peppers and spices help make a low-carb diet more appealing and also improve digestion by accelerating gastric acid secretion. You should carefully examine the rows of bags and jars of spices to be fully prepared when it comes to preparing dishes from meat, fish and poultry. By the way, keep in mind that cinnamon and vanilla are almost always sold mixed with sugar! As for salt, the situation is ambiguous.

Salt does not directly affect blood sugar levels, but its excess causes fluid retention, which is highly undesirable in diabetes complicated by nephropathy, hypertension and obesity. In this case, salt intake should be sharply limited.

Any store-bought sauces (mayonnaise, ketchup, balsamic, mustard, and others) almost certainly contain either white sugar or other carbohydrates, and more often both. Mustard can still be found with a natural and safe composition, and it is better to learn how to make mayonnaise yourself. This is a laborious and relatively expensive undertaking, but the result is worth it: having tried homemade mayonnaise at least once in your life, you will spit from the store.

Seeds and nuts

Any seeds and nuts are the embryo of a future plant, therefore the main components in their composition are amino acids and fats. Of course, there are also carbohydrates there, but their content is different for different types of nuts. For example, cashews and peanuts are not recommended on a low-carb diet. But hazelnuts and Brazil nuts are fine. There are also "borderline" options that you need to check on yourself, armed with a glucometer. You can eat about five almonds and walnuts, and then see what the device says. However, in any case, you should not eat more than ten pieces in one sitting.

Nuts and seeds are a valuable source of vitamins, amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, micro- and macroelements. Be sure to include permitted types of nuts and seeds in your low-carb diet.

Sunflower seeds are well tolerated by diabetics. You can afford to eat a whole handful at a time. Pumpkin seeds can have a carbohydrate content of 13.5 per 100 g, so test with a meter first and then allow yourself to snap some of these seeds.

Coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcohol

Tea and coffee can be drunk with a low-carb diet in any amount, but, of course, without sugar. If your diabetes is complicated by arterial hypertension, vascular atherosclerosis, ischemia, obesity and other related ailments, consider the effect of caffeine on the body. Some types of tea, such as green tea, contain more of this substance than instant coffee! To sweeten hot drinks, use the natural stevia leaf extract. For taste, you can add a little cream, we have already announced this above.

Almost all soft drinks, except mineral water, contain either tons of sugar or the same equivalent of chemical sweeteners. Coca-Cola, phantom, sprite, and other lemonades with diabetes are strictly prohibited and very dangerous to drink. If you want to diversify the taste of mineral water, squeeze a little lime or lemon juice into it. You can do the same with regular clean drinking water, plus a little stevia extract, and you get homemade lemonade. For hot summer months, a great option is iced tea, just not store-bought in bottles, but homemade.

We will not dwell on alcohol in detail, because such drinks, in principle, are not useful, and even more so for a sick person. Let's just say that strong alcohol in very small quantities is acceptable for diabetes, but you should stay away from beer and wine as far as possible.

How to get rid of constipation on a low carb diet?

The only almost inevitable complication of a low-carb diet is constipation, especially at first. The body is used to getting vegetable fiber with food, but here we have deprived it of all the fruits and the lion's share of vegetables. The intestine is "lazy" to promote food itself, and the restructuring in its work may take many months.

To avoid this, follow a few simple guidelines:

• Drink at least two liters of clean drinking water every day;
• Try to compensate for the lack of fiber (more on this below);
• Move more (walk, ride a bike);
• Make sure you are not deficient in magnesium and vitamin C;
• Provide yourself with a cozy, comfortable toilet.

Professor Bernstein, whom we have already mentioned, believes that each person's body is purely individual, and someone needs to walk three times a day for good health, and someone needs to walk three times a week. But most gastroenterologists agree that regular daily bowel movements are required, because only then can we get rid of our waste products in time and avoid self-poisoning.

Body fluid balance

You need to dwell on the correct fluid balance in more detail. The fact is that in some elderly patients, diabetes mellitus gives a complication to the brain, which is called hyperosmolar syndrome. The nerve center responsible for the feeling of thirst ceases to function, and the person brings himself to dehydration without noticing it. In advanced cases, this condition turns into a coma and death.

For a day, a diabetic should drink a volume of drinking water at the rate of 30 ml for each kilogram of weight. In practice, this means that the average diabetes patient needs two liters of clean drinking water daily.

Make it a habit to fill a 2 liter bottle with clean water every morning. When you go to bed in the evening, this bottle should be empty. Try to drink a little at regular intervals, rather than gulp down forgotten water in one sitting. This is sure to help your gut adjust to a low-carb diet.

Healthy fiber

Although we said goodbye to fruits, we still have a lot of vegetables left in order to provide the intestines with fiber. The leading supplier is cabbage, especially raw. Stewed eggplant and zucchini, salad of fresh cucumbers with vegetable oil are perfect. When you eat a hearty meat or fish dish, be sure to pair it with a vegetable side dish. It will help digestion and keep you from constipation.

Fiber doesn't just come from the white list of vegetables. For the most "advanced" there are alternative sources:

• Purchase dried flax seeds from your local drugstore, grind them in a coffee grinder and season your meals generously. Flaxseed contains special oils that have a mild laxative effect, in addition, they are high in fiber;
• A plant called the flea plantain has the same beneficial properties. You can search for it in pharmacies or order it in online health food stores;
• Microcrystalline cellulose swells when it enters the digestive tract, and then cleans the intestines well from accumulated waste. But be careful - do not use too much of it, because we do not need a clogged stomach;
• In the diabetic food section, you can also find healthy products such as apple and beet pectin. This substance works well for constipation on a low-carb diet.

Magnesium deficiency

Magnesium is essential for the smooth functioning of the whole body: it strengthens the heart and blood vessels, helps to lower blood pressure, helps to resist everyday stress and even fights PMS symptoms in women. The only pity is that the majority of modern people have insufficient or critically low magnesium levels. You can establish whether you are one of them by passing a special blood test. But if you have constipation combined with high blood pressure and cramps in the muscles of the legs, you can say without examination - there is an acute magnesium deficiency.

You need to get rid of this problem not only to normalize bowel movements, but also to lower blood sugar levels. Magnesium greatly enhances the body's sensitivity to insulin! Talk to your doctor and start taking a good multivitamin complex with magnesium and vitamin C. This will kill several birds with one stone: maintain health, strengthen immunity and reduce the risk of constipation.

Prospects and Benefits of a Low Carb Diet

Any endocrinologist will tell you that for a patient with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, the recommended level of glycated hemoglobin in the blood is 6.5% or lower. If it is possible to stably keep this indicator within the indicated limits, we can say that the problem is under control. But in healthy people, glycated hemoglobin does not rise above 4.5%. This means that you are offered to agree with the figure one and a half times higher than the norm! You don't have to do this.

When you switch to a low-carb diet, in about three months you will reach levels of glycated hemoglobin in the blood of 4.5-5.5%, and this is guaranteed to save you from severe complications of diabetes.

For patients of mature age, a special, strict diet is all the more necessary, because otherwise diabetes will acquire a whole bunch of concomitant ailments.

It would be unfair not to mention the reasons why many older people refuse a low-carb diet:

• Quality meat products, fresh fish, oils and cheeses, unfortunately, are expensive;
• Towards the end of life, most of us develop persistent eating habits, which are difficult to revise.

As for the first problem, it is still possible to find inexpensive fish on sale, and poultry is even cheaper than sausages and sausages, which are full of harmful additives. With the desire, patience and a little imagination, you will surely cope with both finding the available ingredients and preparing delicious, healthy dishes.

Sample menu for one day to lower blood sugar

Breakfast

Broccoli omelette: Boil 150 g of broccoli inflorescences in salted water until half cooked. Meanwhile, beat one chicken egg and grate 50 g of hard cheese. Brush a small dish or skillet without a handle with butter, add broccoli, top with beaten egg and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 for 20 minutes.

Afternoon snack

Zucchini rolls with cheese and garlic: Cut the young zucchini into thin slices lengthwise, add salt and fry in vegetable oil. Place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Mash 100 g of soft salted cheese with a fork, add a quarter of a chopped clove of garlic, a little chopped dill and mix thoroughly. Place a tablespoon of filling on each zucchini slice and roll up the rolls.

Dinner

Pied Chicken Soup: Boil one boneless chicken breast or large legs in a 1.5 liter saucepan for about an hour. Remove and cut the meat into pieces, then put back. Break one chicken egg into a boiling broth while stirring it with a fork to create beautiful colored flakes. Add a large bunch of finely chopped herbs to taste (parsley, dill, celery, cilantro). Season with salt and pepper - the soup is ready. Eat a plate full for lunch.

Dinner

Fish fillet, baked with mushrooms: 200 g fresh mushrooms, cut into thin slices and fry in a little butter. Season with salt, pepper and add 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Put a couple of pieces of well-thawed fillet of any fish (preferably sea fish) on a sheet of foil greased with vegetable oil. Arrange the mushrooms and sauce evenly on top, wrap the foil and bake in the oven at 180 ° C for 25 minutes.

Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist

Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".