Best diet for diabetic patients
- Dietitian.Lauren Hmede
- Feb 12, 2019
- 3 min read
Which Is The Best Blood-Sugar-Balancing Diet? The Definitive Ranking
Food could be either cure or disease, it is your choice to choose which one it will be. One of challenging thin in diet is to choose appropriate one to control blood sugar especially when it comes to diabetic patients.
Many diets are available online but few of them are good for diabetic control so let us know which of them is good to control blood sugar:
1. Ketogenic Diet
The ketogenic diet is a popular diet that focus on high fat, moderate protein and very low carbs intake. This diet works by switching the body to ketosis status when it shifts from sugar burning to fat burning state
Ketogenic diet has been shown reduction in inflammation moreover controlling insulin secretion and blood sugar. Some studies have been shown that diabetes symptoms may reversed after 10 weeks of ketogenic diet.
A ketogenic diet can be done alongside whatever diet you are currently doing since all you have to do is calculate your ratios and meal plan around the foods you are already eliminating and are allowed to eat. Even those who would like to avoid meat and dairy can still do a ketogenic diet doing a plant-based version of it.
2. Intermittent Fasting/Time-Restricted Feeding:
Intermittent fasting or time restricted feeding protocols are based on allowing time window for eating while having fasting time when some drinks are only allowed like drink tea. This diet has been shown effectiveness in insulin sensitivity and faster metabolism.
Periods of fasting can also help improve autoimmune symptoms by restoring balance to the immune system and driving-down inflammation, which can further help in cases of type 1 diabetes.
Intermittent fasting has many ways to be done:
Beginners Intermittent Fasting: The 8-6 Window Plan
In this plan you eat only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., allowing for 14 hours of uninterrupted fasting.
Intermediate Intermittent Fasting: The 12-6 Window Plan
In this plan you extend the fasting period and only eat between the hours of 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. increasing your fasting time from 14 to 18 hours.
Advanced Intermittent Fasting: Every-Other-Day Plan
This plan is exactly as it sounds, with one day of eating followed by a full 24 hours of fasting.
Super Advanced Intermittent Fasting: OMAD
This is a 23:1 fasting to eating protocol, hence its name: OMAD (one meal a day). For a full run-down on OMAD.
3. Paleo
Paleo diet focuses on clean, whole food sources such as vegetables, fruit, meat, wild-caught fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, and healthy non-refined oils, while eliminating dairy, grains, processed foods and sugar, and legumes. While removing refined carbs and sweeteners, your blood sugar will be controlled and balanced. A traditional diabetic diet focuses more on whole grains, dairy products, legumes, and root vegetables and is lower in total fat.
A study published has shown that people who are following a paleo diet had significantly lowered glucose levels compared to those following a conventional diabetic diet.
4. AIP (Autoimmune Protocol)
It has same principles as paleo diet but it is slightly restricted by eliminating additional foods including eggs, nuts and seeds, and nightshade vegetables and spices. Since these foods can be immune stimulants for some people, those with autoimmune blood sugar problems like type 1 diabetes and type 1.5 diabetes, also known as LADA (Late Autoimmune Diabetes of Adulthood), can benefit from taking these out from their diet.
While you aren't going to cure these autoimmune blood-sugar conditions, the more stable your immune system is the more stable your blood sugar can be.
More studies are needed to study the effect of AIP diet on blood sugar but as it works like paleo diet by eliminating food that spikes blood sugar like grains and it adds various immune stimulants, especially if for blood sugar problems that have an autoimmune component to them.
Finally, these diets are the favourites for patients with diabetes but the response to diet is individual and varies from one patient to another, seek a help from your doctor to choose appropriate diet plan.
Sources:
https://elanaspantry.com/whats-the-difference-between-the-keto-and-paleo-diets/
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