Diets for diabetes, including traditional diets and the new fad low-carb, high-fat diet, are often modeled on obesity trends. And even if they're not (again, this is my understanding of the research on diets for diabetes) their use results in similar weight gain (and likely type 2 diabetes) in their users. It's why I tend to advocate for a lifestyle approach to diabetes, which should be centered on living a healthy and balanced diet (healthy means living a life where dietary extremes are rare, including following Diets for diabetes).
These new diets are similarly based on a mixture of some ingredients you might have heard about before: inflammatory foods. Unfortunately, for diabetes, inflammatory foods and foods high in inflammation — such as sugars, processed foods, refined grains, refined sugars, saturated fats (for fat-free diets), refined grains, and refined carbohydrates (for dieting), diet drinks and, basically, all of the foods that have been associated with causing diabetes — are often highly processed and engineered to be more appealing to you as a dieter than they are as food for living a healthy lifestyle.
A diabetic diet would be best for the diabetic individual, however, not because of any benefit of the food (unless it would actually improve insulin sensitivity) but because of their own dietary intake. People with diabetes should eat like the rest of the population does: living life to the fullest, eating a variety of foods, building muscle, and not only performing a few daily physical activities but maintaining an active lifestyle.
New Food for Diabetics
The new diets that promote healthy carbohydrates, as a dieting tool, do seem to work well. And, as a result, may be the most successful dieting tool out there. These diets are based on "healthy" high-carb foods, though, such as fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed grains.
The original dieting regimen that served as inspiration for these newer diets was developed in the 1990s by Paul Thomas. According to him, those on his diet lost about two pounds of fat, nine pounds of fat-free body weight, and two pounds of extra weight for diabetes, when they dropped out of diets for obesity. He promoted a high-carbohydrate diet with roughly 100 grams of sugar and only 15 grams of carbohydrates per meal. This seems fairly low for a person with diabetes, since, as an average person, the American Diabetes Association recommends 200 to 300 grams of carbohydrates a day for a person with diabetes (the reason for the low carbohydrate limit is to allow blood glucose to reach normal levels). According to Paul Thomas, he only has diabetes because he developed type 2 diabetes after suffering from diabetes complications (polycystic kidney disease) and weight gain.
Dietary Approaches to Diabetes
Looking at the new diabetic diets, I think the risk is most associated with the diets that are designed to deliver up the biggest benefits of those carbohydrates and sugars. Those diets may work for the diabetic individual, but, as mentioned before, there are many studies that show that diets intended for people with diabetes increase diabetes risk. So, there's no reason to force a diabetic individual onto a diet simply because it worked for someone else. Dieters who drop out of diets for diabetes need to do so because they find it impossible to follow the diet as recommended. They're going to need a lifestyle approach and a non-diet approach to eating in order to survive diabetes.
Of course, diets intended for the non-diabetic individual can work for them, too. That person, however, will need to think carefully about what kinds of diets work best for the individual, and most importantly, what kinds of foods they need in order to eat the foods that help.
Diets to gain weight...
Diets for high Cholesterol
Now that the LDL-high diets have been discredited, people are starting to see diets as important as exercising to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Predictably, it’s the rich, famous and trendy getting the best health advice, which is eating fat, gluten and maybe even meat.
For example, five-time Ironman winner Chris O’Donnell of the NBC Sports Network is overweight, and he said that the key to losing weight and keeping it off is a diet of pasta, milk, salads, fruits and nuts.
Hugh Jackman (played Wolverine in the X-Men franchise), is a very handsome guy with high cholesterol. His diet: “Eat for high cholesterol,” a New York Times headline said.
Some diet experts seem to think that patients with high cholesterol can get by with a few liposuction-like procedures that control it without diet or exercise.
Cheat Days Can Get The Fat Off
Some diet experts say we don’t need diet programs to get people to eat a low-fat diet; they just need to have cheat days.
One diet program called Eat Fit Plus, is now sold in fitness centers, restaurants and supermarkets. Its nutritionists say that a diet rich in vegetables and whole grains, with limited sweets or fat, keeps fat down.
In fact, high cholesterol can be affected by “cheating,” but it has to be excessive, which happens in many people, including me.
A typical diet in the U.S. falls into two categories: diets that reduce cholesterol, and diets that increase it.
The current fat-lowering diets typically cause high cholesterol to go up, while they prevent low cholesterol from going up.
So if you’re overweight and your cholesterol is high, you can “cheat” and still maintain a healthy, low cholesterol diet.
Good Calories Can Also Be Bad Calories
The only diet with health benefits is a low-carb diet that gets the cholesterol off without any cheating. But what about the good calories?
A diet that gives you plenty of energy, with virtually no sugar, fat or carbohydrate, is an excellent way to maintain good health.
For example, an unusual diet made headlines a couple of years ago when a nine-year-old boy, Alejandro Fernandez of San Antonio, was featured on national TV for losing nearly 30 pounds, controlling his cholesterol, and having virtually no blood sugar spikes.
Diets For High Blood Pressure (HBP)
Is your blood pressure high? Or are you just looking for a low-sodium diet? Don't get over-confident. Just eating a well-formulated diet that emphasizes vegetables and fruits (and, yes, red wine) is likely to help manage high blood pressure more than dropping two pounds or lowering one stress level will.
What's your blood pressure like? I'm guessing low-90s over 80, on a scale of 40 to 180 over 140. Just to give you a sense of the variation there, diabetics often have blood pressure of 150 or below, according to one recent study. On a side note, hypertension is a little like diabetes: The medical community often gives the impression that hypertension is a minor condition, but in fact it's the top cause of death in the World.
What's the lesson?
Don't put too much stock into calculating your blood pressure if you don't have a health care provider available to monitor you. If your blood pressure is normal at first, it may get worse over time.
You want to monitor your blood pressure for a few weeks or months to see if it stays fairly stable, or whether it rises and falls a little. If it rises, you want to get a medical professional to weigh in.
If it's in the low-140s and you feel fine, however, get off your blood pressure diet and start eating some of the foods you know will help manage your blood pressure, such as organic greens (such as spinach, kale, and arugula), wheat bran (like flaxseed or whole wheat) and barley malt. In my experience, there's a big difference between eating an apple a day for a few weeks and eating a hamburger a week.
Is your blood pressure high now, or will it get high if you start eating differently? There are simple ways to get blood pressure under control, without going crazy.
Diets To Lose Weight Fast
STAY IN NUTRITION
Last updated at 15:30 17 February 2008
Why this will work: This fast will reduce your total calories by around 500 and most of the fat by 200 per day.
Eat an orange now: This will help stop your body processing the fat around the eyes and will keep the wrinkles away.
How to follow it: Count your calories and stick to a normal diet for three days.
Eat one egg each day: This will help you lose weight and you'll be surprised how much is contained in the egg.
Don't overeat: Remember to eat the same number of calories as your body burns during exercise every day.
Eat one grapefruit: If you're using this diet as an excuse to eat chocolate, eat a grapefruit instead.
Avoid processed foods: This fast is mainly about losing weight, so avoid processed foods. You'll probably get the results quicker if you also avoid sweet or oily foods.
Diet changes: Eat less, Small meals at regular intervals are recommended. Don't have three different meals every day, especially if you're cooking for more than one person. Stick to six small meals spread throughout the day.
Eat breakfast: If you don't eat a meal in the morning, your body won't know when to eat and will burn the fat quicker. If you skip breakfast you'll have a heavier lunch and the night will be a struggle.
Don't eat after 6pm
Don't eat at 8pm: Although it's impossible to stop eating at 8pm, it's more likely that you'll be tired. If you get hungry after 8pm you can go for a walk.
Limit chocolate: Avoid sweet or oily foods that you can have after 6pm. This will give your body time to digest, so you won't gain weight quickly. If you feel hungry after 8pm you can drink a glass of orange juice or a glass of water.
When eating fast food, never eat between lunch and dinner. This means your stomach is empty between lunch and dinner and will want to fill up. Eating a meal at lunch will make your body more tired than if you ate it at lunchtime.
How to avoid overeating: To avoid overeating try to eat an egg with three slices of bread each day. Alternatively, have one grapefruit with your lunch and a small egg for breakfast.
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