When I posted about the rise in type 2 diabetes in adolescents and how parents can get overwhelmed with information overload, I recommended focusing on a couple of clear goals to get started - one was a reduction in the waistline. Of course this also applies to any newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.
So what can you start changing immediately in your diet to get the waistline into better shape e.g. smaller. We're aiming here for a waistline less than (your Height/2).
It's most likely that you're going to miss what you've been eating, and even have sugar cravings, so you need to have things at hand which will substitute and also do you good with respect to diabetes.
Here's a few suggestions, mind you many of these have been unpopular with the professional health advisers in the past because they contain FAT! But as you will have heard - Fat Ain't Fat, there is very good fat, and bad fat, and even the humble peanut is getting in on the act. The good fats are probably even better than we currently know, I suspect some mystic ingredients and bioactivity that we haven't yet discovered, and personally I steer away from "low fat" myself.
1. Avocados
I hesitate to call avocados a wonder food, for fear of giving them a fad name, but you'll do a lot worse than include avocado into something you eat every day. Of course in salads, chopped into shop-bought salsa, or how about just half each morning for breakfast, or when you get a real food craving have a half (once a day!). Foodies suggest lime and such to be squeezed over them, but where I live limes are expensive and you can use plain lemon or like I do use apple cider vinegar as a dressing with olive oil. I have that for breakfast, and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper - every morning.
Why? Because avocados are packed with monounsaturated fatty acids (also known as MUFAs), those good-for-you fats that protect you from chronic disease and, according to new research, can help you lose fat, specifically around your middle (although this is not a certain finding as other research contradicts it).
In a phrase, you've essentially got no trans-fat, no saturated fat, and zero cholesterol from avocados. They are also rich in 25 essential nutrients including fiber, potassium, vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid and adding avocados (in moderation) to a well-rounded diet can lower your levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, both of which are related to heart disease. Avocados also contain glutathione, which functions as an antioxidant to scavenge free radicals. It's also reputed to have some aphrodisiac powers!
For diabetics, I believe that avocados are especially important because they are an alternative to consuming too many carbohydrates which can cause triglyceride and blood sugar problems. The eating plan is to replace other rich-food fats with avocado - not to add more fat into a rich fat diet. According to American institute of Cancer Research in Washington replacing butter, cheese or cream on sandwich with mashed avocado not only helps to reduce calories but also increase the healthy MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acids) intake.
2. Olive Oil
Here is a controversial one, not because olive oil is bad for you - it is rich in oleic acid, the same MUFA as in avocado. The debate is about which oil is best, and oils like flaxseed and macadamia are high up the "better" oils list for diabetics. That's all true, bit a bit complicated.
Olive oil has a good reputation as part of the "Mediterranean diet" and with its MUFAs and adaptability (e.g. flaxseed oil cannot be used for cooking) in my opinion it is a simple and universal substitute for other cooking and salad dressing fats that you might be using - the key here is that with the MUFAs it should not hit your waistline.
NOTE This! : A fatty acid found in abundance in olive oil and other "healthy" unsaturated fats e.g. avocados, has yet another benefit: it helps keep the body satisfied to prolong the time between meals. A new study in the October Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press, reveals that once this type of fat, known as oleic acid, reaches the intestine, it is converted into a lipid hormone (oleoylethanolamide, or OEA) that wards off the next round of hunger pangs.
3. Nuts
Recent studies have identified potential beneficial effects of eating nuts, most of which have substantial amounts of monounsaturated fats. For example macadamia nuts are 75% fat by weight, 80% of which is monounsaturated, and for example a recent report showed that a macadamia nut-based diet had potentially beneficial effects on cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels when compared with a typical American diet. For diabetics, it was found in 2002 that nut consumption was inversely associated with risk of type 2 diabetes after adjustment for age, body mass index (BMI), family history of diabetes, physical activity, smoking, alcohol use, and total energy intake.
OK, so which nuts? This is a big topic for diabetics, and for another time, so I'll just tell you my selection - walnuts (especially good for diabetics), macadamia, brazil, pistachio, almonds, cashew, and hazelnuts. A big plus of nuts that you can nibble a small quantity when you feel hungry or even better if you can direct your sugar cravings to a small serve of nuts. All unsalted of course, and not in large quantities as they do contain lots of calories. Small serves, and using them in place of other fatty nibbles, will do you good. How much - about 5 oz or 150 grams a week has been shown to have positive results.
My big tip - crush your walnuts onto your morning cereal - that will improve their digestion.
4. Beans
Not just peasant food, beans can provide great benefits to lowering cholesterol, along with providing you with omega-3 fatty acids and loads of calcium. The soluble fibre in beans is said to be a key part of their cholesterol-lowering abilities. That means you'll want to be looking at kidney beans, cranberry beans, and lima beans. There have been good reports of heightened good cholesterol HDL-C from adding beans to a food program.
It's known that low intakes of dietary fibre are associated with reduced insulin sensitivity, which is negative for diabetics. Beans have the fibre and slow the digestion. Recent research associated dry beans with reduced risk of colorectal cancer which is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States today.
I think that you'll be surprised to know that of all fruits (not including fruit juices) and all vegetables including potatoes and dry beans, such as green leafy vegetables - spinach, mustard greens, collards, and turnip greens; cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and cabbage; carrots, mixed vegetables containing carrots; starchy vegetables such as corn, white potatoes, and sweet potatoes; green beans and green peas - no combination produced any significant association with reduced colorectal cancer risk except dry bean consumption. This research defined dry bean consumption as cooked dry beans, such as pinto, navy beans, lentils and bean soups.
Because of their carbs it's not usual to suggest beans in the context of MUFA but kidney beans are high in these fatty acids - the dominant fatty acids being linolenic (about 50% by weight), with appreciable amounts of palmitic and oleic acids. The high content of α-linolenic acid in kidney beans could play a beneficial role in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease and as an aid to diabetics. So how much is enough, since the carbs come into play - 100g/3.5oz of red kidney beans has 7g of carbs, and black kidney beans 25g of carbs, with saturated (bad) fat about 1/10 of the total fat, see here for recipes.
4. Fish and lean meat
Again, another surprise for the "typical MUFA" diet recommendations. It's very clear, unlike other MUFA claims such as reducing your waistline, that some fish e.g. whiting, and lean meat e.g. certain cuts of veal, beef and pork, qualify as MUFA.
That is, by definition at least 45% of their fatty acids derive from monounsaturated fat, and their saturated fat does not provide more than 10% of the total energy (calories). However, as a total MUFA content their contribution by weight is low as compared to the "idol" MUFA foods.
From a food plan point of view though, these foods are important. Particularly for example eating something like whiting, and lean pork, which is a way of enjoying your diabetic food plan without being captive to diet-stars and TV programs. Pork has other benefits and lean pork has important nutrients, yet provides minimal fat, calories and sodium with an average of 173 calories per 3-ounce (85g) cooked serving of the most popular cut, porkchops. The tip is to look for the word “loin” in the name for the leanest pork cuts, such as pork tenderloin or sirloin chop.
Now for the bad news
If you eat too much of anything you'll still put on weight, and especially if you don't exercise or increase activity. My golden rule for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics or pre-diabetics is eat 20% less and exercise 20% more, starting now! Many of the MUFA foods have a high caloric density - you eat too much of them and you'll put on weight.
And with respect to the research and the magic of eating MUFA and reducing your waistline - take all that with a grain of salt - its a big business but the research is by no means clear. There's nothing wrong with the recommendations, just like the vegen for diabetic craze, but is that you?
It might surprise you to know that the European Union DOES NOT even count olive oil, for example, as a MUFA food because its saturated fatty acid content provides more than 10% of its energy (calories). So much for the US TV MUFA craze!!
For example the craze for recommending chocolate as an important part of your "MUFA belly shrinking diet" is just plain stupid. Same for olives - who in their right mind can make any regular substitutes of other foods by eating piles of olives - and how about the other effects of olives such as the salt etc. It's just Internet crap going around and around. Don't get me wrong, I eat chocolate and olives regularly, and enjoy them, but there's nothing useful or sensible in the MUFA recommendations about these forming a regular part of a food replacement plan.
Go forward by substituting some of your current fatty or high-carb foods for those above and see how you feel and if you can stick with it. If you can't change the combinations to see what appeals best to you.
The headline for you and your body is moderation in eating and moderation in exercise, with variety the key to an enjoyable food plan and a sustainable exercise plan. Start to substitute, measure your bodies reaction in weight, waistline and blood meter results, learn, and modify - and consult with your healthcare professional.
Good luck !
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