Nutritionists have found that eating softer foods causes blood sugar to rise more quickly. When rice is cooked into congee, some of the starch is converted into dextrin, which is easier to digest and absorb than starch. It is quickly converted into glucose in the body, causing blood sugar to spike rapidly. The longer congee is cooked, the thicker it becomes, and the faster blood sugar rises after eating. Therefore, diabetic patients should avoid "preferring soft foods over hard ones." They should "choose hard foods over soft ones," as harder foods digest more slowly and are less likely to cause a rapid increase in blood sugar.
Although foods with a high glycemic index have a greater impact on postprandial blood sugar, exclusively choosing foods with a low glycemic index can easily lead to nutritional imbalance. Mixed eating is an effective way to control postprandial blood sugar. This means mixing high-glycemic-index foods with low-glycemic-index foods to reduce their impact on postprandial blood sugar.
Some diabetic patients, in order to control the symptom of "frequent urination," dare not drink too much water, resorting to a "quenching thirst by thinking of plums" approach. In fact, diabetic patients need to drink more water. The body of a diabetic patient is in a state of high blood sugar. Drinking water can lower or restore normal plasma osmotic pressure, which has a blood sugar-lowering effect. If water intake is restricted, it can lead to a decrease in blood volume, which in turn raises blood sugar and worsens the hyperosmolar (higher than plasma osmotic pressure) state, which is very detrimental to the condition. It should be noted that if you wait until you are thirsty to drink water, it is too late, as blood sugar has already fluctuated to some extent by then.
Many diabetic patients believe that dietary therapy is a starvation therapy, eating very little or no staple foods (grains) at each meal. Not eating staple foods or eating too little means the body lacks a source of glucose, so it must use fat to release energy. This is accompanied by ketone body production, and excretion through the kidneys can lead to ketonuria. Therefore, for both healthy individuals and diabetic patients, the daily intake of staple foods should not be less than 150 grams, otherwise, ketosis is likely to occur.
Many diabetic patients often experience bloating, burping, nausea, and vomiting after meals, accompanied by a sour, foul smell, as if the food eaten is piled up in the stomach and cannot go down. When these symptoms appear, be alert to the possibility of diabetic gastroparesis. Regular eating is the basic treatment for diabetic gastroparesis. Patients should absolutely avoid overeating. Daily food intake should be timed and quantified, with the amount for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each accounting for one-third.
Salt contains sodium, and the internal environment of diabetic patients is very sensitive to changes in sodium ion concentration. When the concentration of sodium ions in the body is high, it increases blood volume and加重 the burden on the heart and kidneys. Under normal circumstances, an adult's daily salt intake should be 6 grams. For diabetic patients, it should be 4-5 grams. If complicated with hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and kidney disease, the daily intake should be controlled to 3-4 grams, including the salt in soy sauce. Generally, 20 ml of soy sauce contains 2-3 grams of salt.
Diabetic patients should not drink sugary carbonated beverages, such as Coke and Sprite. If a diabetic patient sweats a lot and does not replenish water in time, or drinks a large amount of sugary beverages, it can easily lead to diabetic non-ketotic hyperosmolar coma (a complication of type 2 diabetes, characterized by high blood sugar, severe dehydration, and impaired consciousness).
Eating fruit immediately after a meal will raise blood sugar and increase the burden on the pancreas. In addition, eating fruit right after a meal will be "blocked" in the stomach by the previously eaten indigestible fats and proteins. The fruit will "stay" in the stomach for too long, affecting digestion and causing bloating. The best time to eat fruit is between meals. At this time, the gastrointestinal tract is relatively empty, and the vitamins and minerals in the fruit can be quickly absorbed on an empty stomach, and it can also avoid bloating.