Diabetes

Citation

(2012), "Diabetes", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 42 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2012.01742aaa.024

Diabetes

Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 42, Issue 1

IDDT is frequently contacted by people who want advice about their diet. Very often, particularly just after diagnosis, people feel confused about the advice they are given on healthy eating. They feel insecure about what they are eating and how this may affect their diabetes or they simply do not have enough information about diet. These feelings may hold equally true for family members who also have a role in the changes to diet that the household may have to make. Often, people are told that they need to eat healthily, lose weight and to stay away from sugary and fatty foods. This particularly applies to people with type 2 diabetes and while this advice is not bad advice, it can leave people without the information they need during a stressful time. As one gentleman said “I want to be told what I can eat – not what I can’t”.

It is for these reasons IDDT has produced a four-week menu plan prepared by Consultant Dietitian, Dr Mabel Blades. The menu plan is not intended to be a substitute for an individual diet plan prepared by a dietitian or other health professional. It is intended to give people ideas about what they can eat – everyday, affordable meals in an easy to look at way. It will be especially useful to anyone who has been newly diagnosed or who has had a member of the family diagnosed. It is based on the principles of healthy eating and could help with weight loss. It provides an introduction to counting carbohydrates and is a stepping stone to learning more about diet and diabetes.

“Diabetes Everyday Eating” is available free of charge from IDDT to people who live with diabetes and to health professionals to give to their patients (order on the web site: www.iddtinternational.org or writing to IDDT, PO Box 294, Northampton NN1 4XS; e-mail: martin@iddtinternational.org).