Top 5 Foods that Help Control Diabetes

Diabetes can be divided into two diseases - type 1 and type 2. Early onset diabetes or type 1 diabetes involves the lack of insulin and can not be controlled by diet but monitoring of food is necessary in type 1 diabetes for the adjustment of medication. Type 2 diabetes or insulin resistant diabetes can sometimes be controlled by diet or by diet in conjunction with medication and exercise. This article will be about foods that are helpful in controlling type 2 diabetes although the information contained in the article might be helpful to people with type 1 diabetes for the purpose of adjusting their food intake to blood sugar levels and insulin intake.

First of all, it is essential to limit the amount of salt and refined sugar in one's diet if one has diabetes. Even sugar substitutes that contain an alcohol molecule need to be limited. Alcohol needs to be limited. Certain other carbohydrates need to be limited in people with diabetes. In fact, all carbohydrates can be rated on a scale of 1-100 indicating how fast they are metabolized. This scale is referred to as the gylcemic index, and the higher the number the faster the carbohydrate is metabolized while the lower the number the more slowly the carbohydrate is metabolized and the more helpful the carbohydrate is in a diet to help control diabetes. Generally speaking, items with a glycemic index of less than 55 are thought of as low, those with a gylcemic index between 55 and 70 are thought of as medium and those with a glycemic index greater than 70 are thought of as high on this scale.

Foods with a low or medium glycemic index include brown rice, whole grain breads and cereals, sweet potatoes, dairy products, and dried beans and lentils. One could make a case that these five food groups should form the basis of a diet to control or perhaps even prevent type 2 diabetes. A diet based on these foods would go a long way in terms of slowing down the metabolic process and keeping glucose levels on an even keel.