Should You Eat Carbohydrate When you have Diabetes?

Should you eat carbohydrate when you have diabetes?

When people learn that carbohydrate breaks down to sugar and moves into the blood stream, it is easy to understand why many would think they should avoid carbohydrate.  Why would you want to eat something that makes your blood sugar go up?

Here’s why:

• Many healthy foods contain carbohydrate along with other important nutrients including fiber, vitamins and minerals.  Most people think of carbohydrate as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta.  While it is true they do have carbohydrate, there are MANY other healthy sources of carbohydrate-all fruits, peas, beans, corn, sweet potatoes, winter squash, milk and yogurt, all grains (such as oats, barley, brown rice).  Whole grains are ideal since they are less processed and have all the parts of the grain still in tact providing the most nutrients.  But even white bread, pasta, and rice are not “bad for you”.  And the poor white potato is a fine vegetable with a bad reputation that it does not deserve!  Carbohydrate-rich plant-based foods are the foundation of a heart healthy diet.  Most people with diabetes have cardiovascular disease.
• If you cut out too much carbohydrate, you will most likely eat too much protein and fat, the other two big nutrients.  You have to eat something, right?!  If the fat had a mother (think fat in butter or meat –from a cow–who had a mother) too much can led to clogged arteries.  It is prudent to eat a heart healthy diet when you have diabetes. And that means balance!
• A balanced diet is easier to live with long term.  And diabetes is a marathon!  Restricting food groups too much usually can’t be maintained.  Like most diets, restriction can’t be maintained over the long run, and you quit the diet.
• Even if you cut out carbohydrate, you might find that your blood sugar is still too high!  When you don’t get glucose from the breakdown of carbohydrate, your liver makes it.  With diabetes, the liver sometimes puts too much glucose in the blood stream.   Eating moderate amounts of carbohydrate can help level out the blood sugar.
• Your body needs carbohydrate for energy–it’s like gas in the tank for all the cells in the body.

The root problem is that someone with diabetes does not make enough insulin, and/or the cells resist the action of the insulin.  It’s not that carbohydrate is bad.  The key is to have carbohydrate with each meal, but not too much at one time.  Spread the carbohydrate out throughout the day so that you get the nutritious foods but not too much at one time.

Some carbohydrate sources would be fine to never eat–-soft drinks, sweet tea with sugar, fruit punch and other sugar-sweetened drinks, candy , cakes, and pies.  These foods don’t contain the healthy nutrients your body needs, and but instead have added sugar, fat and calories with no benefits.  Well, if you like the taste, that’s an important benefit!  I, for one, have a sweet tooth.  So even though I don’t get health benefits from them, I do enjoy  small portions every once in a while.   I pick things that are really worth it, and enjoy every bite, in small portions, occasionally.  You can do the same if you’d like.  

To be healthy, most of the time choose healthy carbohydrate sources, eat them every meal, in moderate size portions.  Controlled diabetes is worth the effort!

Reach out to me if you have questions and need more help.  I customize meal plans for people in the Panama City, FL area.