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How to lower blood sugar?

To keep the blood sugar at recommended level is essential for anyone who suffers from diabetes. For the sake of cherished figures spent a lot of money on insulin, glucometers, test strips, glucose-lowering drugs, visits to doctors and tests. Although the lion's share of these costs and problems can be eliminated simply by revising your diet. And most importantly – can significantly improve the quality of life, and believe me, you are quite capable of it.

Today we will explain in detail how to reduce the sugar level in the blood using low-carbohydrate diets, what are its advantages what foods can be consumed in diabetes mellitus 1 and 2 type, and what – absolutely not!

Have a low-carb diet has its own characteristics and difficulties of getting used to but your efforts will be rewarded handsomely. We do not promise that in a few weeks, even with type 1 diabetes you will be able to completely "off" with insulin and forget about it, as about a bad dream – like promises can give only irresponsible quacks.

But the low-carb diet is guaranteed to give you a number of advantages:

  • Full control over the blood sugar levels and a lack of unpleasant surprises;
  • Significant savings on antidiabetic medicines;
  • Cease weight gain and even weight loss;
  • Consistently good health;

  • Slowing the tide of diabetes;

  • The prevention of severe complications of the disease;
  • Reduced dosage of insulin and in the long term, perhaps the rejection of it.

The content of the article:


What diet helps to reduce blood sugar levels?

Most endocrinologists advise their patients to eat easily and diversely, not to overeat and not to eat sugar. Good advice, but if all diabetics understand that the doctor meant by the word "sugar"? Practice shows that not all. This does not mean that you just can not put sugar in tea and eat chocolates. Hidden sugar is found in a huge number of products, and to detect it with the naked eye is difficult.

Not only sugar is in the truest sense of the word carries a risk for diabetics. Starchy foods and any meals that are rich in carbohydrates, make meter readings just rolls over.

When this happens, poor people urgently stabs himself with insulin and drink the drugs that neutralize carbohydrate "kick". But such measures are fraught with new trouble – bouts of hypoglycemia. The conclusion is obvious: you need to try to keep blood sugar levels under constant control. And this can be done, only armed with a full list of recommended and prohibited foods, and regularly using an accurate meter. To purchase quality medical equipment for measuring blood sugar levels is the first priority! If the device is "lying", all of your efforts for the normalization of well-being goes down the drain.

When you go on a low-carb diet, after a few days you will see the first positive signs: the blood sugar will gradually decrease and freeze at the recommended level. At this point, the main thing – not to relax and continue to follow the chosen diet.

At first the diet may seem scarce and unusual, but most likely it is simply because earlier you didn't cook everyday meals from a record low in carbohydrates. Believe me, the range of ingredients is wide, and then it just depends on your culinary imagination. In fact, there is only one objective reason to not go on a low-carb diet – the complication on the kidneys, which we will discuss next.

Low carbohydrate diets and diabetic nephropathy

Very difficult to have patients with diabetes, who already began to develop serious complication to the kidneys – diabetic nephropathy. If we are talking about an early stage with a low-carb diet just to protect kidneys from total dysfunction. The fewer carbs you consume, the more slowly progressing nephropathy.

If the kidney complications have already reached the final stage, glomerular filtration rate according to the test results fell to 40 ml/min and below, to seek the assistance of a low-carb diet is not only useless, but dangerous.

That's why before you radically change your diet, you need to consult with your endocrinologist and get tested in the lab. Only a doctor can make the decision on the revision of the diet of the patient with diabetes.

General principles of nutrition in diabetes 1 and 2 type

Before to discuss what products and in what quantity you should use, let us denote a common strategy of behavior in diabetes first and second type:

  • Get convenient and accurate blood glucose meter, and use it as often as necessary to select suitable products and design the exact menu. The question of saving does not even have to rise, because the consequences of poor nutrition then you go broke, not to mention the fact that you finally lose your health;
  • Keep a food diary and learn to plan your diet for a few days, but better for the week ahead;
  • Stick to a low-carb diet and try to resist the temptation to eat something forbidden, because every little whim turns for a diabetic big trouble;
  • Monitor blood sugar levels and constantly adjust the dosage of insulin and hypoglycemic drugs until you reach the comfortable "norm". If you have diabetes of the second type or the first, but in a milder form, perhaps, low-carb diet will allow you to completely give up drugs;
  • Walk often, not peretrudites at work, try to sleep at least 8 hours a day and exercise regularly. Even for patients with a huge excess weight and many associated diseases you can pick up all possible sports load.

The question of the costs: after a few weeks on a low carbohydrate diet, you can adjust your budget by saving on insulin and medication that regulates carbohydrate metabolism. Even if completely to refuse such support will faildosage in any case will be significantly reduced. And most importantly, you can finally cease to worry about sudden spikes in blood sugar levels and threatening effects of this condition. Calm nerves will not slow down a positive impact on your General health.

Let us now consider the principles of most low-carb diets:

  • Per day should eat no more than 120 grams of carbohydrates (in severe diabetes – 60-80 g), then you will reliably insure against the unwanted increase in blood sugar levels. It is also important not to eat all those carbs at once, but split into 3-4 servings throughout the day. This will allow you to preserve beta cells of the pancreas, is required for the control over diabetes;
  • Eliminate from your menu all products that contain sugar in its pure form, or quickly transforming into glucose. It's not just about cakes and sweets. Plain potatoes, cereal or pasta no less dangerous for diabetics because the starch contained in them, instantly becomes glucose and is harmful for the health. These products are much more likely to cause trouble because of chocolates, you eat one or two, and a pasta sauce can and the plate screwed;
  • Go with three four-five meals a day, and sit down to eat only when really hungry. From the table you need to get up with a pleasant feeling of lightness in the stomach.
  • Better shape portions so that during each meal you received about the same amount of protein and carbohydrates. It is important for the stability condition of the blood, as well as to ensure that you are accustomed to eat a certain amount of food.

The discomfort will pass very quickly if you are able to get pleasure from diet. To overeat, of course, pleased, but the consequences of such an attitude is disastrous. Adhering to a low-carb diet, you will begin to feel calm and proud of your successes. Perhaps this diet will open for you new horizons of taste, because now important is not the quantity but the quality of the food.

How often should I measure blood sugar?

After the transition to a low-carb diet you have to use meter more often than you used to.

This is necessary for two reasons:

  • To make sure that the sharp restriction of carbohydrates in the diet led to lower and more stable levels of sugar;
  • To calculate the dosage of insulin and regulators of carbohydrate balancegiven the improved situation.

Control measurement of blood sugar level after intake of low carbohydrate food can be produced in four stages:

  • 5 minutes after eating;
  • 15;
  • 30;
  • After 2 hours.

Meter readings you probably will be pleasantly surprised. In the future, as the enrichment of his menu and dishes, you will need to check how they react your body. There are so-called "border" treats for diabetics: tomato juice, fat cottage cheese or nuts, for example. Ate a couple of spoons of cottage cheese or a handful of nuts, be sure to measure the blood sugar level in an hour, and then another 2 hours. If everything is in order, you can sometimes include these foods in the diet. But in severe type I diabetes is better not to risk it.


What foods are harmful in diabetes 1 and 2 types?

What foods raise blood sugar levels?

Tear the mask from our enemies, let's consider the list of products is strictly not recommended for people with diabetes first and second type. The first reaction to a long string of names of favorite foods can be a disappointment, and even despair. But not all that bad – at the end of the conversation, we will bring the "white"list, which will, at first, about as long, and secondly, certainly no less delicious.

Products from the"black" list will surround you every day, and when you are at work, traveling, visiting, in a restaurant or coffee shop, the temptation can become almost insurmountable. It is unlikely that anything will save you, except the will power, but if you know that today you will not be able to eat in their familiar home environment, do not hesitate to grab a light meal from the allowed foods: ham, cheese, eggs, nuts. In no case do not eat anything from the list below:


Sweet, starchy and flour products:

  • Sugar of any type (cane or beet sugar, brown or white);
  • Candy, candy bars, candy, marshmallows, and generally any sweets, including a special "diabetic";

  • Cereals and cereal (rice, oatmeal, buckwheat, semolina, corn, wheat , etc.);

  • Ready-made meals, which you do not known (for example, store-bought salads or cheese from the market);

  • Potatoes (no matter how it's prepared);

  • Bread, rolls, bread and any baked goods from any type of flour and grains;
  • A quick Breakfast of cereal and muesli;
  • Homemade dishes prepared using potatoes and prohibited vegetables (see list below).

Vegetables and fruits:

  • Absolutely any fruits and juices;

  • Red beet;

  • Pumpkin;

  • Carrots;

  • Yellow and red peppers;
  • Any legumes (peas, beans, lentils);

  • Onions (especially cooked or fried);

  • Tomatoes, undergone heat treatment.


Some dairy products:

  • Whole milk, particularly skimmed;
  • Sweet fruit yoghurts and curds;
  • Low-fat cottage cheese;
  • Condensed milk.

Ready meals and sauces:

  • Any semi-finished products (pelmeni, vareniki, pancakes, pizza);
  • Soups and canned soups;
  • Snacks Packed in bags (chips, crackers, seeds, snacks, onion rings);
  • Soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ketchup or any other sauces with sugar;

Sweeteners and sugar substitutes:

  • Honey;
  • Any sugar substitutes and products with their content (read the label to see if xylitol, xylose, malt, glucose, fructose, dextrose, lactose, corn or maple syrup, maltodextrin);
  • Products labeled "diabetic", which instead of sugar and regular flour contain fructose and cereal flour.

How to know what foods increase you blood sugar?

If you have not tried a particular product, but judging by the composition, it should be appropriate for a start do a control test. Eat a couple of spoons and then measure the blood sugar level after a quarter of an hour, and two hours later. Before doing this math on a calculator, how should increase the index of the device.

For calculations, it is necessary to know:

  • The nutritional composition of the product (the amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat per 100 g);
  • Weight eaten portion in grams;
  • How many mmol/l is increased, you are usually sugar level in the blood due to the one obtained carbohydrate;
  • How many mmol/l is reduced, you are usually sugar level in the blood after taking one unit of insulin.

Such tests are indispensable in the case when you have no credible data on the label, or the factory packaging is missing. For example, fat cottage cheese that diabetics, in principle, is not contraindicated, many people buy with it, in the grocery market. But it's a big risk, because the competition is forcing grandmothers to sweeten their product, so it was delicious. A similar situation can occur when buying ready-made coleslaw at the supermarket – there sellers also often added sugar.

Only armed with accurate data, it is possible to know whether the consequences of the use of a new product to your expectations. If the results of the calculations correctly correlate with the readings of the meter, and the value of these readings suits you, you can safely expand the menu.

Choose products wisely – read the labels

To make your diet as varied as possible, you need to learn to read carefully the information on labels and to distinguish right products from the wrong. Perhaps you something for nothing made in a black list, and something unfairly gave place to white. Above we have provided list of sugar substitutes most commonly used in the food industry. If you see a product composition dextrose, fructose, maltodextrin or any other of the listed components, be aware that this purchase will cost you more than its price.

The easiest way to control diet for diabetes consists in the analysis of foods for nutritional value: for any package, you will find information about proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

Our best friends antirecords content of carbohydrates. The high fat content should not be ignored, because it is fraught with not only a set of excess weight, but problems with cholesterol and blood vessels. Remember that the legislation we are soft: food manufacturers may deviate from the stated indicators of food value by as much as 20%!

Individual, and not at all flattering words deserve so-called special products for diabetics, low fat, diet and other camouflaged pests. To make low-calorie product, which in principle can not contain fat, there is fat shove sugar and its substitutes, as well as trash – thickeners, dyes, emulsifiers, flavors and preservatives. The only way you can distort going torecognition, but keep the attractive taste. Along the way, you can save some money at the expense of cheap raw materials and chemical additives.

The dominance of "diet"and"fat-free" products is a global catastrophe where every day lose the health of millions of people around the world and food monopolists fill their pockets.

American Professor Richard Bernstein in the course of their medical practices are faced with an amazing discovery. He observed two patients with diabetes mellitus of the first type, both very thin people, who during a low-carb diet and still lost weight. The question arose, as to them a bit better? First the doctor asked them to enrich the daily diet with the helpful hundred milliliters of olive oil. This is as much as 900 calories, but even two months later, the patients are unable to gain weight. To rectify the situation only helped increase the share of protein in the diet.

The difficulties of the transition to a low-carb diet

Reducing the level of sugar in the blood as a result of low-carb food plan really fast. In the first two weeks of a diet is necessary to use the glucose meter eight times a day. If you see consistently low, immediately adjust the dosage of insulin and drugs regulators of carbohydrate status. To inject the usual dose is dangerous – it is a straight road to hypoglycemia.

Your family, friends, colleagues at work (all the people that surround you on a daily basis) need to know about your condition and be ready to assist. Always carry the glucagon and some sweetness in the bag or pocket.

Absolutely unacceptable in the transition to a low-carb diet for a long time to be alone, without contact with loved ones and without the ability to cause the carriage of emergency medical care.

The best solution would be to spend the first week in a hospital or sanatorium. If you have no opportunity to take vacation or sick leave, at least, do not overload yourself with work, avoid stress and get a good night's sleep. Think also about how to translate their family members at least in part on a low-carb diet. It will not only be a form of moral support from their side. Eat according to the plan given in this article are beneficial for healthy people, especially if they want to lose weight.

Parents with diabetes should think about this problem as a genetic predisposition. Let your children from childhood accustomed to a low-carb diet, then the risk of developing diabetes in the future they will be reduced significantly. It is not necessary to trust modern nutritionists and pediatricians who zealously urge to feed children yogurt and fruit.

Essential carbohydrates do not exist in nature – only some proteins and fats are vital for the human organism. And vitamins and minerals is more than enough in the products from the white list low-carb diet.

In confirmation of this unexpected opinion we can bring the story of the indigenous peoples of the far North. Since ancient times, these people eat horribly fatty and high-calorie food: venison, seal and whale oil, ocean fish. But neither obesity nor diabetes they were not familiar. As soon as the North was invaded by "civilization", followed by a flood of sugar, starch and alcohol. The health of the indigenous Northern peoples since deteriorated sharply.

What foods help lower blood sugar levels?

We will start the discussion of the white list low-carbohydrate diets with the important rules, without which observance it is impossible to keep blood sugar at the recommended level:

Even the most safe product, it becomes deadly when its too much. Whatever you filled the stomach, it will inevitably lead to a surge of sugar, because this reaction is caused by the action of hormones.

There is a common phrase: "we need not live to eat but eat to live". Wise words, they should listen. Some diabetics manage to take the blood sugar levels under control only after they take control of their own lives. A positive mental attitude is very important for any person suffering from a serious chronic disease. Think maybe it's time to change something: find a new place for the soul to establish privacy, or to try some interesting Hobbies, enroll in cooking classes? In life so many good opportunities, you just have to want to make the first move.

We now turn to the discussion of our future menu. At first glance, the list of allowed foods is small, but then we clearly demonstrate that from them it is possible to make complete and tasty diet.

Permitted foods with a low carbohydrate diet:

  • Fresh meat and meat products, except for smoked meats, sausages and sausages with milk and sugar;
  • Bird;
  • Fish;
  • Seafood;
  • Eggs;
  • Green vegetables;
  • Mushrooms;
  • Fat dairy products;
  • Some kinds of nuts;
  • Vegetable oil;
  • Coffee, tea.

How much meat and fat, - you'd be surprised. This diet looks crazy, when you consider the view of modern experts on healthy eating. They all in one voice told that from fatty meat, cheese and eggs need to stay away if you want to lose weight. At first glance, we with you a goal, and do not pursue – we just need to reduce the level of blood sugar. But the practice of application of a low-carb diet proves that it helps to lose weight! As for fats, not all of them harmful.

Cholesterol is divided into "bad"and"good". Meat, poultry, eggs, olive oil and fatty sea fish contains "good" cholesterol isnecessary for the health of our brain, heart and blood vessels.

You can easily verify the validity of this statement on personal experience. Before you go on a low-carb diet, your blood test for "cholesterol profile". Sometimes doctors call it "coefficient of atherogenicity". After 3-6 months repeat the test, and be sure your primary care physician will be shocked by the positive changes with your blood, over time, compliance with a low-carb diet.

Vegetables

To correctly calculate the portion of green vegetable side dish will allow simple principle: if it's raw vegetables, you can take a full Cup, if heat-treated – take two thirds Cup. This volume corresponds approximately to 6 grams of carbohydrates. Onions and tomatoes as you remember to use is generally not desirable, but if you have diabetes in a mild form, you can add them to the salad, only in raw form.

Vegetables under the influence of heat does not change in the best available way. Crude fiber in the vegetables become soft and partially converted to glucose. Therefore, the level of blood sugar after eating increases faster and stronger. If you have a complication on the stomach gastroparesis – especially consider this feature to be boiled and stewed vegetables. Use the meter to know for sure which portion to keep you safe.

For a low-carb diet we recommend the following vegetables and mushrooms:

  • All white and green varieties of cabbage (cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, Beijing, sea);

  • Fresh herbs (dill, cilantro, Basil, parsley,oregano, rosemary, thyme, mint, tarragon);

  • Lettuce and salad mixes (lettuce, iceberg, arugula, etc);

  • Spinach, sorrel, leeks and green onions, celery, asparagus;

  • Tomatoes and tomato juice (not more than 50 g per serving);
  • Mushrooms, yellow boletus, honey mushrooms, shiitake and other mushrooms;

  • Beans peppers green;

  • Eggplant;
  • Zucchini;

  • Cucumbers;

  • Squash;
  • Hot pepper.

Milk and dairy products

You are probably familiar with the term "lactose". It is a milk sugar, when injected into the body very quickly and easy to digest. Of course, a couple of teaspoons of milk added to coffee, you will not feel a rapid rise in blood sugar levels. But taste is also not particularly feel. But heavy cream would be suitable to the court: they, and the composition is better suited, and the effect is nicer. About the hidden dangers of low-fat "milk" we have already mentioned: the lack of lipids kompensiruet carbohydrates that the products were not quite so watery.

Drinking skim milk powder for diabetics more harmful than whole cow. Is better to confine tablespoon of cream, if you want to spice up the taste of coffee or tea – it contains only half a gram of carbohydrates.

From whole milk and rennet enzymes in cheese is also produced. The reaction of fermentation, the milk sugar is split, so with diabetes are allowed to use almost any kinds of cheese. But in the process of making cottage cheese is not the whole neutralized lactose, lactic acid starter culture. However, 150 grams of high-quality, full-fat cheese per day it is possible to afford, you just need to split this amount into three doses.

Butter is also allowed in a low carbohydrate diet, there is almost no lactose. But be very careful when choosing oils. Remember our advice – read the information on the labels. Now on sale a lot of skillful imitations natural cow butter. This product is very expensive, so manufacturers add to the quality raw materials, cheap vegetable fats, margarine and a whole range of food additives to make the spread taste, odor and color of real butter. The worst thing is that in thesuch "simulations"can be sugar.

With yogurt the situation is deplorable: store shelves are filled with cups with strange goo, sprinkled with colored sugar and fruit concentrates. And it is sold for big money, under the slogan"give slimming!"and"strengthen the immune system of your child!". To miraculous effect on the jars stuffed some live bacteria, most of which do not survive to contact with the place where they should benefit. When a low carbohydrate diet is acceptable only natural, thick yoghurt without any additives. They contain on average 6 g of carbohydrates per 100 g, but protein – 15 g, But to find this yogurt in stores is very difficult.

Dairy products that help to reduce the level of sugar in the blood:

  • Cheese (any except petacci);
  • Butter;
  • Cream the fat;
  • Natural yoghurt;
  • Fat cottage cheese (50 g or more per serving).

Soy products

Soy in some sense helps diabetics to compensate for the absence of milk and pastries. Soy milk can be added to coffee or tea, and just drink as a standalone drink, in small quantities. Cinnamon and stevia extract will help to diversify the taste.

From soy milk to make tofu. The taste of this specific product, but a balance between carbohydrates, proteins and fats is highly attractive for patients with diabetes. The same can be said about the soy flour. If you mix it with egg and oil, you get the Essentials for baking. Very tasty chops and turn pieces of fish fillet, fried in a similar batter.

The so-called "soy meat" allowed in a low carbohydrate diet, but be careful when buying ready-made products made on its basis. For example, the asparagus salad (soy imitation) contains many food additives, which can be sweeteners or regular sugar.

Condiments and sauces

Pepper and spices help to make a low-carb diet more attractive, and improve digestion due to accelerated secretion of gastric juice. You should carefully study the rows of bags and jars of spices to be fully prepared when it comes to cooking of meat, fish and poultry. By the way, keep in mind that cinnamon and vanilla is almost always sold mixed with sugar! As for salt, the situation is ambiguous.

Salt does not directly affect the sugar levelblood, but its excess causes fluid retention, which is highly undesirable in diabetes complicated by nephropathy, hypertension and obesity. In this case, the salt intake should be dramatically reduced.

Any store-bought sauces (mayonnaise, ketchup, balsamic vinegar, mustard and other) almost certainly contain either white sugar or other carbohydrates, and often both together. Mustard is still possible to find natural and safe composition, and mayonnaise it is better to learn to do it yourself. This is time consuming and relatively expensive undertaking, but the result is worth it: for once in my life tried homemade mayonnaise, you'll be spitting from the store.

Seeds and nuts

Any seeds and nuts constitute the embryo of a future plant, so the main components in their composition of amino acids and fats. Carbohydrates there are, of course, too, but different types of nuts, their content varies. For example, cashews and peanuts with a low carbohydrate diet is not recommended. But hazelnuts and Brazil nuts are quite suitable. There's and "edge" options that you want to check for yourself, armed with a glucometer. Almonds and walnuts can be eaten five pieces, and then see what will the device. However, in any case it is not necessary for a single meal to eat more than ten pieces.

Nuts and seeds are a valuable source of vitamins, amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, micro and macroelements. Be sure to include the permitted types of nuts and seeds to your low-carb diet.

Sunflower seeds are well tolerated by diabetics. You can afford to eat a mouthful at a time. As for the pumpkin seed, the carbohydrate content can reach 13.5 per 100 g, so the first test with the meter, and then allow yourself to flip a few of these seeds.

Coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcohol

Tea and coffee in a low carbohydrate diet, can be drunk in any quantity, but no sugar. If your diabetes complicated with hypertension, atherosclerosis, ischemia, obesity and other related ailments, consider the effects of caffeine on the body. Some types of tea, e.g. green, this substance contains more than instant coffee! To sweeten hot drinks, use a natural remedy – an extract of the stevia leaf. For taste, you can add a little cream, we have already voiced above.

Almost all soft drinks, except mineral water, or contain tons of sugar, the same or equivalent chemical sweeteners. Coca-Cola, Fanta, sprite and other soft drinks with diabetes drink stronglyprohibited and very dangerous. If you want to diversify the taste of water, squeeze a little lime juice or lemon. The same can be done with a normal clean drinking water, plus a little bit of stevia extract – and get the homemade lemonade. For hot summer months a great option – iced tea, not the store in bottles, and homemade.

On the alcohol to dwell, we will not, because such drinks are in principle not useful for the sick person. We can only say that spirits in very small quantities for example in diabetes, but beer and wine should stay as far as possible.


Constipation during low carb diet – how to get rid of?

The only almost inevitable complication of a low-carb diet is constipation, especially at first. Your body gets used to food with fiber, and we got him stripped of all fruit and most vegetables. Bowel "lazy" himself to promote food, and the restructuring of the work could drag on for months.

To avoid this, follow a few simple guidelines:

  • Every day drink at least two liters of clean drinking water;
  • Try to compensate for the lack of fiber (more on this below);
  • Move more (walk, ride bike);
  • Make sure you have no shortage of magnesium and vitamin C;
  • Provide yourself a cozy, comfortable toilet.

Professor Bernstein, of which we have already mentioned, believes that every human body is individual, and someone for good health you need to walk three times a day, and someone- three times a week. But most gastroenterologists agree that regular daily stool must, because only then are we able to get rid of waste in your life and avoid self-poisoning.

Fluid balance in the body

On the correct balance of fluids you need more detail. The fact that some elderly patients with diabetes gives complications to the brain, which is called hyperosmolar syndrome. The nerve center responsible for the sense of thirst stops functioning, and the person brings himself to dehydration without knowing it. In advanced cases, this condition turns to coma and death.

During the day, the diabetic has to drink the amount of drinking water at the rate of 30 ml per kilogramweight. In practice, this means that the average diabetes patient needs two liters of pure drinking water daily.

Make it a habit every morning to fill a two-liter bottle of clean water. When you take to go to sleep, this bottle must be empty. Try to drink little by little in equal intervals of time, and not forgotten to drink water in one gulp in one sitting. It will help your gut to adjust to a low carbohydrate diet.

Useful fiber

Although we said goodbye to the fruits, we have left a lot of vegetables in order to ensure that the intestinal tissue. Leading supplier – cabbage, especially raw. Perfect stewed eggplant and zucchini, fresh cucumber salad with vegetable oil. When you eat hearty meat or fish dish, be sure to combine it with vegetables. This will help digestion and protect against constipation.

Fiber can be obtained not only from the white list of vegetables. For most "advanced" there are alternative sources:

  • Purchase at the pharmacy dried flax seeds, grind them in a coffee grinder and liberally season foods with. Flaxseed contains special oils which have a mild laxative effect, in addition, they are high in fiber;
  • The plant under the name psyllium flea has the same useful properties. You can find it in pharmacies or order from the online health food stores;
  • Microcrystalline cellulose is in contact with the digestive tract swell, and then a good clean bowels from accumulated wastes. But be careful not to eat too much, because clogged stomach we do not need;
  • In the Department of products for diabetic food can be found and useful products, for example, Apple and beet pectin. This substance copes with constipation during low carb diet.

Magnesium deficiency

Magnesium is essential for the smooth functioning of the entire body: it strengthens the heart and blood vessels, reduces blood pressure, helps relieve everyday stress and even struggling with the symptoms of PMS in women. It is a pity that most modern people, the level of magnesium deficient or critically low. To establish whether you are among them, having special blood test. But if you have constipation combines with increased pressure and cramps in the muscles of the legs, and without examination to say – there is a serious magnesium deficiency.

From this problem it is necessary to get rid not only to normalize bowel movements, but also to reduce the level of blood sugar. Magnesium improves the body's sensitivity to insulin!Consult with your doctor and start taking a good multivitamin complex with magnesium and vitamin C. This will kill several birds with one stone: to maintain health, strengthen immunity and reduce the risk of constipation.


The prospects and benefits of low-carb diets

Any endocrinologist will tell you that for the patient with diabetes first and second type, the recommended level of glycated hemoglobin in the blood is 6.5% or below. If you are able to consistently maintain this rate in the framework of the aforesaid, we can say that the problem is under control. But in healthy people, glycated hemoglobin does not rise above 4.5%. So, you propose to accept the figure of one and a half times greater than normal! Not necessarily to do it.

When you go on a low-carb diet, after about three months will reach the indicators of the content of glycated hemoglobin in the blood is 4.5 to 5.5%, and this will certainly save you from severe complications of diabetes.

For patients of Mature age the more need special, hard diet, because otherwise diabetes will acquire a whole bunch of related illnesses.

It would be unfair not to mention the reasons why many older people are abandoning low-carb diets:

  • Quality meat products, fresh fish, butter and cheese, unfortunately, are expensive;
  • At the end of life most of us are persistent eating habits, which are hard to revise.

As for the first problem, to find in sale a fish is still possible, and the bird is even cheaper sausages that are full of harmful additives. Having the desire, patience and a little imagination, you will surely manage to find affordable ingredients, and cooking delicious, healthy dishes.


Sample menu for one day to reduce blood sugar levels

Breakfast

Omelet with broccoli: 150 grams of broccoli inflorescences, boil in salted water until soft. Meanwhile, whisk one egg and grate 50 g of hard cheese. Grease a small mold or pan without a handle with butter, put the broccoli, pour the beaten egg and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in a preheated 200 oven for 20 minutes.

Afternoon tea

Rolls of zucchini with cheese and garlic: slice Young zucchini into thin slices lengthwise, add salt and fry in vegetable oil. Place on paper towel to soak up excess fat. 100 g soft salted cheese mashwith a fork, add a quarter zubochka crushed garlic, a little chopped dill and mix thoroughly. Put on each slice of zucchini with a tbsp of stuffing and roll rolls.

Lunch

Soup "Chicken, char": Cook one chicken breast on the bone or large ham in a-liter saucepan for about an hour. Remove and divide the meat into pieces, then put back. In the rapidly boiling broth break one egg, at the same time razbaltyvaniya with a fork to make beautiful colored flakes. Add big bunch of chopped greens to taste (parsley, dill, celery, cilantro). Salt and pepper the soup is ready. For lunch eat a full plate.

Dinner

Fish fillet baked with mushrooms: 200 g fresh mushrooms, cut into thin slices and sauté in a small amount of butter. Add salt, pepper and add 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. A couple of well-thawed fillets of any fish (preferably sea) put on a sheet of foil, greased with vegetable oil. Top evenly put the mushrooms together with the sauce, wrap the foil and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes.