A Prediabetic Diet: Millions of individuals around the globe have been diagnosed with diabetes. It is presumed that there are millions more who are either undiagnosed or suffer from prediabetes.
A prediabetic is an individual who has a blood glucose level that falls outside the normal range, but is not high enough to be classified as diabetes. Roughly half of prediabetics will develop Type II diabetes. This leaves significant hope for those who have received the diagnosis.
The diet for a prediabetic is roughly similar to that of an individual with Type II diabetes. The primary difference is that the prediabetic will follow the dietary guidelines in an effort to avoid development of the disease while a diabetic will use the diet to help manage their diabetes.
Diabetes Australia provides some general guidelines in dealing with prediabetes.
- Reduce total food and beverage intake by eating smaller main meals and reducing or eliminating between meal snacks.
- Choose low fat milk, yogurt, ice cream and custard.
- Choose lean meat and chicken, trim any fat off before cooking.
- Avoid the use of butter, lard, dripping, cream, sour cream, copha, coconut milk, coconut cream and hard cooking margarines.
- Limit the quantity of cheese you eat and try reduced fat and low fat varieties.
- Save pastries, cakes, puddings, chocolate and cream biscuits for special occasions.
- Avoid fatty take away foods such as chips, fried chicken, battered fish, pies, sausage rolls and pastries.
- Choose tomato and soy based sauces rather than creamy sauces, and avoid creamy style soups.
- Eat more vegetables (fresh, canned or frozen) and fruit (fresh, canned or dried).
- Eat more wholegrain breads and cereals – preferably those with a lower glycemic index.
- Limit alcohol intake.
You have to determine if your health is worth fighting for. It is possible to change direction, but you will need to do so utilizing healthy dietary changes coupled with physical exercise. For the prediabetic this is not simply a matter of finding some magic pill that will take care of the issue. This will take work on your part and it will take commitment.
GINews provides a recipe that should work well for prediabetics because it is comprised of ingredients low on the Glycemic Index (GI).
Lemon Spaghetti with Walnuts
(Serves 4)
160 g /5½ oz wholemeal spaghetti
1 bunch (160 g/5½ oz) asparagus, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
3 teaspoons walnut oil
1–2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped dill
½ cup (60 g/2¼ oz) walnut pieces, toasted
1 medium red chili, sliced thinly
- Cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the packet, without adding salt or oil. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, place the bottom ends of the asparagus in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Add the asparagus tips and cook, uncovered, until almost tender, about 2–3 minutes. Watch the time as the thickness of asparagus spears varies.
- Add the peas and cook until they are bright green and cooked – just a few minutes.
- To make the dressing, whisk the oil, lemon juice and garlic in a small bowl.
- Drain the asparagus and peas, return to the saucepan with the spaghetti and add the dressing and dill. Mix together well and serve sprinkled with the walnuts and chili.
We will deal more with the Glycemic Index in another article, but for now we leave you with the most common sense approach for managing prediabetes.
- Change what you eat
- Exercise
Those two rules will do more than anything else to increase your chances of reversing the course you may find yourself on at the moment.
