Article in TOI – Healthcare times on Simplifying food habits by Dr. Bala Prasanna D, Nutritionist, Dr. Mehta’s Hospitals.
Suggesting ways to simplify food habits, nutritionist and dietician Bala Prasanna D from Dr. Mehta’s Hospitals urges diabetic patients to get about 45 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, and the rest from lean proteins such as chicken without the skin, fatty fish like salmon, and plant-based proteins like tofu, and heart-healthy fats from vegetables, nuts, and fish.
“Generally, consuming lesser carbs (less than 130 g per day) is safe and effective in helping people with type 2 diabetes manage their weight, sugar levels, and risk of heart dis-ease in a short term. But evidence also shows that it can affect growth in children, and so it is not to be recommended for them,” the dietician says, asking patients to avoid eating refined, highly processed carbohydrate foods and those with added sugar.
On the difference between pre-diabetics and diabetes, Bala says the former is when your blood sugar level is higher than it should be but not high enough for your doctor to diagnose the latter. Prediabetes treatment can prevent more serious health problems, including type 2 diabetes and issues with your heart, blood vessels, eyes, and kidneys.
A person is considered to be prediabetic if their
• HbA1C is 5.7 to 6.4 percent
• If FBS is 100 to 125 mg/dl
• if the blood sugar is 140 to 199 mg/dL after the second test of OGTT.
“Obesity is when a per- son’s BMI is above 25 (for Indians) and obese persons are prone to become prediabetic. Losing even five to 10 percent of the weight can reverse pre-diabetes. Low carb diet will be helpful in managing prediabetes. Low-glycemic foods are slower to raise a person’s blood sugar lev- els than foods with moderate or high scores on the glycemic index. Low glycemic index foods like chickpeas, lentils, eggs, nuts, fish, can be included in the routine diet plan,” the dietician explains.
