Category: AtoZ of Healthy Eating 2021

Labels

Posted on by
Share

It’s important to understand the food label of a product so that you are able to distinguish between unhealthy and healthier options. 

1. Read the nutrition information table

This table lists how much of each nutrient it contains. All nutrients are listed in two columns – per 100g and per serving. 

The 100g column is great to use to easily compare similar products because serving sizes may differ; this way you are comparing apples-for-apples. 

The per serving column tells you how much of each nutrient and energy (kilojoules) you’ll consume if you consume that suggested serving. Be careful here because the suggested serving is not always the same as the packaging size. For example, the suggested serving on a 500ml bottle of sugary drink is often only around 250ml, half of the packaging size.

With having diabetes, the main nutrients to look at are carbohydrate, sugar, and dietary fibre. 

Carbohydrates are either listed as total carbohydrates or glycaemic carbohydrates.

Total carbohydrates include fibre and glycaemic carbohydrates exclude fibre. Most labels now show glycaemic carbohydrates since fibre is not absorbed into the bloodstream and therefore should not be included in the carbohydrate count.

It’s important to know the amount of carbohydrate in the product you are eating so that you can identify whether it’s suitable for your glucose tolerance level. 

Most people can only tolerate a maximum of 30g of carbohydrates at a meal and 15g of carbohydrates at a snack. Some can tolerate much less. See Glucose tolerance.

Total sugar includes sugar that is naturally found in the food, such as lactose which is milk sugar found in dairy products, plus sugar that has been added by the manufacturers. Either way, the Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes in SA (SEMDSA) recommends limiting all sugar to no more than 5% of total energy intake per day. Five percent of total energy would be roughly 25g of sugar per day. Low sugar products contain less than 5g of sugar per 100g.

Although it’s important to know how much sugar is in the product, it is the total carbohydrate that will be necessary to determine glycaemic tolerance.

Dietary fibre has numerous health benefits. It can help to reduce the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, certain type of cancers, and help with weight and appetite control. It can also lower the glycaemic index of foods. The recommended daily intake is 25g for women and 38g for men. Aim for 3g or more per serving on a food label and always include high fibre food items on your shopping list, such as whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, lentils, beans, fruit and vegetables.

2. Read the list of ingredients

Ingredients are always listed in order of weight, where the ingredients used in the greatest amounts are listed first, followed by those used in smaller amounts. 

Often the first three ingredients listed on the label make up the largest portion of the food item. 

Below are some sneaky words for sugar to look out for: brown sugar, concentrated fruit juice, corn syrup, dextrose, treacle, fructose, glucose, glucose syrup, golden syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, malt, malt extract, maltose, isomaltose, maltodextrin, maple syrup, molasses, raw sugar, sucrose, sugar, cane sugar.

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik

Ketones

Posted on by
Share

Glucose is the primary source of energy in the body. When the body does not get glucose, it will start to use fat instead. When this happens, chemicals, called ketones, are released and converted into fuel or energy.

The nutrient carbohydrate turns into glucose in the bloodstream. When dietary intake is low in carbohydrate, like banting and ketogenic diets, the foods eaten don’t turn into glucose in the bloodstream, resulting in no glucose available for fuel. This is great if you need to lose some fat, since the body will use fat to make fuel for the body instead.

However, if you are not eating a low carbohydrate diet, and the body is not able to process the glucose and convert it into energy, this will also trigger the response of fat to release ketones. 

Glucose is processed by insulin in the body, so when there is a lack of insulin in the body to do this job, the bloodstream will fill with glucose from the carbohydrate diet as well as the ketones that have been released from fat. 

When glucose and ketones occur together, they cause acid build-up and this acid can be damaging to the body. This condition is called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

It’s fine for a person with diabetes to have high ketones if their blood glucose is low. But if your blood glucose is high and you have ketones present in your blood or urine, you should get medical help straight away, especially if you have abdominal pain or are vomiting. 

DID YOU KNOW?

DKA is serious and must be treated in hospital quickly with insulin and fluids to prevent dehydration. Left untreated, it could lead to a life-threatening situation.

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik

Jams

Posted on by
Share

There are three main ingredients in jam: fruit, pectin and sucrose (table) sugar. When the three ingredients are heated together, the sugar molecules link onto water and allow the pectin to form a gel consistency typical of jam.
Since fruit contains a natural sugar called fructose, a fruit jam cannot be completely sugar-free. However, it can be reduced sugar or no added sugar.
Lower sugar jams will still require some form of sugar to attain a similar jam consistency. Often sugar substitutes (like stevia) or sugar alcohols (like sorbitol) will be used instead of sugar.
Most sweeteners and sugar substitutes (see Sugar substitutes) will contain no carbohydrate and therefore have no glycaemic load (no rise in blood glucose). Sugar alcohols have different glycaemic loads and therefore can affect blood glucose differently.
Always look at the label to what is providing the carbohydrate to decide whether it’s a good choice.
Carbohydrates coming from a safe sugar substitute (aspartame, stevia, etc.) or sugar alcohol (like sorbitol, erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, etc.) will provide carbohydrate in the product but will have a small effect on blood glucose.
For example, a standard All Gold Strawberry Jam provides 57g of carbohydrates as per the label. Thistlewood No Added Sugar Raspberry Jam provides 30g of carbohydrate as per the label.
The first three ingredients in the regular jam are glucose, strawberry and cane sugar.
The first three ingredients in the no added sugar jam are raspberries, sorbitol syrup, and water.

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik

Insulin and food

Posted on by
Share

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas in the body. Its main role in the body is to regulate blood glucose levels. 

After you eat, carbohydrates break down into glucose, a sugar that is the body’s primary source of energy. Glucose then enters the bloodstream. The pancreas responds by producing insulin, which allows glucose to enter the body’s cells and provide energy.

When insulin is deficient (insulin-dependent diabetes) or inefficient (insulin resistance), glucose levels will continue to rise after you eat because there is not enough insulin to move the glucose out of the bloodstream and into the body’s cells.

To regulate blood glucose more efficiently when insulin is disrupted, you will need to regulate the amount of glucose you put into your bloodstream. Since it is mostly carbohydrates that make glucose in the bloodstream, it would make sense to regulate or control the amount of carbohydrates that are eaten at meals.

Depending on how much insulin your body produces, how sensitive your body is to insulin, and how your body uses insulin will determine how much carbohydrates your individual body can tolerate. See Glucose tolerance.

Stress levels, exercise, hormones, age, food combinations, drinks, and many other factors can affect how insulin works in your body. Therefore, regular testing is essential in achieving blood glucose control.

DID YOU KNOW?

You can use the mySugr app to keep an insulin diary log, noting how much you injected and the effects it had on your blood glucose levels and the food you ate, and send it to your healthcare practitioner every week so that he/she can help with dose adjustments until you have reached the target glucose levels.

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik



Hypoglycaemia

Posted on by
Share

Everyone has different symptoms of a hypo, but the most common signs are trembling and shaking, feeling disorientated, sweating, being anxious or irritable, going pale, palpitation and a fast pulse, lips tingling, blurred vision, feeling hungry, tiredness, losing concentration, headache, and a fogginess in your head.
Sometimes you may already feel these symptoms when your blood glucose is falling quickly but are not yet below 4mmol/L. Testing your blood glucose regularly can help you to identify a hypo before you get any symptoms and also prevent it from dropping too low.
If you are unable to tell when your blood glucose is low, you will onlyknow by checking it.

How to treat a hypo

You must take action as soon as you notice symptoms of a hypo or if your blood glucose levels are too low. If you don’t act quickly, it could get worse and you could start feeling confused and drowsy, and you could even become unconscious or have a fit. This is called a severe hypo.
To treat a hypo, immediately eat or drink something that has 15-20g of fast-acting carbohydrate. For example, 3 Super C sweets or 5 Jelly Babies or 140ml Coke or 125ml litchi juice.
Choose whatever you have on hand, or is preferable to your taste, or is easy to store.
If you are not sure how much carbohydrate is in a product, check the nutrition label on the product but be sure
to look for the amount of carbs in the portion that you will be consuming.
Wait 15 minutes and re-test your blood glucose. If it isn’t increasing at all then repeat the process.
Once you see your blood glucose rising, in order to prevent it from dropping again, eat 15-20g of slow-acting carbohydrate. For example, a slice of wholegrain bread with cheese or peanut butter, or a fruit and some nuts, or a glass of milk.
If you are feeling too confused or drowsy to eat or drink then ask someone to help you. It’s important that your family, friends and colleagues know what to do if you have a severe hypo or become unconscious. If you are unconscious, they should put you on your side and call an ambulance.
Always keep hypo treatments by your bed in case you have a hypo at night. If a hypo doesn’t wake you up, you may realise that you had one if you feel extremely tired or have a headache the next morning. If you think you may be having a hypo at night, do a blood test before you go to sleep and during the night. If the one during the night is much lower, you may need to change your insulin dose. Speak
to your healthcare provider about this.

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik

Glucose tolerance

Posted on by
Share

One of the main reasons why there is no clearly defined one-size-fits-all diabetes diet, is because diabetes affects everybody differently. Often you will find that one person can eat a specific food safely without raising blood glucose too much whereas another person can eat the same food and their blood glucose skyrockets.

The amount of carbohydrate in the food will determine how well you tolerate that food as well as how sensitive your body is to insulin. It is your insulin response that will determine how quickly glucose is taken out of your bloodstream.

Here is a guide to testing your glucose tolerance level if you have diabetes:

  1. Make sure you have not had anything to eat or drink in the last two hours.
  2. Identify the food you are going to eat. Decide how much you would like to eat. Use the label on the packaging or a carb tracker app to determine how many carbs are in the portion you are going to eat.
  3. Wash and dry your hands and measure your blood glucose.
  4. Eat the food in the determined portion that you have calculated the carbs for.
  5. Two to three hours after eating the food, measure your blood glucose again. Do not eat anything else within that two-hour period after the food you tested. The blood glucose reading should be no higher than 2mmol/L above where your first measurement was. If it’s higher than 2 mmol/L above your first reading, then you know that you are not able to tolerate this food tested in the amount that you ate it. You can reduce the amount and retest it or leave it out of your diet.

DID YOU KNOW?

The mySugr app removes the burden of managing diabetes by having all your therapy information readily available. It allows for automatic blood glucose tracking, food and medication logging as well as activity tracking. Along with numerous other features, it provides downloadable reports to share with caregivers or healthcare providers. 

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik



Glycaemic index

Posted on by
Share

All carbohydrates will break down into glucose in the bloodstream and raise blood glucose. How much they raise blood glucose will depend on how quickly they break down to glucose. This concept of how fast food breaks down into glucose is called glycaemic index (GI).

The food that breaks down the fastest into glucose in the bloodstream is glucose itself. Since it’s super quick, it’s given a score of 100. Every other food is then compared to glucose and given a score out of 100 which is determined by measuring the effect of the food on the resultant blood glucose in the bloodstream.

The lower the score (less than 55), the slower the food will break down into blood glucose. A slower release is optimal because it will give insulin time to respond to the blood glucose in the bloodstream and ensure it doesn’t sit too long in the bloodstream.

A rapid breakdown of food into glucose (high-GI) will mean a fast increase of blood glucose and the insulin may not be able to respond optimally to the glucose spike, meaning that the glucose will sit too long in the bloodstream and start causing damage in the blood vessels. If this happens too often it can cause diabetes complications in the large blood vessels (heart) and smaller vessels (kidney, eyes and feet).

Glycaemic Index FOODS

LOW-GI (<55) MEDIUM-GI (56-69) HIGH-GI (70>)

Grains/StarchDairyDairy

Rice bran

  

27

 Vegetables

Asparagus

  

15

 Dairy

Low-fat yoghurt

  

14

 Legumes

Peanuts

  

21
Bran cereal 42 Broccoli 15 Plain yoghurt 14 Beans, dried 40
Spaghetti 42 Celery 15 Whole milk 27 Lentils 41
Sweet corn 54 Cucumber 15 Soya milk 30 Kidney beans 41
White rice 64 Lettuce 15 Fat-free milk 32 Split peas 45
Couscous 65 Peppers 15 Skim milk 32 Lima beans 46
Wholewheat bread 71 Spinach 15 Chocolate milk 35 Chickpeas 47
Muesli 80 Tomatoes 15 Fruit yoghurt 36 Pinto beans 55
Baked 

potato

 85 Cooked 

carrots

 39 Ice cream 61 Black-eyed beans 59
Oatmeal 87
Taco shells 97
White bread 100
Bagel, white 103
Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik

Fruit

Posted on by
Share

Fruit contains a carbohydrate sugar, called fructose, which means that fruit isn’t a low sugar food. All carbohydrates will break down into glucose and raise your blood glucose. Therefore, if you eat fruit it should be calculated within your carbohydrate allowance for the day.

Fruits with a low-GI (glycaemic index) will be a better choice as although they still have fructose, they will not spike blood glucose too much. Eating too much fruit at one time will increase the amount of glucose in your bloodstream, requiring more insulin so portion control is very important. Ideally, don’t eat more than 2-3 portions of fruit a day.

It’s often the fibre in fruit that makes it a low-GI food. So, when you eat fruit, aim to eat the skin and pips as well (if tolerated and where practical). When fruit is juiced, the fibre is lost, and therefore fruit juice isn’t usually recommended in a diabetic diet.

Choose low-GI fruit for optimal blood glucose control but if you must have high-GI fruit then have with a non-carbohydrate food like nuts, cheese, egg or biltong.

Remember that fruit is a carbohydrate food so will affect your blood glucose. The maximum portion is in brackets below.

LOW-GI MODERATE-GI HIGH-GI
Apple (½ medium)

Apricot (4)

Berries (¾ cup blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries)

Cherries (fresh) (14)

Date (1)

Guava (2)

Granadilla (3 fresh)

Grapes (16)

Grapefruit (1)

Kiwi fruit (1)

Lemon (2½)

Mango (½ cup)

Nectarine 91)

Naartjie (1½)

Orange (1)

Peach (1½)

Pear (½)

Plum (4)

Pomegranate (½)

Prickly pear (1½)

Rhubarb (2½ cups diced)

 Banana (½ large banana/10cm piece)

Cranberries (2 heaped tablespoons)

Pawpaw (1 cup cubed)

Pineapple (¾ cup)

Green or orange 

melon (1 cup cubed)

Litchis (10 fresh)

 Watermelon 

(1¼ cup cube

DID YOU KNOW?

High-GI fruit, watermelon, or fruit juice can be used to prevent hypoglycaemia, especially after exercise, or to correct a hypoglycaemic event.

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik

Exercise

Posted on by
Share

Regular exercise can help to manage your blood glucose. It can also help to manage weight and may also reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke, reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, and promote overall health.

At least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity aerobic activity per week as well as two sessions of strength training a week is advised.

If you’re sedentary and considering starting an exercise programme, it’s a good idea to consult with a doctor first, to make sure there are no restrictions or special precautions. It’s always a good idea to start gradually and build up to your personal goal.

If you have a pair of supportive shoes and a safe place to walk, you can start today. In fact, you can meet your recommended minimum target for aerobic fitness by going for a brisk 30-minute walk five days a week.

If you have lower joint pain, arthritis, or neuropathy, consider choosing low-impact exercise, such as cycling, swimming and rebounding/trampolining. These can help you meet your fitness goals while minimising strain on your joints.

Online and app-supported exercise programmes have grown in popularity recently, especially over the last year. Try online classes to find out what you like and what works to get you moving.

If you find it hard to motivate yourself to exercise, it might help to join a recreational sports team. The opportunity to socialise with team mates and the commitment you make to them might help you find the motivation you need to show up each week.

Regular physical activity is important, not only for managing Type 2 diabetes but also for promoting your overall health.

If you have any other health conditions in addition to Type 2 diabetes, talk to your doctor before starting a new fitness routine. They can help you learn how to stay safe and minimise your risk of injury, while meeting your fitness goals.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Mohair Medi Socks from Sock Doctor are made with a combination of mohair and bamboo to aid in the therapeutic support for symptoms of diabetes, circulatory problems, Raynaud’s syndrome and sweaty feet.

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik



Diabetes SA endorsed products

Posted on by
Share

Any food product which has the Diabetes SA logo on it is safe for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients to consume in the recommended serving size.
The Diabetes SA logo endorsement requires products to meet strict criteria to carry the logo. Diabetes SA logo product endorsement service provider is the Glycemic Foundation of South Africa, who have had great success in managing their own Glycemic Index logo endorsement programme for many years. The Diabetes SA endorsement is approved by government, specifically for consumers with diabetes, using different criteria to the Glycemic Index Foundation and any other endorsements.

As a person living with diabetes, we are sure you are always on the hunt for diabetic-friendly food products and beverages. Each endorsed product has the DSA Endorsement Logo on it and is deemed safe to consume at the recommended serving for anyone with diabetes.

For those of you who like to know the science behind it and exactly how the procedure works, we have you covered with this simplified article, read Understanding the DSA Endorsement Logo.

Here is a list of endorsed products:

BEVERAGES

SWEETENERS

FOODS

DIABETIC FOOTCARE

DIABETIC WOUNDCARE

Please view our selection of e-books at www.gifoundation.com

If you would like your product to have the DSA logo endorsement, send your request to our Diabetes SA logo endorsement service provider: 

The Glycemic Index Foundation of SA

Tel: 082 257 3411

Email: jan@gifoundation.com

Go to the AtoZ of Healthy Eating
Header image by FreePik