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Managing Diabetes Magazine - diabetes

Tune up Your Diet
Begin with Canada's Food Guide

The Canadian Diabetes Association encourages those with diabetes to follow Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide to meet their nutritional needs. Having diabetes does not mean you have to eat very differently from someone without diabetes. Anyone, with or without diabetes, can benefit from the advice in this guide.

Canada’s Food Guide can help you:

• make wise nutritional choices
• balance your meals
• manage blood glucose
• control other health conditions, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol
• enjoy a variety of foods.
  

Most people know that Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) is a 'four food groups' approach to healthy eating. These groups were created according to the types and amounts of nutrients they provide.

Vitamins and minerals act as catalysts for the many metabolic processes happening in our bodies. Minerals like calcium help form bone. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. If you have diabetes, you may already know that carbohydrates are key to managing blood glucose. Protein helps build muscle, blood cells, hair, skin and much more. These four food groups together provide all of the nutrients you need, but you do need to eat enough.

In addition, all women who could become or are pregnant or breastfeeding need a multivitamin containing folic acid every day. Adults should take a daily vitamin D supplement of at least 400 IU. Discuss your needs with a dietitian, doctor or pharmacist.

Find your daily needs

A common mistake people make is thinking that Canada’s Food Guide recommends too much food. In fact, when you spread your daily needs over three meals and a few optional snacks, about the right amount of food is suggested. Start with the four food groups chart. Find your age and gender, then read down through each coloured stripe. Each stripe represents a different food group.

Next, review the chart of serving sizes. Six to seven servings of grain products may seem like a lot for a 19 to 50 year old woman. However, serving sizes are not large and are spread out over the day. Having two slices of bread for breakfast, one cup of rice for lunch, and one cup of quinoa for dinner (six servings total) would meet your needs. On the other hand, some people complain that the servings are too small. In particular, they would like bigger servings from the Meat and Alternatives group. Although we have become accustomed to big portions of meat, our bodies really can do with less.

Balanced meals are best

Of course, we do not eat from just one food group. Balance your meals by combining different food groups at each meal, as with these examples.

Vegetables & Fruit	+	Meats & Alternatives	+	Grain Products
banana	+	peanut butter	+	bagel	breakfast
salad greens	+	chicken	+	quinoa	lunch
broccoli	+	lean steak	+	rice	dinner
Milk & Alternatives	+	Vegetables & Fruits	+	Meats & Alternatives
yogurt	+	berries	+	chopped nuts	parfait
soy milk	+	peach	+	tofu	smoothie
cheese	+	spinach	+	eggs	omelette

Manage your blood glucose

As shown above, each food group contains carbohydrate. In managing your blood glucose, it can help to know roughly how much carbohydrate is in some typical foods. (For more detail, check the carbohydrate in grams).

Now, returning to the examples of balanced meals, add in the servings and carbohydrate counts.

While everyone is different, 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrate at each meal is often suggested as being suitable for a woman, while 60 to 75 grams is suitable for a man. Using the examples above, you can see how larger servings or adding other food groups that contain carbohydrate could help meet those targets. Speak to your dietitian or diabetes educator to learn more about carbohydrate counts.

Consider using a blood glucose meter to check how carbohydrate foods affect your levels. Try a pair of tests, such as before a meal and two hours afterward. For most people, the targets are:

• Before eating: 4.0 to 7.0 mmol/L
• Two hours after eating: 5.0 to 10.0 mmol/L.

Vegetables & Fruit	+	Meats & Alternatives	+	Grain Products	Carbohydrate
banana	+	peanut butter	+	bagel	45 g
salad greens	+	chicken	+	quinoa	30 g
broccoli	+	lean steak	+	rice	30 g

Canada’s Food Guide is heart healthy

Many people with diabetes know that blood cholesterol and blood pressure levels are also important. Following Canada’s Food Guide supports heart health in many ways. It recommends:

• Lean meat, chicken and fish - Include fish two times per week. Lean meats have less saturated fat, while fish is high in omega 3 fat.
• Legumes and nuts - Legumes are high in fibre that lowers cholesterol, and nuts contain omega 3 fat.
• Low fat dairy products - These are low in saturated fat. As well, the calcium in milk products may help lower blood pressure.
• Vegetables and fruit - Include plenty in your diet. These foods have almost no sodium (salt), but are high in potassium. Less sodium but more potassium may help lower blood pressure.
• Whole grains like whole grain breads, brown rice, oatmeal and barley - Whole grains are high in fibre, which can help reduce cholesterol and blood glucose spikes.
• Two to three tablespoons of healthy fat every day - Healthy fats include vegetable oil like canola, olive and soybean, as well as soft, non-hydrogenated margarines. These may be used as spreads, for cooking, or for making salad dressings. Such oils and soft fats help lower ‘bad’ cholesterol when used instead of saturated fats like lard, shortening and butter.

Try it yourself

Try keeping a food diary for a few days to compare what you are eating with your needs. A tool from the Dietitians of Canada, eaTracker.ca, helps you do just that. The online Fast and Easy Meal Ideas can also help make Canada’s Food Guide work for you.

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