The Best Diabetes Diet - Low-Carb, Low Glycemic Index, Or Something in Between?

Is the best diabetic diet low-carb, high-carb, or something in between?

There are two diabetes diet that can help diabetics control their blood sugars, although no useful diet is recommended by the American Diabetes Association. The first approach, promoted by well-known diabetes experts like Dr. Robert Bernstein and Janet Ruhl, is to drastically reduce or essentially eliminate all carbs from all sources. Their approach is an an eating plan similar to the Atkins diet, although even more restricted.

In the really low-carb approach, there are no sweets at all, ever. There are no juices, no desserts, no crackers, no beets, carrots, corn, or potatoes, and only limited amounts of dairy. (Janet Ruhl's approach is a little more liberal than Dr. Bernstein's.) Just about the only safe carbohydrates in a truly low-carb diabetic diet are those from high-fiber crackers that you may have trouble finding in your supermarket, Scandinavian crisp breads and bran crisps. There are never, ever any occasions when bread, sugar-sweetened ice cream, or candies are permitted.

Diabetics who go on this diet find it really does help lower blood sugars, the drawback being that the human body can convert protein into sugar, too, so too much protein on a low-carb diet also raises blood sugars. But this approach really is easiest for diabetics who do not want to start medication or insulin, and for diabetics who cannot or choose not to exercise.

Moreover, the ultra-low-carb diabetic diet prevents diabetic complications. Almost all diabetics, even those who take diabetics, will have high blood sugars (over 200 mg/dl, or, in the European system, over 11 mM) a couple hours to five hours after eating. It is these post-prandial, or after-eating, blood sugars that cause nerve damage in the feet, hands, heart, and digestive tract. Even if you eat too much protein, your liver does not convert the unneeded amino acids into glucose right away. Avoiding carbohydrate almost altogether is an almost sure-fire way to minimize complications and minimize your dependence on diabetes drugs.

A low-carb diet won't damage the kidneys or raise your cholesterol unless factors other than diabetes are at work. When cholesterol receptors in the liver are not clogged by glucose, the organ can clear cholesterol out of the bloodstream. When the kidneys are not stressed by having to remove glucose, they are generally not damaged by protein.

There is another approach that works, but it works for diabetics who exercise. Not for diabetics who would exercise, or for diabetics who think about exercise, but for diabetics who actually exercise. All carbs, at least all carbs that actually get digested (some pass through to the stool), turn into glucose. Even lettuce and carrot sticks in sufficient amount can raise blood sugar. High-glycemic index carbohydrates, however, are turned into sugar slowly.

This gives pancreas, if you are an early-stage type 2 diabetic, or your insulin injection, a chance to work. The catch is, you have to be active enough to burn the sugars as they are released. And sugar will not build up in your bloodstream if fatty acids do not compete for hepatic "processing." Active diabetics sometimes (but not always) can make a high-healthy-carb diet work.

So when do you get your cookie?

Once in a while, of course, your body needs extra glucose. When you lift weights, when you do aerobic exercise to the point of huffing and puffing, and even when do some kind of physical activity your body is not used to, like moving the couch, you burn more sugar. Eating a cookie or another sweet about 20 minutes before you exercise will provide you the energy you need. But eating two can be too much.

Read Diabetics Beware: The Secret Source of savvynaturalhealer.com/2008/12/diabetics-beware-secret-source-of-blood.html Blood Sugar and savvynaturalhealer.com/2008/02/vitamin-d-for-diabetes.html Vitamin D & Diabetes Robert Rister is the author or co-author of nine books on natural health.