How to Cook Diabetic Food

Cooking for a diabetic just involves serving a lot of nutritious foods and it need not be very complicated. You do need to take care of the nutrition requirements of the patient in particular which is mainly dependent on the height, weight and gender, apart from the severity of the condition. One needs to include foods from different categories in the diabetic diet. The person in charge of the diabetic would do well to learn how to cook diabetic food.

Some simple instructions given below should be followed in order to ensure that the food is prepared just right for the diabetics:

• Discuss the food preferences with the patient for whom you are preparing the dish.
• Now, you need to remove excess fats. Increase the protein foods and reduce fat intake as diabetes increases the risk for heart disease. Tofu and legumes are the healthiest choices of proteins. Choose healthy options of cooking such as grilling, roasting and broiling. Choose healthy oils for the purpose of cooking.
• The fibre in the vegetables reduces the risk of heart diseases, but it is also useful for diabetics to help maintain blood sugar levels. You do need to guard against starchy vegetables such as potatoes and yams as it increases blood sugar readings. But you do not need to avoid these altogether as if consumed in moderation, these foods vegetables have a lot of health benefits to offer.
• The fat content of the meal should be kept below 30 percent. For this you will need to keep saturated fats to, at or below 10 percent of total fat intake. Excess fat is not a healthy option in any case, but for diabetics the risk of a heart disease is twice as much.
• You do not need to shun sugar completely but use it sparingly. As complex carbohydrates affect glucose levels around the same, it is no longer forbidden. But as sugar is the ultimate source of empty calories, having it too much can send the blood sugar sky high and lead to weight gain at the same time. You would do well to save sugar treats for special circumstances.
• If you choose a wide variety of foods, it would ensure that the meal is interesting as well as nutritious. As new foods are being tried, its effect on the patient should be monitored, as to how it is affecting the glucose levels.