Foods for diabetics: do they really exist?

What is a diabetic food anyway?

• Anything to control blood sugar?
• A product that can actually improve your diabetes?
• A food to prevent your glucose levels from getting worse?
• Or something to cure diabetes?
• Or a food that helps you lose weight?

Or could the term “diabetic food” be interpreted in the opposite way: foods that cause diabetes?

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a “diabetic food.” Food is just food.

But there are foods that raise blood sugar faster than others, those with a high glycemic index. When these foods are eaten, the normal the pancreas would respond with a surge of insulin, keeping blood sugar levels below 160 mg/dL. In the diabetic, the pancreas cannot or does not produce enough insulin fast enough to adequately control glucose levels. Also, in type II diabetics, the cells in the body that use glucose for metabolic energy cannot absorb the extra glucose as quickly as it is produced.

Foods that often raise blood sugar faster than diabetics can metabolize include: sugar, alcohol, high fructose corn syrup, fructose (fruit sugar) (in some people), white bread, white rice, white potatoes, pasta, and other simple carbohydrates and starches.

Foods that raise blood sugar less quickly include whole grains, sweet potatoes (yes!), brown rice, vegetables, dairy, and protein.

Because everyone likes to eat, including diabetics, the food industry has created a whole line of products sweetened with artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols. Artificial sweeteners (Nutrasweet, Splenda, Truvia) are very low in calories and therefore do not raise blood glucose like natural sugars. They are commonly found in diet drinks and sometimes in frozen treats and ice cream. However, these sweeteners do not bake or cook like sugar and will not produce the same results as sucrose if substituted for sugar in a recipe. For baked goods, Splenda Sugar Blend comes closest to producing the same texture and flavor as regular sugar, because it contains half sugar, half Splenda.

Because artificial sweeteners don’t work well in all situations, foods sweetened with sugar alcohols have appeared on the market. Sugar alcohols have almost as many calories as regular sugar, but they don’t raise blood sugar levels as quickly. Sugar alcohols are used to sweeten “no sugar added” products such as chocolates, other candies, ice cream, frozen treats, not to mention no sugar added cakes. Cracker Barrel and Marie Callender, for example, offer no-sugar-added cakes. However, a single slice has almost 500 calories, which is still too many for most diabetics to enjoy as a dessert. The total number of calories in the daily diet is often more important than the source of the calories. If you eat more calories than your body uses each day, they will be stored as fat, which will only make your diabetes worse.

Ideally, a diabetic should eat the same foods that everyone else should eat: plants, mainly leaves.

If we all ate only what we could grow, we would all lose weight. I have never known anyone to gain weight eating only lettuce, tomatoes, celery, carrots, apples, cucumbers, onions, peas, green beans, squash, bananas, melons, peaches, grapes, and plums. But adding salad dressing, sugar, butter, or deep frying these foods doubles or triples the calories and gets us into trouble.

For type II diabetics, the general answer is, number one, eat less overall. Reduce your daily calories, lose weight, and your blood glucose will surely be in better control. Beyond that, limit simple sugars and carbohydrates (the “white” foods: sugar, flour, bread, pasta, rice, cereal, potatoes), especially processed foods. And if possible, find some kind of enjoyable exercise to replace the pleasure you get from eating.

Copyright 2010 Cynthia J. Koelker, MD