Your Diet for Type 2 Diabetes
People with type 2 diabetes are frequently overweight, so advice
about nutrition is directed not only at controlling carbohydrate intake, but also at limiting calories. If
you have type 2 diabetes, there are several reasons why you still need to estimate the carbohydrate content
of your food:
• Limiting the carbohydrate intake and substituting some of the
calories with monounsaturated fats can help reduce your triglyceride levels and increase HDL cholesterol
levels.
• Abnormalities in insulin secretion mean that eating a
high-carbohydrate meal results in high glucose levels immediately after the meal. You want to avoid these
high postmeal glucose levels because they can contribute to increases in HbA1c
levels
• If you are using insulin injections, you need to count
carbohydrates in order to adjust your insulin doses (just like people with type 1
diabetes).
• Estimating carbohydrate content is also important if you are
taking sulfonylureas, nateglinide, or repaglinide. This is because with these medicines, too few
carbohydrates can cause low glucose levels.
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