Health
Diet to last a lifetime Print E-mail
Written by Margaret Foss, 2008   
If you or a member of your family has been diagnosed with diabetes, changes will have to be made to the way you cook. Denman College tutor Margaret Foss provides some basic guidelines.

Cooking for people with diabetes should not cause any major problems for anyone who follows a healthy diet, probably just a tweak here and there.

For people who eat a less than healthy diet, however, it is important to make changes. These should be made gradually so that they are absorbed into the normal pattern of eating - a pattern that will last a lifetime.

The golden rules for healthy eating are:

  • Eat meals at regular intervals each day.
  • Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day.
  • Limit foods containing sugar.
  • Eat a diet low in saturated fat.
  • Fats included should be unsaturated.
  • Eat two portions of oily fish each week.
  • Include plenty of starchy carbohydrate food in each meal.
  • Reduce salt intake to 6g a day or less.
  • Drink alcohol in moderation.

Reducing weight

For diabetics who are told to lose weight, the easiest way is to cut down on fat as this contains twice as many calories per gram as protein and carbohydrate.

Carbohydrates with a low glycaemic index (GI) such as granary bread, wholegrain pasta, basmati rice, porridge oats, new and sweet potatoes help people feel full for longer and do not affect sugar levels as much as other carbohydrates.

Food tips

  • Sweeten cereals with fruit rather than sugar - bananas, pears or sweet eating apples are good.
  • Eat a small salad alongside a sandwich.
  • Cut the sugar in cake recipes (but not sponges) by at least a half; they will be lighter in colour but taste as good.
  • Use skimmed or semi-skimmed milk and low-fat yogurts; choose lean cuts of meat; take the skin off poultry; choose a strongly flavoured cheese and use less of it to cut down on saturated fat.
  • Use olive and rapeseed oil and spreads based on olive oil instead of butter, margarine, lard and suet (even vegetarian) to increase the amount of unsaturated fat and lessen the saturated.
  • Include more pulses  (red kidney beans, chickpeas etc.) and lentils in salads, soups and casseroles. These help to control blood glucose levels and blood fats. Canned ones are easy to use - but make sure you buy them canned in water and not with added salt and sugar.
  • Use flavourings such as lemon juice, herbs and spices to replace salt in recipes.
  • Most important is to eat a well-balanced diet - and enjoy it!
Margaret Foss is a Member of East Bridgford WI, Nottinghamshire Federation and serves on the Nottinghamshire Home Economics committee. She teaches NFWI Food Skills Diploma and OCN cookery courses in Nottinghamshire and is a Denman tutor.  She wrote the WI book of Cooking for One and WI Low Fat Family Cooking.

Recipes for weight management

We are all being urged to watch our weight and this certainly applies to people with diabetes too. The following recipes are taken from The Diabetes Weight Loss Diet by Antony Worral Thompson, Azmina Govindji and Jane Suthering. The book is published by Kyle Cathie Ltd in association with Diabetes UK and can be ordered from the Diabetes UK website www.diabetes.org.uk

Spiced Cod on a Bed of Chorizo-Infused Beans

White Bean and Lamb Stew

Papaya and Lime Sorbet
 
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