Sweets and Diabetes
"Tell it to me straight, Doc: I have diabetes--can I eat sweets?"
I wish I had a nickel for every time I'm asked that question. And I wish I could give a simple answer, one that applies to everyone.
One of the main goals in taking care of your diabetes is to keep your blood sugar level from going too high. So let's ignore the fact that sweets are "empty" calories, not providing much nutrition, significantly adding to the waistline, and causing dental cavities to boot. Let's just consider whether sugary treats can also raise the blood sugar too high.
Some research evidence suggests that, gram-for-gram, sweets do not increase sugar levels any more than do complex carbohydrates (such as starches). So if, for instance, you consume 30 grams of sugar as non-diet cola (about 3/4 of a can), your blood sugar won't go up much more than if you have 30 grams of potato (about 1 medium-sized baked potato). (We're not talking glycemic index here, for you aficionados).
Usually not realistic to substitute sweets for other foods
The "official" recommendations about sweets say, very carefully, that people with diabetes can, very carefully, substitute sweets for other carbohydrates in their diet. But who stops after they've drunk 3/4 of a can of cola? And how many people actually, and accurately, are first able to keep in mind that earlier in the day they drank that 3/4 of a can of cola, and then faithfully choose to skip a baked potato at the next meal? What's next? Are you going to start trying to calculate how much sugar is in a slice of pie, or a particular desert you're craving?
You see where I'm going with this. In my experience, people who have diabetes and don't cut back on the sweets tend to be the ones in poor control of their blood sugar. Those who learn to like fruits in moderation and diet drinks or water, avoiding the sweets, tend to do better.
How to safely include a few sweets into your diet
Does this mean that a cookie is going to kill you? Of course not. And besides, you can easily tell if that cookie raised your sugar too high by checking your own blood sugar about 60 to 90 minutes later. Here are some ways to successfully build some sweets into your diet without blowing your nutrition plan:
I wish I had a nickel for every time I'm asked that question. And I wish I could give a simple answer, one that applies to everyone.
One of the main goals in taking care of your diabetes is to keep your blood sugar level from going too high. So let's ignore the fact that sweets are "empty" calories, not providing much nutrition, significantly adding to the waistline, and causing dental cavities to boot. Let's just consider whether sugary treats can also raise the blood sugar too high.
Some research evidence suggests that, gram-for-gram, sweets do not increase sugar levels any more than do complex carbohydrates (such as starches). So if, for instance, you consume 30 grams of sugar as non-diet cola (about 3/4 of a can), your blood sugar won't go up much more than if you have 30 grams of potato (about 1 medium-sized baked potato). (We're not talking glycemic index here, for you aficionados).
Usually not realistic to substitute sweets for other foods
The "official" recommendations about sweets say, very carefully, that people with diabetes can, very carefully, substitute sweets for other carbohydrates in their diet. But who stops after they've drunk 3/4 of a can of cola? And how many people actually, and accurately, are first able to keep in mind that earlier in the day they drank that 3/4 of a can of cola, and then faithfully choose to skip a baked potato at the next meal? What's next? Are you going to start trying to calculate how much sugar is in a slice of pie, or a particular desert you're craving?
You see where I'm going with this. In my experience, people who have diabetes and don't cut back on the sweets tend to be the ones in poor control of their blood sugar. Those who learn to like fruits in moderation and diet drinks or water, avoiding the sweets, tend to do better.
How to safely include a few sweets into your diet
Does this mean that a cookie is going to kill you? Of course not. And besides, you can easily tell if that cookie raised your sugar too high by checking your own blood sugar about 60 to 90 minutes later. Here are some ways to successfully build some sweets into your diet without blowing your nutrition plan:
- Eat the same fixed amount of sweet and then adjust the fast-acting insulin according to what this does to your post-meal sugar.
- Do everything in moderation: a cookie, a scoop of ice cream--not 5 cookies, etc.
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