Foods diabetics should avoid are generally high in calories, sugar, salt or fat. This is because any food that is high in calories, sugar, salt or fat is harmful for diabetics.
So, if a diabetic eats foods high in calories, salt, sugar or fat in large quantities, it may be extremely dangerous.
The foods diabetics should avoid are generally not good for non-diabetics too. If you want an exhaustive list of foods diabetics should avoid you may contact your doctor or dietician.
Even though you cannot eat ‘foods diabetics should avoid’, you must still eat balanced meals made from good food so that you get all the nutrition you need. If however, you do crave for a cake, you can try diabetic cake mix.
What are the Foods Diabetics should avoid?
Foods Diabetics should avoid are foods that generally contain high amounts of sugar, fat, sodium, carbs or calories. Such foods pose the risk of increasing levels of blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure etc. They also have adverse impact on body weight and heart health. Hence, these foods are harmful for diabetics as they
Let us now, have a closer look at some common foods diabetics should avoid and their alternatives.
Generally, if you see something that you really love to eat, you will want to eat it. You do not have to keep your hands off it just because you are diabetic. You can always eat your favourite foods but in limited quantity only.
But there are some foods which are not good for anyone whether a diabetic or not. These are foods that are high in salt, sugar and fat or calories.
Sugar
If a diabetic eats a food high in sugar such as a cake or chocolate, it results in sudden spike in blood sugar levels.
High blood sugar in general is not good for diabetics. Hence, foods high in sugar are bad for diabetics. In particular, Foods low in sugar are good for diabetics. Moreover, Foods with no added sugar are very good for diabetics.
Some wonder can diabetics eat fruit as fruits are high in sugar.
If you ask a doctor can diabetics eat fruit, doctors say yes. Doctors encourage diabetics to eat good fruits in moderate quantity as fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals.
Salt
If a diabetic eats a food that is high in salt or sodium, it results in high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is dangerous for anyone. High blood pressure can cause other health issues like heart, brain problems or stroke.
For this reason, good snacks for diabetics are low in salt.
If you think snacks with low salt have no taste, you may use spices instead of salt. This will make low salt good snacks for diabetics tastier. Low salt is one of the most important aspect in diabetic menu plan.
Fat
If a diabetic eats a food high in fat, it will lead to weight gain.
For these reasons foods diabetics should avoid are foods high in sugar, salt or fat.
A good diabetic menu plan contains food either in raw form or cooked without oil. Diabetics may oven bake, steam, boil food.
Food Cravings | Foods diabetics should avoid
Having said that, some modern doctors do say that if you have cravings for any of the foods bad for diabetics, you can eat them in a very limited quantity.
This will keep your cravings in control and will not cause as much damage as it would if you eat full portions.
So the objective of a diabetic should be to eat a balanced meal. A diabetic must make sure his meal is made up of required levels of fibre, carbs, protein, minerals and vitamins. At the same time a diabetic meal must be low in calories, carbs and fat.
Examples of Foods Diabetics should avoid
Biscuits
Biscuits are bad for diabetics as they are high in starch, saturated fat, salt and calories. As biscuits raise blood sugar levels and make you gain weight, they are one of the foods diabetics should avoid. As an alternative diabetics can eat light and thin crackers. Digestives are a common snack for diabetics. It is important to eat only moderate portions of digestives.
Fried battered fish
Fried Battered Fish is also bad for diabetics.
Fish is generally a good food for many people. But fish that is coated in batter and fried is not ideal for diabetics.
This is because of the high levels of fat and calories in fried battered fish.
So instead of fried battered fish, diabetics can go for steamed, smoked or grilled fish.
Fruit Juices
Fruit Juices are generally harmful for diabetics due to the high levels of sugar and calories.
When we get juice out of the fruits, we lose most of the fibre in the process. What remains in the fruit juice are just sugars and very little fibre.
So, fruit juice is one of the foods diabetics should avoid.
An alternative to this is to eat fresh organic whole fruit.
Cinnamon rolls
Cinnamon Rolls are a very tempting food for both children and adults equally. It is all in the aroma and taste.
But cinnamon rolls are harmful for diabetics due to the high calorie content.
However, as an alternative you can go for baked foods with no added salt or sugar.
More examples of foods diabetics should avoid
Examples of food diabetics should avoid generally include foods like pizza, burger, French fires, sweets etc.
As we all know pizza has a high cheese content which means it is full of fat. Hence, pizza is one of the foods diabetics should avoid.
Burgers are deep fried so they have oil and are bad for diabetics.
Also these foods contain high amounts of sodium too, that can lead to increased blood pressure.
Similarly French fires are bad for diabetics. They are made of potatoes which is full of carbs. Your body converts Carbs into sugar when you eat them.
As French fries are deep fried in fat, they lead to weight gain. They are worse when they are generously salted. So they belong to foods diabetics should avoid.
There are also certain foods that is not so good for diabetics. And, these are foods diabetics should not eat. Examples of such foods include in particular, white rice, white bread, soft drinks etc. They all cause high blood sugar levels and so are not good for diabetics.
On the other hand, Whole food substitutes make the diabetic blood sugar levels more manageable. So, Brown rice, brown bread and water are suitable replacements for these foods respectively.
Summary | Foods diabetics should avoid | What can a diabetic eat?
In summary, What a diabetic can eat is food in its whole and natural form with all good stuff well protected in it. Whole fruits and nuts are great Breakfast for Diabetics. Moreover, Diabetics can eat balanced meals made of fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and high protein. In addition, You may read our post on what a diabetic can eat here.
As long as you eat these and stay away from foods diabetics should avoid, your blood sugar should be easy to manage.
Diabetics must still monitor blood sugar levels. A blood sugar monitor like this comes in handy in monitoring blood sugar levels at home.
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