Best Treats for People with Diabetes

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Q. Glen, What can I eat as a TREAT this summer since I have Diabetes?

A.Diabetes is not caused by eating sugar, and if you have diabetes it doesn't mean that you can never eat sugar again. I'm always a bit saddened when I hear a person with diabetes say, "Oh, I can't eat that. I have diabetes," or "I can't eat that, it has sugar."

The American Diabetes Association's recommendation for sugar is short and sweet: People with diabetes can eat sugar as long as it's integrated into a healthy eating program.

Sugar is carbohydrate. And like all carbohydrate, sugar has four calories per gram. Added sugar in packaged foods comes in many different forms: white sugar (sucrose), brown sugar; fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar), dextrose, maltose, honey and even fruit-juice concentrate are all used to sweeten foods.
All forms of sugar are metabolized, or broken down, to their most essential component, glucose, and used for energy by the cells. If you eat too much sugar, or any form of carbohydrate for that matter, you'll store the excess calories as fat.

All people with diabetes need to watch their carbohydrate grams, especially when they need to take insulin to manage their blood sugars. People with diabetes can indulge in a sugary treat just like the rest of us -- not every day, but occasionally. Since artificially sweetened treats have fewer grams of carbohydrate, they can be enjoyed more frequently.

Fruit, the ultimate natural sweet treat, should be part of a healthy meal plan. If you have diabetes, review your meal plan with your diabetes educator, physician or registered dietitian and plan for a sweet snack. Combine snacking with good nutrition and exercise and stay healthy.

Here are 10 of some of the Best Treats for People with Diabetes.

1. Fruit: One of the best sweet treats invented! Fruit is fine for people with diabetes. In fact, the ADA recommends two to three servings daily, depending upon your calorie needs. Some "superfruit" (extra high in antioxidants and vitamins) include all berries (especially blueberries), cantaloupe, kiwi, mango and citrus. Whole fruit is a fine source of fiber, which is important to decrease risk for stroke and heart disease

2. Yogurt: Nonfat, sugar-free yogurt makes a tasty snack or dessert. Enjoy it right out of the container for a snack or as a dip with vegetables. For dessert, serve peach-flavored sugar-free yogurt drizzled on grapefruit and orange sections.

3. Frozen Fruit Slush: Try this recipe from the National Cancer Institute's Eat 5 to 9 a Day program. Makes four servings.

Using a blender, process the following:
3 cups frozen fruit (such as frozen strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or melon)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup fat-free milk or nonfat plain yogurt
Sweeten to taste. One packet of sweetener equals about 2 teaspoons of sugar.

4. Sugar-Free Hot Chocolate: Choose calcium-fortified, sugar-free hot chocolate and satisfy your sweet tooth with the added bonus of the bone-strengthening mineral. Read the label: calories range from 25 per serving to 60; some contain zero trans-fat and others contain one to two grams. Some hot-chocolate mixes are sweetened with NutraSweet and others with Splenda. As for carbs, some have three grams or less; others contain more.

5. Angel Food Cake: This fat-free cake is nutritious served topped with a one-half cup of sliced, fresh strawberries and a dollop of sugar-free nondairy topping. A small piece counts as one serving of bread plus a half serving of fruit.

6. Jell-O: Prepare sugar-free Jell-O in advance. Store covered in the refrigerator. Eat all you want without worry. Jell-O doesn't have calories or carbohydrates. Mix with fruit cocktail for a special treat. A half cup of fruit cocktail packed in water (not syrup) counts as one serving of fruit.
7. Hard Candies: Sugar-free hard candies are a personal favorite of mine. I often hanker for a sweet after meals, and sugar-free candies (usually sweetened with sorbital) have about 35 to 50 calories per three to four pieces.

8. Ice Cream: Your local grocery store stocks a wide variety of sugar-free, fat-free ice cream, ice milk and frozen yogurt. Read the labels and choose your favorite sugar-free and fat-free version for the fewest number of calories per serving. I usually opt for portion-controlled fudge pops or frozen fruit bars, also available in sugar-free and fat-free versions.

9. Frozen Fresh Fruit: Wrap small, ripe bananas in plastic. Freeze, then peel and eat like a frozen fruit bar (one per serving). Seedless grapes are wonderful frozen treats (12 to 15 grapes count as one serving of fruit).

10. Chocolate: Sometimes you just want a taste of the "real thing." Dark chocolate, with more antioxidants and less saturated fat, is the best. Hershey's, among other manufacturers, offers dark chocolate in both sugar-free and regular varieties with only a 40-calorie difference per serving. Both have the same amount of fat and cholesterol; sugar-free has 170 calories and zero grams of sugar per serving vs. 210 and 20 grams of sugar for the regular. The fine print on the label tells consumers that sugar-free chocolate is not calorie-free, and that the sweetener in sugar-free chocolate, lactitol, can have a laxative effect when eaten in excess.
Bottom Line. Watch your sugar intake and eat sensibly.


Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !


My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health

Any questions?
Ask Glen!

Obese and Healthy?

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Q. Glen, Can you be Fat and Fit?


A. Despite their weight, nearly a third of obese people are not at highrisk of diabetes or heart disease, but nearly a quarter of normal-weight people are.

The finding comes from a study of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease in 5,440 obese, overweight, and normal-weight U.S. adults by Albert Einstein College researchers Rachel P. Wildman, PhD, Judith Wylie-Rosett, EdD, and colleagues.

We used to think all fat did was store energy," Wylie-Rosett tells WebMD. "Now we know that fat tissue is hormone-producing tissue. It may act differently in different people."

Clues to what's going on come from a second study looking at 314 German adults with traditional risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease: a family history of type 2 diabetes, obesity, or a personal history of high blood sugar or gestational diabetes.

Close examination revealed a wide range of true diabetes/heart disease risk factors. For normal-weight and overweight people, risk was linked to belly fat. But for obese people, risk wasn't so much linked to belly fat as it was to having a fatty liver.

Belly fat signals fat accumulation around the organs of the body. Bodies that don't get much exercise tend to grow this kind of fat.

Similarly, obese people who get at least moderate physical exercise tend to have less fatty livers than those who don't exercise. Fortunately, there's a lot a person can do about this, says study researcher Norbert Stefan, MD, of the University of Tubingen, Germany.

"The higher an obese person's activity level, the larger the decrease in liver fat," Stefan tells WebMD.

"It may be the fat-and-fit phenomenon," Wylie-Rosett agrees. "In our study, the obese people with better risk profiles tended to have more physical activity. And the normal-weight people with worse risk factors tended to have characteristics associated with lower physical activity levels."

Warning: Whether or not you're obese, being fit doesn't mean being without risk. It's all a matter of probability, says Lewis Landsberg, MD, director of the Northwestern University obesity center.

"For any particular disease, there are many people with risk factors that do not get the disease, and many people without risk factors who do," Landsberg tells WebMD. "We've known for a long time that although obesity is a risk factor for heart disease, many obese people don't have that risk. But across the population, those with more body fat will have an increased incidence of heart disease. And those with the apple-shaped, upper-body obesity are at greater risk than those with the pear-shaped, lower-body obesity."

Exercise Cuts Risk Even Without Weight Loss

Landsberg notes that it is quite possible for obese people to be fit. That's because fitness is more than weight loss. It means losing the visceral fat around internal organs, improving insulin sensitivity, cutting blood pressure, and much more.

"Obesity is not fine," Landsberg warns. "In addition to cardiovascular risk and diabetes risk there is arthritis risk, cancer risk -- a whole series of unhealthy outcomes."

But Stefan says some obese people are in particular need of an intensive lifestyle-change program. His team is now exploring the effects of such a program.

"At the moment, we see that the lifestyle intervention in general has effects on reducing liver fat more than total body fat," he says. "Many people stop the program because they are not happy with a body-weight decrease of just a few kilograms. But the liver fat goes down very much, and their metabolism increases very much. They must realize this has benefits. So it is important to tell people to stick with it, even if they don't lose much weight."

Interestingly, not everyone gets the same benefit from the same amount of exercise.

"The most important factor is not how much you exercise, but what the effect your exercise has in increasing your fitness," Stefan says. "It looks like at the same level of exercise, some people increase their fitness and others don't. It looks like there are fitness non-responders. And those non-responders don't have that good an effect of exercise on liver fat."

These "exercise non-responders" may need more exercise. Or they may require diabetes drugs to get their risk factors under control. Stefan and colleagues are testing these interventions in ongoing studies.

"We are seeing fitness as the most important factor, and then on top of that reduction of intake of carbs has a strong effect," he says. "So far, our recommendations are increased physical activity, four hours per week of moderate activity, and reduced carbs. We also recommend a reduced intake of saturated fat."

Reports on the Stefan and Wildman/Wylie-Rosett studies -- as well as an editorial by Landsberg -- appear in the Aug. 11/25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine

Reference:

WebMD


Glen's Bottom Line! Eat Right! Exercise and Listen to Your Doctor!

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !



My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."


Yours in good health

Any questions?

Ask Glen!

Treats for People with Diabetes

Ask Glen!



Q. Glen, I am Diabetic! What can I have for a treat?



A. Here are the 10 Best Treats for People with Diabetes

Diabetes is not caused by eating sugar, and if you have diabetes it doesn't mean that you can never eat sugar again. I'm always a bit saddened when I hear a person with diabetes say, "Oh, I can't eat that. I have diabetes," or "I can't eat that, it has sugar."

The American Diabetes Association's recommendation for sugar is short and sweet: People with diabetes can eat sugar as long as it's integrated into a healthy eating program.

Sugar is carbohydrate. And like all carbohydrate, sugar has four calories per gram. Added sugar in packaged foods comes in many different forms: white sugar (sucrose), brown sugar; fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar), dextrose, maltose, honey and even fruit-juice concentrate are all used to sweeten foods.

All forms of sugar are metabolized, or broken down, to their most essential component, glucose, and used for energy by the cells. If you eat too much sugar, or any form of carbohydrate for that matter, you'll store the excess calories as fat.

All people with diabetes need to watch their carbohydrate grams, especially when they need to take insulin to manage their blood sugars. People with diabetes can indulge in a sugary treat just like the rest of us -- not every day, but occasionally. Since artificially sweetened treats have fewer grams of carbohydrate, they can be enjoyed more frequently.

Fruit, the ultimate natural sweet treat, should be part of a healthy meal plan. If you have diabetes, review your meal plan with your diabetes educator, physician or registered dietitian and plan for a sweet snack. Combine snacking with good nutrition and exercise and stay healthy.

1. Fruit: One of the best sweet treats invented! Fruit is fine for people with diabetes. In fact, the ADA recommends two to three servings daily, depending upon your calorie needs. Some "superfruit" (extra high in antioxidants and vitamins) include all berries (especially blueberries), cantaloupe, kiwi, mango and citrus. Whole fruit is a fine source of fiber, which is important to decrease risk for stroke and heart disease.

2. Yogurt: Nonfat, sugar-free yogurt makes a tasty snack or dessert. Enjoy it right out of the container for a snack or as a dip with vegetables. For dessert, serve peach-flavored sugar-free yogurt drizzled on grapefruit and orange sections.

3. Frozen Fruit Slush: Try this recipe from the National Cancer Institute's Eat 5 to 9 a Day program. Makes four servings.

Using a blender, process the following:
3 cups frozen fruit (such as frozen strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or melon)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup fat-free milk or nonfat plain yogurt

Sweeten to taste. One packet of sweetener equals about 2 teaspoons of sugar.

4. Sugar-Free Hot Chocolate: Choose calcium-fortified, sugar-free hot chocolate and satisfy your sweet tooth with the added bonus of the bone-strengthening mineral. Read the label: calories range from 25 per serving to 60; some contain zero trans-fat and others contain one to two grams. Some hot-chocolate mixes are sweetened with NutraSweet and others with Splenda. As for carbs, some have three grams or less; others contain more.

5. Angel Food Cake: This fat-free cake is nutritious served topped with a one-half cup of sliced, fresh strawberries and a dollop of sugar-free nondairy topping. A small piece counts as one serving of bread plus a half serving of fruit.

6. Jell-O: Prepare sugar-free Jell-O in advance. Store covered in the refrigerator. Eat all you want without worry. Jell-O doesn't have calories or carbohydrates. Mix with fruit cocktail for a special treat. A half cup of fruit cocktail packed in water (not syrup) counts as one serving of fruit.

7. Hard Candies: Sugar-free hard candies are a personal favorite of mine. I often hanker for a sweet after meals, and sugar-free candies (usually sweetened with sorbital) have about 35 to 50 calories per three to four pieces.

8. Ice Cream: Your local grocery store stocks a wide variety of sugar-free, fat-free ice cream, ice milk and frozen yogurt. Read the labels and choose your favorite sugar-free and fat-free version for the fewest number of calories per serving. I usually opt for portion-controlled fudge pops or frozen fruit bars, also available in sugar-free and fat-free versions.

9. Frozen Fresh Fruit: Wrap small, ripe bananas in plastic. Freeze, then peel and eat like a frozen fruit bar (one per serving). Seedless grapes are wonderful frozen treats (12 to 15 grapes count as one serving of fruit).

10. Chocolate: Sometimes you just want a taste of the "real thing." Dark chocolate, with more antioxidants and less saturated fat, is the best. Hershey's, among other manufacturers, offers dark chocolate in both sugar-free and regular varieties with only a 40-calorie difference per serving. Both have the same amount of fat and cholesterol; sugar-free has 170 calories and zero grams of sugar per serving vs. 210 and 20 grams of sugar for the regular. The fine print on the label tells consumers that sugar-free chocolate is not calorie-free, and that the sweetener in sugar-free chocolate, lactitol, can have a laxative effect when eaten in excess

Reference: Susan Burke March MS, RD, LD/N, CDE





Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !

My mission is to provide you with "Trusted Advice for a Healthier Life."

Yours in good health

Any questions?

Ask Glen!

Flax and Diabetes: Taking Health to the Next Level

Ask Glen!






Q. Glen, Is there anything I can add to my diet to help me with diabetes and any other related diseases?


A. Have you heard of flaxseeds? If not, you could be missing a wonderful food that provides protection from two conditions that are more common in people with diabetes: heart disease and cancer.

Over 25 studies have shown that flaxseeds can reduce the risk for heart disease. Specifically, flax lowers total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Additionally, natural compounds within flax make arteries more elastic and can have stabilizing effects on heart rhythm. Collectively, these benefits reduce the risk for heart attacks and strokes, both common complications of diabetes.

As for cancer, flaxseed appears to reduce tumor size and number in breast, prostate, and colon cancer. Flaxseeds increase the amount of healthy estrogens while reducing levels of harmful estrogens. This may be one reason why hormone related cancers seem to respond particularly well to flax.

The main compounds which are though to account for much of the impressive health benefits of flax are ALA (alpha linoleic acid) and lignans. It is remarkable that there are no other plant foods known which contain such high levels of either of these powerful agents.

ALA is a well-known plant precursor to EPA and DHA, the valuable types of fats known as omega-3s which are normally found pre-formed in fish or fish oil. ALA can convert in small amounts to EPA and DHA.

The lignans found in flaxseeds contain a powerful antioxidant called SDG. SDG has been shown to slow down and reduce the development of diabetes in genetically predisposed rats. SDG from flaxseeds has also been shown to have protective effects on the kidney and prevent fat deposits in the liver of rats as well, two common problems that can occur in individuals with diabetes.

Flaxseeds are also an excellent remedy for constipation. With the American diet already being woefully low in fiber, flaxseeds can add more of this important element into the diet.

Flaxseeds can be found whole, ground, or pressed into flaxseed oil. The most beneficial way to consume flaxseed is ground. Whole flaxseeds are not able to be broken down by the digestive system. Grinding or crushing is needed to break open the seed so that the valuable nutrients and protective plant compounds can be liberated and used by the body.

Flaxseed oil lacks the beneficial fibers, nutrients, and lignans normally found in whole ground flax. Not only that, but according to flax expert, Jane Reinhardt-Martin, RD, a person would need to take eight pills to get the equivalent of only a ½ teaspoon of ground flaxseeds. Those using flaxseed oil capsules would need to ingest 10-14 pills just to get the equivalent of one tablespoon of flaxseed oil! Clearly, ground flaxseeds are the least expensive and most beneficial way to add flax into your diet.

One tablespoon (8 grams) of ground flaxseed contains 36 calories, 1.6 grams of protein, 3.3 grams of heart healthy fat, 2 grams of total carbohydrate and 2 grams of dietary fiber. Due to its negligible carbohydrate content and high fiber content, flaxseeds do not raise blood glucose levels when added to the diet.

Most experts recommend adding at least 1-2 rounded tablespoons of ground flax to your daily diet for optimal health. Flax has a pleasant, nutty flavor making it versatile for adding it to a variety of foods. Here are some simple ideas for integrating flax into your lifestyle:

Sprinkle into yogurt, natural applesauce, green salad, or fruit salad.

Add into cereal, soups and casseroles

Add into recipes for whole-grain breads, muffins or pancakes

Blend into smoothies or protein shakes

Add to fiber supplement powders (Metamucil® or psyllium, for example)

Because flaxseeds contain oil and are susceptible to rancidity, they should be stored in airtight containers and keep refrigerated for up to four months after grinding or after opening pre-ground, sealed packages.

Any personal health questions or problems mental or physical or before starting any diet or exercise program. Please consult your physician !

Wishing You Great Health!

Any questions? Ask Glen!