IMPORTANT THINGS FOR YOUR DIET:
1. Your diet should be balanced, with several different foods.
2. You should eat a variety of foods and do not just take one single food, continuously
3. It should be the same amount of food every day.
4. Use natural foods and avoid artificial foods.
5. Try to eat three meals a day, except when deliberately fasting.
6. Try to eat as much fibre as you can including bran.
7. Do not eat a large amount of food.
8. Have smaller snacks at 10.00, mid morning and 3.00 mid afternoon, if necessary.
9. Try to eat your food as a definite meal, not in dribs and drabs.
10. Do not add excessive salt.
FOOD DIABETICS MUST AVOID:
1. Sugar, honey, Jaggery, Candy, sweets, toffees, chocolate, cakes, sweet biscuits must be avoided.
2. All puddings, watalappan, caramel and sweet desserts.
3. All icecream, ice- lollipops, drinks on sticks.
4. All jams, jellies, and other sugared food,
5. Over ripe fruits like soft bananas, dates, raisins.
6. Egg yolk and food made from egg yolks.
7. Bacon or sausages. Eating liver and beef cause uric acid which needs to be neutralized.
8. Refined white rice, bread and buns made from wheat flour.
9. Malted milk,
10. Food with high content of salt.
11. Full cream milk, cheese, butter, ghee.
12. Fried and tempered food.
FOOD TO BE EATEN IN LIMITED AMOUNTS ONLY
1. Foods containing starch, such as ash plantains, carrots, beetroot, jack fruit, breadfruit, , potato, sweet potato, manioc.
2. Soya oil, sunflower oil, corn oil.
3. Maximum two eggs a week.
4. Chicken without skin.
FOOD THAT CAN BE TAKEN FREQUENTLY
1. Leeks, cabbage, broccoli and other leafy vegetables.
2. Spinach, Gotucola, Mukunuwenna and Kankung.
3. Kohila, Keselmuwa, and similar foods with fibre.
4. Pathola, Murunga, Brinjol, Ladiefinger (Bandakka), Cucumber (Pipinja), Bittergourd, and beans.
5. Cowpea, chickpea, Green Gram, (Mung beans)
6. Raw or half ripe fruits,
7. Skim milk or foods made from skim milk,
8. Egg white.
ALCHOHOL
1. There is no food value in arrack and little in beer.
2. But due to the high calories, these quickly add to bodyweight.
3. Due to alcohol, body fat may increase.
4. Because of the above reasons, diabetic patients should avoid alcohol.
CONSUMPTION OF FISH
1. Fish can be eaten freely.
2. Small fish contain more nutrition
CONSUMPTION OF OILS AND FATS
1. Care should be taken to consume cholesterol free- oils.
2. Avoid eating coconut oil or oils used many times in cooking.
3. Olive oil is good to use. Avoid oils with saturated fats.
4. Avoid fried foods as much as possible.
EATING FRUIT
1. It is best to eat fruit when raw, or just turning to half ripe
2. It is better to chop up fruit first.
3. Avoid drinking fruit juice, especially when sweetened.
4. Do not add sugar to your fruit juice.
5. Avoid fruit containing high amounts of sweetness, e.g., pineapple.
EATING UNPOLISHED RICE
1. All fiber and amino acids are removed when rice is polished.
2. This action also removes the vitamins,
3. When you eat polished rice, your blood pressure rises rapidly.
4. In addition, blood sugar level rises.
5. Due to these reasons try to use unpolished rice.
6. Recent discoveries find Basmathi Red rice does not increase blood sugar levels.
USE OF KURRAKAN
1. There is no difference between Kurakkan and Red Rice.
2. But Kurakkan contains more vitamins,
3. More usage of Kurrakan does not lead to better sugar control.
GENERAL
For food control become habitual in choosing sugarless food, and eat more foods with fibre. Have a balanced diet and live a happy life
Original document prepared by: Dr. Tilak Jayalath,
MBBS(SL), MD(COL), MRCP(UK), FRCP(Lond), FRCP(EDIN), FRCP(GLASGOW), FCCP, FISN
Senior Lecturer in Medicine,
General Physician, Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya. ROS/ 23/11/2022