4 Kinds of Food That Diabetics Should Avoid

Diabetics have a hard time managing blood sugar because their pancreas produces little to no insulin. Having diabetes can also mean your body is incapable of processing the insulin.

A diabetic’s body is incapable of turning glucose consumed from certain foods into bodily energy thanks to their condition. This can lead to people suffering from many complications even with medicine for diabetes. For example, they can go blind, are more prone to certain diseases, etc.

Therefore, patients have to prioritize living a healthy lifestyle. This includes exercising and avoiding certain foods which can worsen their condition. So to live a healthy lifestyle, these are the foods they should avoid:

Dried Fruit

While fresh fruit is very healthy, once it becomes dry, it becomes the opposite.

The reason dried fruit can be harmful to diabetics is due to the fact that all of the minerals, vitamins, and carbohydrates become concentrated. So a fruit when it was fresh may have 27 grams of carbs, but once it became a dried fruit, it shoots up to 115 grams.

Additionally, fruit is dried with more sugar to preserve it. With the fruit’s sugar and normal sugar combined, this snack can become a nightmare for a diabetic’s blood sugar levels.

Processed Starches

These type of starches include white pasta, bread, and rice. These starches are nothing but simple sugars, with a lot of nutrients and fiber removed because the wheat was refined so much. Because they don’t have fiber, these sugars get digested so quickly.

When sugar is easily digested, it has a high glycemic index. Foods with a high glycemic index will cause your blood sugars and insulin levels rise.

Sodium rich processed food

Most people think carbohydrates are the only nutrients that can negatively affect a diabetic. They seem to forget about the negative effects of sodium. When you are diabetic, you have a higher risk for heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases compared to those who are do not have diabetes.

Too much sodium is a trigger of heart disease. Normal people are recommended to eat at most 2300 mg of salt. Diabetics should eat even a lower amount, which is only 1500 mg.

Canned and pickled food have a lot of sodium, because salt is naturally a preservative. Therefore, you should avoid canned or jarred meats, sauces vegetables, and seafood. Just stick with eating the fresh versions. Also, you can make your own sauce instead.

Whole Milk

Diabetic people do need the calcium and other nutrients that come from dairy. The only problem is the high fat content in whole milk. Just like sodium, a high fat diet can make one prone to heart diseases. Diabetics are already at risk for cardiovascular diseases, and therefore fatty drinks should be avoided. Instead, patients can stick to low fat and skimmed milk variations.

Key Takeaway:

Diabetics, even with medicine for diabetes, can be more prone to certain complications compared to people who don’t have the sickness. Thus, it is important for them to live a healthy lifestyle, which includes exercise and nutritional diet. Because of their need to eat healthy, it is important that they should avoid all of the foods stated on this list.