Steroids Done Right

Healthy eating habits and attention to nutrition is important for everyone, however it is even more important for the elderly that have diabetes. Millcreek Home Health and Hospice understands that you or a loved one might not know what the ADA diet is about, so here is more information on what food groups a diabetic can choose from for a healthy diet. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends an ADA diet that is suitable for diabetics. The ADA diet provides a nutrition guideline to help a diabetic person eat vitamin and mineral rich foods that a healthy body needs.

The ADA recommends the following diet guidelines for a diabetic person:

Food Group One: Proteins, which include meats, eggs, fish, poultry, nuts and dried beans

Food Group Two: Dairy products like skim milk, cottage cheese, yogurt and low fat milk

Food Group Three: Cereals, whole grains and breads

Food Group Four: Vegetables and fruits

The ADA diet recommends foods that fall into the following healthy nutrition groups: proteins, carbohydrates, healthy fats, minerals and vitamins. If you were to follow the ADA diet guidelines, your body should receive all of the nutrients it needs function well and be healthy.

Carbohydrates are a necessary part of a healthy diet. “Carbs” are the building blocks that create energy for your body. But keep in mind that not all carbohydrates are good for the diabetic diet. Focus on including the following good carbohydrates into your diet: beans, lentils, cereals and whole grains. Whether you eat “good carbs” or “bad carbs” any type of carbohydrate, when broken down by the body, will produce sugar. Diabetics are used to calculating and managing their carb intake. Make sure you calculate correctly no matter what types of carbohydrates you add to your diet.

Proteins are another essential food group of a healthy diet. Proteins help maintain level blood glucose levels, are a source of energy for the body, and are a critical building block for the body’s growth. Proteins can help maintain steady blood glucose levels. The ADA recommends that when diabetics have a low blood glucose reading that they eat a good carb and protein to help raise the blood sugar levels. The good carb provides the sugar to give the quick blood sugar boost whereas the protein will slowly release and support the blood glucose in the body. As you can see, carbohydrates and proteins work together for diabetics.

The ADA diet also encourages a diet that has high fiber, low glycemic index foods. High fiber foods includes: beans, whole grains, etc. High fiber foods can help reduce high blood glucose as well as high blood-fat.

While the ADA diet does allow fat in a person’s diet, that amount of daily fat intake should be in the right proportion. A person can do this by choosing foods that are low in fat, choosing lean cuts of meat and using flax seed oil or olive oil when cooking.

The ADA diet guidelines include these additional tips as well:

- Remove the chicken skin when preparing chicken.

- Use low-fat milk or skim milk

- Choose low sodium content foods

- Check food nutrition labels for fat, sodium and carbohydrate amounts

- Eliminate refined sugars from your diet such as table sugar, sugar coated cereals, canned soda

If you have questions about the ADA diet for senior citizen diabetics, please feel free to contact a Millcreek Home Health and Hospice staff member. Diabetics can eat right and be healthy by following the ADA diet.

Want to find out more about caring for the elderly, home health or hospice care by visiting Millcreek Home Health and Hospice.