Starting your diabetes diet - The rules

If you are to live this way for the rest of your life, then you must enjoy what you eat. For this reason, I want to let you choose the foods that you like rather than preach to you and tell you what you must and mustn't have. Nothing is forbidden, but there are a few rules that it is wise to follow.

The Diabetes Diet is very simple in concept. Just follow these few rules:

• Reduce your intake of refined carbohydrates . . . Cut the starchiest foods first. These are breakfast cereals, bread, pasta, rice, etc
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• . . . but don't reduce them too much Take it easy at the start so that your body has time to get used to the change. This is especially important if tyou are taking drugs (see Warning )
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• Eat a high-protein breakfast. It is essential that you start the day with an energy-rich, but not carbohydrate-rich meal. (See Breakfast )
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• Eat real food Many prepackaged ready meals are unsuitable, not just for diabetics but for humans in general. And you don't need to eat special 'diabetic' products. See Eat real food
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• Replace the loss of calories from carbs mainly with calories from fat, not protein . See Protein
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• Leave the fat on meat.
• See Healthy fats
  
  
• If you are overweight, don't try to lose more than 1 kilo (2 lb) a week. If you are overweight, it is tempting to try to lose weight quickly, This is counter productive. It is much healthier as well as more successful if you lose weight slowly.
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• If you are not overweight, don't try to slim.
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• Exercise only if you want to. Exercise has a place in a healthy lifestyle, but it is unnecessary for either losing weight or controlling blood glucose if you eat the correct diabetes diet.