Diabetic Diet Information - The Basics

Diabetes is a chronic disease affecting one's ability to manage their blood sugar internally. As a result, sufferers of Diabetes are required to manage their blood sugar levels through diet, exercise, and injection of insulin. With 1.6 million new cases per year, there is a growing need for accurate diabetic diet information.
The most effective diets that diabetics can use to manage their blood sugar effectively are diets where total calories and carbohydrates are controlled. Because carbohydrates are broken down to create blood sugars, controlling the intake through specialized diets are the best way to keep blood sugar levels under control. There are several types of popular diets that can be adapted to suit the dietary requirements of a diabetic. Low-carb, high fiber, high protein diets are the most common. There are also diets that set a level of calories not to be exceeded as the more calories ingested, the more insulin that will be needed to properly metabolize the resulting sugars. Current accepted diabetic diet information dictates that any diet where carbohydrates and resulting blood sugars are controlled would be considered a viable meal plan for the management of Diabetes.
In recent years, artificial sweeteners have been developed that do not impact blood sugar levels and are thus acceptable for ingestion by diabetics. Artificial sweeteners allow diabetics to eat almost anything that a non-diabetic can consume, the only caveat being that any sugar ingredients must be replaced with an acceptable artificial sweetener such as Aspartame, Sucra, or Splenda.
Some well-known Diabetes-friendly diets include:

• The Pritikin Diet - focuses almost entirely on naturally grown and processed foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, lean meats, and seafood
• Low Glycemic Index Diet - focuses on foods that are high in fiber and protein. Low glycemic index foods convert to glucose more slowly in the blood than high glycemic index foods
• Low-Carb Diet - made famous by the Atkins Diet, low-carb diets control carbohydrate and processed sugar intake to an extreme minimum
• High Fiber Diet - focuses only on foods high in fiber which has been shown to control blood sugar levels with the same efficacy as oral diabetes drugs
• Vegan Diet - vegetables, fruits, and other grown foods only

The commonality amongst all of these diets is one simple fact. Processed sugars and high-carbohydrate foods have a large impact on raising blood sugar levels, requiring extensive monitoring and management through regular insulin injection. By controlling the foods that cause a rise in blood sugar levels, management (or prevention) of Diabetes becomes easier.
In 2007, the American Diabetes Associated reported 23.6 million cases of Diabetes in the US. Of these cases, 5.7 million are undiagnosed. The most disturbing aspect of these statistics is that they only represent the Diabetes cases from a single country. On a global basis, Diabetes is truly a silent epidemic. In November of 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 220 million cases of Diabetes. The WHO also reports 1.1 million deaths attributed to Diabetes in 2005 and this figure is expected to double by 2030.

Clearly there is a large need for accurate diabetic diet information. Diabetes has been called a silent epidemic and informing the uninformed masses is our goal here at DiabeticDietInformation.org. Although there is promising research in the realm of Diabetes, there still is no cure. Currently, education is our best weapon against Diabetes as it is almost 100% preventable through simple lifestyle changes.