Eating Soulfully and Healthfully With Diabetes

“Patients with diabetes should not think about what they can’t eat but rather what they can eat and still keep blood sugar levels in check,” says Constance Browns-Riggs, a registered dietitian with the American Dietetic Association.

Brown-Riggs, a New York State certified dietitian nutritionist and certified diabetes educator with the American Association of Diabetes Educators,
recently shared her knowledge of nutrition and dietitics with participants at the 7th Annual Diabetes and Obesity Conference in Prattville.

“Changing one’s eating habits is one of the most difficult habits to break. It is important to look at ways to improve outcomes with meal planning for people with diabetes and other chronic diseases,” she said.

Brown-Riggs authored the book Eating Soulfully and Healthfully with Diabetes to encourage blacks to prepare and enjoy traditional ethnic food from the American South and the Caribbean while maintaining normal glucose levels and healthy food intake.

The American Diabetes Association recommends that normal blood sugar range between 90mg/dL and 130 mg/dL before a meal and about 180mg/dL two hours after a meal. Brown-Riggs prefers the range recommendation of the American College of Endocrinology, which is 110mg/dL before a meal and 140 mg/dL two hours after a meal.

In her everday practice of consultation services for health maintenance and diabetes prevention and treatment, Brown-Riggs is keenly aware of the need for culturally relevant educational tools. She created the Diabetes Soul Food Pyramid with the goal of shortening the cultural distance between the person with diabetes and his or her health care provider. She considers soul food to be those foods near and dear to a person’s heart or those that one’s grandmother used to cook.

“People with diabetes must limit the amount of carbohydrates they eat each day because carbohydrates elevate blood sugar. Diabetics need to find out what their carbohydrate threshold is. Some patients may be able to eat 60 grams of carbs daily while others may only be able to eat 30 grams a day. People diagnosed with diabetes do not have to eliminate all carbs from their meals.” Once patients know their limit, they can plan meals accordingly.

Brown-Riggs also emphasized the importance of portion control. “Adhering to proper portion size is a key to control diabetes,” she said. The proper serving size for green vegetables is 1 ½ cups, starchy vegetables ½ cup, and meat 3 ounces. Ideally, diabetics should divide the meal on their plates into three sections -- 25 percent meat, 25 percent starch and 50 percent green leafy vegetables. Learning to eat this way will aid in maintaining normal blood sugar, improve diabetes management, create more energy and help the diabetic feel and look better.

Posted by dreynold at April 11, 2008 11:37 AM | TrackBack