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Submitted by Poshan - Cure … on 29 April 2017

Dietitian Ujjwala Baxi of Poshan - Cure thru Diet addresses some common concerns about Type 2 diabetes

1. With summer upon us, we cannot ignore mangoes. Can a person with Type 2 Diabetes have mangoes, and if so, how many a day?

This is also a very frequently asked question, specially from the mango lovers. If you are fantasising about mangoes, the basic advice is to eat in moderation. First you should check the blood sugar. If blood sugar is around 6.5, then u can have a piece of mango. But mango juice, aamras, etc. is definitely not adviceable because they tend to be highly concentrated and can shoot up your blood sugar over a period of time.

See: Can I Eat Mangoes?

2. Why is it okay to eat fruits when it is actually full of carbohydrates? Are some fruits better to eat than others?

When we are trying to control our blood sugar level through diet control, it is very important to know the glycemic index of the fruits. And their impact on the blood sugar level. Certain fruits which have a high glycemic index which is more than 70, and some have a low glycemic index which is less than 55. And the medium ones have a glycemic index from 55-69. Bananas, chikus, grapes, custard apple all have high glycemic index. So restrict their consumption and do not have them on a regular basis. Instead, you can go for citrus fruits like apples, berries, lemons, chikus, in controlled portions of course. These fruits do not harm the blood sugar levels that much. Therefore they are ok to consume.

3. What are the best food to eat before and after exercising?

It is important to understand the timing of your workout. Post work out is usually the time of breakfast if in the morning. But if you have low blood sugars, then you need to eat a fruit or a cup of milk before you go for any activity and then when you come back from it, you can have breakfast. So it totally depends on the condition of your blood sugars and how they behave, etc. But if you do your workouts in the evening, it is not a good idea to not have anything and go for any workout. That may cause a fall in blood sugar. So it is a good idea to have some form of carbohydrate, which could be a fruit or a protein like a cup of milk or some nuts which could serve as a pre-work out snack in the evenings.

4. How should I control my craving for snacking, because I feel hungry after every 2-3 hours?

For people with cravings, we do advice small frequent meals. But people, we find, tend to snack all too frequently. This can be managed if they eat at a gap of about 4 hours. Sometimes, without even consciously realising it, we overload ourselves, which again leads to cravings. If your breakfast is at 8 am and lunch at 12noon, you can just have some buttermilk in between and not have anything heavier. This light intake can actually prevent your cravings. The composition of the breakfast is also important. If you have an oats porridge or an oats upma, then you might not have the cravings because the food is substantial. So a fuller breakfast with more fibre would also help you reduce your cravings.

5. Can you suggest some tasty snacks for persons with diabetes.

Bhel is okay to have. Which means you are taking in puffed rice with roasted channa. But everything needs to be portioned out. Many people go overboard even with bhel. Also baked soya chips is okay to have, although it is a little dry. But it might help to keep your blood sugar in check.

6. Is diabetes hereditary and if so how can the next generation try and reduce their chances of getting diabetes? Specially if both parents have diabetes.

Chances are definitely higher for successive generations to have diabetes. But family history although being a strong predisposing factor is only responsible for it in 30 per cent of the cases. The other 70 to 80 per cent is because of your lifestyle, eating habits, whether you exercise or not, how you manage your everyday routine. Even if one has good lifestyle habits, but if he is still stressed out at work, that might cause diabetes. Or even if he drinks alcohol in more than moderate measure, that can also cause diabetes. It is necessary to make sure that all factors are kept in check to avoid diabetes.

See: If both my parents had diabetes, what can I do to prevent diabetes?

7. Can your menstrual cycles or menopause affect glucose cycles?

With the menstrual cycles, the hormones are playing around and there are hunger pangs as well. 9 out of 10 women talk of a craving for sweet things during the cycles. Even for women who have had menopause, there is this urge to have sweet things. In these cases it is important to keep a check on the sugar levels in the blood.

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