Diabetic Menu Guide

Another look at the problem of losing weight

A common problem for people with diabetes is the need to lose weight and to do that we have to either consume fewer calories or burn off existing calories by increasing our exercise and activity levels, and it is probably best to do both.

A call to become aware of the number of calories we eat

With this brief article I am just attempting to bring attention to the need to be more aware of what we eat and urge that all of us diabetics, or those who are likely to become diabetics due to their being overweight, to establish a sensible food plan that avoids the worst food items and targets a total daily calorie intake that can gradually lower our weight.

There is a need to know a little about the calorie content of foods, it can come as a little disconcerting to learn that if you want to lose just one pound of body weight without exercise you will have to consume 3500 calories less. It sounds a little better if you try that over, say, 2 weeks and combine it with an additional 40 minute walk 4 times each week, in which case you will have to cut your daily calorie intake by about 170 calories per day.

Let us make a little calculation just to illustrate the point

A 40-minute walk at a moderate to slow pace of about 2 miles per hour would burn up about 135 calories (it varies with your weight, this example is based on a person who weighs 180 pounds). So that means the 4 times per week walk burns 540 calories for the week,

A male of that weight, 180 pounds, and 5 feet 9 inches tall, would be, according to the BMI charts, about 11 to 15 pounds overweight, not too much really. But to lose ten pounds would mean it is necessary to create a calorie deficit of 10 x 3500 = 35,000 calories. Without trying to do that too fast, and so that any weight lost will stay off, let us allow 12 weeks to do it and that would be at about 2900 calories per week.

We established above that 540 calories per week are used up by walking, leaving the need to consume 2360 calories less per week or about 335 calories per day. That might require eating a little less, smaller portions, avoiding the high calorie fatty foods, whatever, but keep in mind that it still has to be a balanced and nutritious diet which includes all the nutrients, the proteins, the carbohydrates, and the fats, in appropriate proportions.

If fast foods are currently part of your diet, there’s a potential calorie saving:

For instance, a Big Mac hamburger without cheese, according to the nutrition facts from McDonalds, contains 576 calories, including almost 300 fat calories of which 60% are saturated fats, the bad fat.

Just consider, if you are on a 2000 or 2500 daily calorie food plan, that one simple hamburger, to which we frequently add cheese, represents 25% or 20% of our total calories for the whole day.

Conclusion
So let us try to substitute a few food items to our diabetic food list that are comparatively lower in total calories than are the foods we currently eat that are known to be high in calories, and if we are overweight we must cut some of those portions just a little smaller. The combination of those two things would enable us to succeed. Just try to visualize that and imagine the remarks that it will generate.

There is plenty of information available regarding low calorie foods and ideas for easy and delicious lower calorie meal recipes. Some meals I’ve seen mentioned contain just 350 calories or less for main dishes and 250 calories or less for side dishes and desserts. And for a similar source of ideas you can check out these filling low calorie foods and related low calorie information.

There are many strategies commonly recommended that aid in losing weight, including the following:

Lose weight slowly, not too fast

Don’t skip meals,

Eat at regular times each day, smaller meals interspersed with a snack

Avoid sweet sugary foods, including regular “soft drinks”, diet drinks in moderation are OK

Water is better, drink plenty of non-sweetened fluids, including tea and coffee in moderation

Eat fresh fruits instead of fruit juice.

And there are many others

But do not change your normal habits drastically and if you wish to adopt a strenuous weight loss or exercise program you should first consult your doctor.

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Related posts:

1. The role of weight loss in the diabetic menu