The incidence of diabetes is growing. Meritus Health's goal is to curb the growth of diabetes in our community and help those diagnosed with diabetes live a happy and healthy life.
If you've been diagnosed with diabetes, you'll have to make some changes to the way you eat, but you can still eat the foods you like. Meal planning, portion control and eating a variety of foods is key to controlling your blood sugar and losing weight.
Here to give you the support and tools you need to successfully manage your condition and to discuss how what you eat can affect your diabetes is Tim Higgins M.S., RD, he is a certified diabetes educator and registered dietitian at Meritus Diabetes Education center.
Selected Podcast
How Does What I Eat Affect My Diabetes
Featured Speaker:
Tim Higgins, MS, RD
Tim Higgins M.S., RD, LDN, CDE working as a diabetes educator and registered dietitian at Meritus Diabetes Education center. Graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Agriculture and Environmental Science. Went on to complete a Master of Science in Nutrition at Long Island University. He has over 30 years experience working with food as a chef and registered dietitian in restaurant and healthcare settings. He has provided diabetes education in hospital and outpatient settings since 2000. He is a member of the American Diabetes Association and is a Certified Diabetes Educator. Transcription:
How Does What I Eat Affect My Diabetes
Melanie Cole (Host): The incidence of diabetes is growing. Meritus Health’s goal is to curb the growth of diabetes in our community and help those diagnosed with diabetes live a happy and healthy life. If you have been diagnosed; you’ll have to make some changes to the way you eat. But you can still eat the foods you like. Meal planning, portion control and eating a variety of foods is key to controlling your blood sugar and losing weight. Here to give us the support and tools you need to successfully manage your condition and to discuss how what you eat affects your diabetes, is Tim Higgins. He is a certified diabetes educator and Registered Dietician at Meritus Diabetes Education Center. Welcome to the show Tim. So, what happens in our bodies when we eat? What happens with our blood sugars and insulin levels?
Tim Higgins MS, RD, LDN, CDE (Guest): Well, when we eat carbohydrates, that’s one of those sources of calories in our food. They break down into sugar and are able to go into your bloodstream and then your pancreas produces insulin and your insulin level goes up.
Melanie: So, what about with somebody who has diabetes? What’s different?
Tim: What’s different is that the insulin level will not help to bring the blood sugar down effectively. So, let me say that a little bit differently. Sometimes in the beginning, when someone is first diagnosed with diabetes; they have something called insulin resistance which means that the insulin doesn’t work well to bring the blood sugar down. So, their insulin level is actually high. In other cases, they may not produce – someone with diabetes may not produce enough insulin and they may need medication to help make up the difference.
Melanie: So, then how does our diet impact our diabetes management? When somebody eats a certain type of food and their insulin levels spike or go low, if they haven’t then what happens to them and so how does the diet affect this?
Tim: Well, the main thing is, one of the most important principles I think to be thinking about is that diabetes is actually a regulatory disorder, which means that someone who has diabetes cannot effectively regulate their blood sugar because of those differences in insulin that we just described. So, what happens – the best thing one can do with eating is to try to eat regularly throughout the day to help your body regulate the blood sugar.
Melanie: So, people hear the word carbohydrates, carbs, Tim and they are afraid of them and they say if I have diabetes I can’t eat any carbs, they are too high in sugars. Are all carbs created equal?
Tim: Well carbohydrates are actually molecules made up of sugars. So, we need to have sugar because our brain requires sugar to function properly. So, we don’t want to cut out carbohydrates by any means. I tend to go away from good or bad but the main thing is, the real simple way of summarizing it is; the less processed carbohydrates are; the better they are for you.
Melanie: So what would that mean?
Tim: That would mean for example a fruit. If you have juice, that is a highly processed form of juice or if you eat jam, that is a highly processed form of fruit whereas if you eat an apple, it is less processed. So, think of it as eating foods that are closest to its natural state.
Melanie: So, then people hear grains, beans, that sort of thing. Do we consider those starchy carbohydrates? Are those a no? Let’s talk a little bit Tim, about the foods that people can eat and some foods you would really like them to avoid.
Tim: The only things that I recommend people to avoid are highly processed foods, you know like the typical junk food, candies, certainly sugary drinks. Those will make one – anyone with diabetes have their blood sugar spike quite a bit. So, those are not a good idea. It doesn’t mean you can never have them; but nobody should eat a lot of those things.
Melanie: So, what about things like eating out, because that seems to be where some people have some confusion and they are looking at a menu? What tips do you have for people when they eat out if they are trying to control their blood sugars?
Tim: One of the things that we are talking about is carbohydrates. Most foods – most carbohydrates are pretty recognizable in a food. So, for example, let’s take a mixed food like chili. So, chili usually contains things like meat, maybe some tomatoes and some other vegetables like onions and peppers and of course beans. So, what I would say is where are the carbohydrates – most of the carbohydrates in something like chili? And I think the answer should be that it should become evident that they are in the beans. There might be some carbohydrates in the vegetables but there is very little. There is very little carbohydrate in meat. So, the only part of that food that one would have to be concerned about would be the beans.
Melanie: So, then what else would you like them to know about things that they might find while eating out? What about alcohol? How does that respond?
Tim: Well, alcohol – some alcohol beverages have carbohydrates. Beer for example. A regular beer, commercial beer would probably have about 12-15 grams of carbohydrate in 12 ounces. A light beer would have about half that amount. So, that would be one source of alcohol. But if you are using spirit alcohols, whether it is vodka or gin or whatever, there is no carbohydrate in those. However, sometimes people will mix it with something like juice or regular soda that would be high in carbohydrate.
Melanie: And what about proteins and fats? Speak about how much a day you would like people to eat as far as their meals; their breakfast, lunch and dinner. Should they be eating smaller meals more frequently? Should they be eating just certain types of meals at certain times of day? Is timing important? Speak about all those things.
Tim: Boy, that’s a mouthful. But yes. So, in terms of protein and fat, fat obviously is a very – would be recognized as a food that one would want to avoid if you are trying to lose weight and also for cardiovascular health. So, we would actually tell people when you are eating something that has a lot of fat, make the portions smaller. Protein will pretty much take care of itself. The biggest thing to be – component to be most careful about is the carbohydrate. So, we would recommend that someone - most women have about 45 grams of carbohydrate three times a day and then a little bit more for snacks and for men; about 60 grams of carbohydrate three times a day and maybe a little bit of snack along with it. And as I said earlier, in terms of timing, eating regularly – meals at regular times. So, we have three words in our language to describe when to eat; breakfast, lunch and supper. So, you build your meals around that.
Melanie: And then what about checking their blood sugar? Should they be checking after they eat? Should they be checking at various points in the day? What do you tell people about keeping track of those blood sugar levels?
Tim: Now everyone who is checking blood sugars have different goals depending upon how much blood sugar control that they are having trouble with. But checking blood sugars tell us a lot. So, the bottom line is, when someone asks me when should I check my blood sugar; I will usually say well, what do you want to know? And one of the things they may want to know is how do certain foods affect my blood sugar? In that case, they could take their blood sugar before a meal and then two hours after. And they would see the difference. Of course, they would also want to take note of how much carbohydrate they ate. Another time to take a test would be at bedtime and compare that to first thing in the morning. And when they do that, they are seeing how their body reacts during a fasting period. So, checking it before and after a meal checks the results at a time of meal, checking it overnight tells them how their body is reacting in a fasting period.
Melanie: And what are some tips for good snacks throughout the day? Do you, I mean are they afraid of fruit, having an apple or a banana, an avocado? What do you tell people to eat as they go throughout the day?
Tim: I tell them to eat what they like. And making the decision is very simple if you know how many grams of carbohydrate you are trying to maintain. It is just like how do you know how fast to go when you are going down a road? You look at the speed limit. Well, if they are a man and they may be aiming for getting 60 grams of carbohydrate three times a day; and they are going to have a snack and they had 30 grams for lunch, if they had another 30 grams for a snack; they are at 60.
Melanie: Do you think it is important that people learn how to read labels and do you encourage journaling for someone with diabetes to keep track of some of these things?
Tim: Reading labels is very helpful because it gives you information about the carbohydrate content of that food. So, certainly that can be very valuable. And journaling is especially valuable because when you think about it; most people eat the same foods often. In fact, some have said that 70% of what we eat, we eat all the time. So, once you start journaling, you will really get a good idea of how much carbohydrate are in those foods one typically eats and after a while; it becomes second hand information and is very easy to just judge how much carbohydrate you are getting.
Melanie: So, wrap it up for us Tim, with your best advice for how our diet affects our diabetes management. What do you want people to know that you feel are the most important bits? Something you tell everybody, every single day about diabetes and diet.
Tim: Try to get to a place where you can feel 70-80% confident that you know how much carbohydrate you are eating. The other thing is, know what your targets are. How much carbohydrate is a good amount for you to eat? And to eat regularly throughout the day especially foods that are least processed.
Melanie: Thank you so much Tim, for being with us today. This is Your Health Matters with Meritus Health. For more information, please visit www.meritushealth.com. That’s www.meritushealth.com. I’m Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
How Does What I Eat Affect My Diabetes
Melanie Cole (Host): The incidence of diabetes is growing. Meritus Health’s goal is to curb the growth of diabetes in our community and help those diagnosed with diabetes live a happy and healthy life. If you have been diagnosed; you’ll have to make some changes to the way you eat. But you can still eat the foods you like. Meal planning, portion control and eating a variety of foods is key to controlling your blood sugar and losing weight. Here to give us the support and tools you need to successfully manage your condition and to discuss how what you eat affects your diabetes, is Tim Higgins. He is a certified diabetes educator and Registered Dietician at Meritus Diabetes Education Center. Welcome to the show Tim. So, what happens in our bodies when we eat? What happens with our blood sugars and insulin levels?
Tim Higgins MS, RD, LDN, CDE (Guest): Well, when we eat carbohydrates, that’s one of those sources of calories in our food. They break down into sugar and are able to go into your bloodstream and then your pancreas produces insulin and your insulin level goes up.
Melanie: So, what about with somebody who has diabetes? What’s different?
Tim: What’s different is that the insulin level will not help to bring the blood sugar down effectively. So, let me say that a little bit differently. Sometimes in the beginning, when someone is first diagnosed with diabetes; they have something called insulin resistance which means that the insulin doesn’t work well to bring the blood sugar down. So, their insulin level is actually high. In other cases, they may not produce – someone with diabetes may not produce enough insulin and they may need medication to help make up the difference.
Melanie: So, then how does our diet impact our diabetes management? When somebody eats a certain type of food and their insulin levels spike or go low, if they haven’t then what happens to them and so how does the diet affect this?
Tim: Well, the main thing is, one of the most important principles I think to be thinking about is that diabetes is actually a regulatory disorder, which means that someone who has diabetes cannot effectively regulate their blood sugar because of those differences in insulin that we just described. So, what happens – the best thing one can do with eating is to try to eat regularly throughout the day to help your body regulate the blood sugar.
Melanie: So, people hear the word carbohydrates, carbs, Tim and they are afraid of them and they say if I have diabetes I can’t eat any carbs, they are too high in sugars. Are all carbs created equal?
Tim: Well carbohydrates are actually molecules made up of sugars. So, we need to have sugar because our brain requires sugar to function properly. So, we don’t want to cut out carbohydrates by any means. I tend to go away from good or bad but the main thing is, the real simple way of summarizing it is; the less processed carbohydrates are; the better they are for you.
Melanie: So what would that mean?
Tim: That would mean for example a fruit. If you have juice, that is a highly processed form of juice or if you eat jam, that is a highly processed form of fruit whereas if you eat an apple, it is less processed. So, think of it as eating foods that are closest to its natural state.
Melanie: So, then people hear grains, beans, that sort of thing. Do we consider those starchy carbohydrates? Are those a no? Let’s talk a little bit Tim, about the foods that people can eat and some foods you would really like them to avoid.
Tim: The only things that I recommend people to avoid are highly processed foods, you know like the typical junk food, candies, certainly sugary drinks. Those will make one – anyone with diabetes have their blood sugar spike quite a bit. So, those are not a good idea. It doesn’t mean you can never have them; but nobody should eat a lot of those things.
Melanie: So, what about things like eating out, because that seems to be where some people have some confusion and they are looking at a menu? What tips do you have for people when they eat out if they are trying to control their blood sugars?
Tim: One of the things that we are talking about is carbohydrates. Most foods – most carbohydrates are pretty recognizable in a food. So, for example, let’s take a mixed food like chili. So, chili usually contains things like meat, maybe some tomatoes and some other vegetables like onions and peppers and of course beans. So, what I would say is where are the carbohydrates – most of the carbohydrates in something like chili? And I think the answer should be that it should become evident that they are in the beans. There might be some carbohydrates in the vegetables but there is very little. There is very little carbohydrate in meat. So, the only part of that food that one would have to be concerned about would be the beans.
Melanie: So, then what else would you like them to know about things that they might find while eating out? What about alcohol? How does that respond?
Tim: Well, alcohol – some alcohol beverages have carbohydrates. Beer for example. A regular beer, commercial beer would probably have about 12-15 grams of carbohydrate in 12 ounces. A light beer would have about half that amount. So, that would be one source of alcohol. But if you are using spirit alcohols, whether it is vodka or gin or whatever, there is no carbohydrate in those. However, sometimes people will mix it with something like juice or regular soda that would be high in carbohydrate.
Melanie: And what about proteins and fats? Speak about how much a day you would like people to eat as far as their meals; their breakfast, lunch and dinner. Should they be eating smaller meals more frequently? Should they be eating just certain types of meals at certain times of day? Is timing important? Speak about all those things.
Tim: Boy, that’s a mouthful. But yes. So, in terms of protein and fat, fat obviously is a very – would be recognized as a food that one would want to avoid if you are trying to lose weight and also for cardiovascular health. So, we would actually tell people when you are eating something that has a lot of fat, make the portions smaller. Protein will pretty much take care of itself. The biggest thing to be – component to be most careful about is the carbohydrate. So, we would recommend that someone - most women have about 45 grams of carbohydrate three times a day and then a little bit more for snacks and for men; about 60 grams of carbohydrate three times a day and maybe a little bit of snack along with it. And as I said earlier, in terms of timing, eating regularly – meals at regular times. So, we have three words in our language to describe when to eat; breakfast, lunch and supper. So, you build your meals around that.
Melanie: And then what about checking their blood sugar? Should they be checking after they eat? Should they be checking at various points in the day? What do you tell people about keeping track of those blood sugar levels?
Tim: Now everyone who is checking blood sugars have different goals depending upon how much blood sugar control that they are having trouble with. But checking blood sugars tell us a lot. So, the bottom line is, when someone asks me when should I check my blood sugar; I will usually say well, what do you want to know? And one of the things they may want to know is how do certain foods affect my blood sugar? In that case, they could take their blood sugar before a meal and then two hours after. And they would see the difference. Of course, they would also want to take note of how much carbohydrate they ate. Another time to take a test would be at bedtime and compare that to first thing in the morning. And when they do that, they are seeing how their body reacts during a fasting period. So, checking it before and after a meal checks the results at a time of meal, checking it overnight tells them how their body is reacting in a fasting period.
Melanie: And what are some tips for good snacks throughout the day? Do you, I mean are they afraid of fruit, having an apple or a banana, an avocado? What do you tell people to eat as they go throughout the day?
Tim: I tell them to eat what they like. And making the decision is very simple if you know how many grams of carbohydrate you are trying to maintain. It is just like how do you know how fast to go when you are going down a road? You look at the speed limit. Well, if they are a man and they may be aiming for getting 60 grams of carbohydrate three times a day; and they are going to have a snack and they had 30 grams for lunch, if they had another 30 grams for a snack; they are at 60.
Melanie: Do you think it is important that people learn how to read labels and do you encourage journaling for someone with diabetes to keep track of some of these things?
Tim: Reading labels is very helpful because it gives you information about the carbohydrate content of that food. So, certainly that can be very valuable. And journaling is especially valuable because when you think about it; most people eat the same foods often. In fact, some have said that 70% of what we eat, we eat all the time. So, once you start journaling, you will really get a good idea of how much carbohydrate are in those foods one typically eats and after a while; it becomes second hand information and is very easy to just judge how much carbohydrate you are getting.
Melanie: So, wrap it up for us Tim, with your best advice for how our diet affects our diabetes management. What do you want people to know that you feel are the most important bits? Something you tell everybody, every single day about diabetes and diet.
Tim: Try to get to a place where you can feel 70-80% confident that you know how much carbohydrate you are eating. The other thing is, know what your targets are. How much carbohydrate is a good amount for you to eat? And to eat regularly throughout the day especially foods that are least processed.
Melanie: Thank you so much Tim, for being with us today. This is Your Health Matters with Meritus Health. For more information, please visit www.meritushealth.com. That’s www.meritushealth.com. I’m Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.