We are all encouraged to consume foods with more fibre, because dietary fibre is a vital item for keeping our bodies healthy. It is especially helpful for the colon.
Since attention to detail in diet is even more important to diabetics, it stands to reason that fibre is even more important to diabetics as well. And, indeed, diabetics are counselled to consume lots of fibre.
Fibre will also delay the on-set of diabetes in those people who are in a pre-diabetic state. Fibre assists reduce the blood-sugar levels naturally, so it will help everybody in their quest to maintain healthy blood.
The manner in which it does this is fairly easy to understand. Fibre is more difficult to digest than the remainder of the sugars and starches that surround it, so it has the impact of remaining in your digestive system for longer, thus helping you feel 'full' longer, and it is burned very slowly thereby decreasing spikes in your blood sugar level.
Blood-sugar spikes are bad news for anyone who does not need a spike in order to accomplish a quest, like a weight-lifter or a sprinter. Spikes in children may lead to bouts of hyperactivity in children.
The best sort of fibre is soluble fibre. This sort of fibre is found in:
grain that has not been excessively processed to remove the husk, so brown rice, whole wheat bread, cereals and pasta.
'dry' fresh fruits, not necessarily dried fruits, like bananas, mangoes, pineapple and apples
beans, lentils, legumes and pulses are stuffed almost full of dietary fibre and are effortlessly added to soups and stews.
Another manner of feeling 'full' so that you are able to reduce the yearning for a large meal is drinking water. Exchange plain tap water or bottled water for fizzy drinks. Your body might need the extra water to help it process the extra soluble fibre that you are eating.
Fibre helps in all dietary situations, but is incorporated into the calculations that some diets use. For instance, if you are counting carbohydrates as opposed to calories, you will have a limit or target number of carbs you should consume in a day.
This is 20 carbs a day in the initial phase of the Atkins diet. Some diets will permit you to subtract the amount of fibre from the total number of carbs for the purpose of your calculations.
So, for example, you may eat 25 carbs, and, so long as the food contains at least five grammes of fibre, you have not broken the guidelines of the diet. You will have to check whether your particular diet allows for this variation.
It sounds like another chore to have to count fibre as well as everything else you have to consider before you can eat anything, but it will become second nature after a couple of weeks or months.
The best way to get going is to get a small guide that will fit in your pocket or bag so that you can look into it frequently.
.
Since attention to detail in diet is even more important to diabetics, it stands to reason that fibre is even more important to diabetics as well. And, indeed, diabetics are counselled to consume lots of fibre.
Fibre will also delay the on-set of diabetes in those people who are in a pre-diabetic state. Fibre assists reduce the blood-sugar levels naturally, so it will help everybody in their quest to maintain healthy blood.
The manner in which it does this is fairly easy to understand. Fibre is more difficult to digest than the remainder of the sugars and starches that surround it, so it has the impact of remaining in your digestive system for longer, thus helping you feel 'full' longer, and it is burned very slowly thereby decreasing spikes in your blood sugar level.
Blood-sugar spikes are bad news for anyone who does not need a spike in order to accomplish a quest, like a weight-lifter or a sprinter. Spikes in children may lead to bouts of hyperactivity in children.
The best sort of fibre is soluble fibre. This sort of fibre is found in:
grain that has not been excessively processed to remove the husk, so brown rice, whole wheat bread, cereals and pasta.
'dry' fresh fruits, not necessarily dried fruits, like bananas, mangoes, pineapple and apples
beans, lentils, legumes and pulses are stuffed almost full of dietary fibre and are effortlessly added to soups and stews.
Another manner of feeling 'full' so that you are able to reduce the yearning for a large meal is drinking water. Exchange plain tap water or bottled water for fizzy drinks. Your body might need the extra water to help it process the extra soluble fibre that you are eating.
Fibre helps in all dietary situations, but is incorporated into the calculations that some diets use. For instance, if you are counting carbohydrates as opposed to calories, you will have a limit or target number of carbs you should consume in a day.
This is 20 carbs a day in the initial phase of the Atkins diet. Some diets will permit you to subtract the amount of fibre from the total number of carbs for the purpose of your calculations.
So, for example, you may eat 25 carbs, and, so long as the food contains at least five grammes of fibre, you have not broken the guidelines of the diet. You will have to check whether your particular diet allows for this variation.
It sounds like another chore to have to count fibre as well as everything else you have to consider before you can eat anything, but it will become second nature after a couple of weeks or months.
The best way to get going is to get a small guide that will fit in your pocket or bag so that you can look into it frequently.
.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with Diabetes Cook Books. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Cookbooks For Diabetics.
