What you eat can have a profound effect on your diabetes.  You need to consult a doctor or nutritionist and come up with the right balanced diet plan for you and your diabetic symptoms. This plan will probably include foods on the low end of the Glycemic Index.  Remember, everyone is different and that is why it is necessary to consult a health care professional.

If you have diabetes, in general you want to eat chromium-rich foods:

		Romaine lettuce	Onions
		Tomatoes	Potatoes
		Oysters	Liver

Fruits and vegetables that help balance sugar:

		Apples	Pumpkin
		Onions	Leeks
		Garlic	Berries
		Cabbages	Dandelions
		Artichokes	Carrots

Low-glycemic fruits and vegetables (partial list)

		Apples	Artichokes
		Asparagus	Avocado
		Broccoli	Cauliflower
		Celery	Cucumber
		Eggplant	Lettuce
		Summer squash	Zucchini
		Tomatoes	Cherries
		Grapefruit	Peach
		Peanuts	Peppers
		Pear	Spinach

If you have heart problems, bad cholesterol, or high blood pressure, the best way to improve your health is to change your lifestyle, lose weight, increase your physical activity and eat healthier.  A great way to do this is by avoiding fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, refined and processed foods, salt and sugar. Also, you must make sure to eat more fruits and vegetables, grains and whole foods. You don’t have to live off of seeds, wheatgrass and alfalfa sprouts to make a difference; it is actually quite simple. Almost every grocery store in America now carries countless food alternatives for whatever ails you.

To begin with, let’s review the foods that are good for reducing your blood pressure:

Eat the following potassium-rich foods:

		Honeydew, cantaloupe, or watermelon	Apricots
		Prunes	Banana
		Lean veal	Pumpkin
		Lima beans	Spinach
		Sardines	Cod – not processed
		Milk – low-fat	Stewed tomatoes
		Potatoes	Orange juice
		Peas	Flounder
		Sweet potatoes	Green beans
		Peaches	Potatoes
		Squash – winter is best
		Yogurt – low-fat

Eat the following magnesium-rich foods:

		Beans and legumes	Okra
		Broccoli	Oysters
		Spinach	Chard
		Tofu	Croaker
		Scallops	Whole grains
		Mackerel	Nuts & Seeds

Eat the following calcium-rich foods:

		Broccoli	Perch
		Turnip greens	Tofu
		Cheese – but only low-fat cheeses	Salmon
		Dairy products – only low-fat	Almonds
		Barley	Bran
		Brazil nuts	Brown rice
		Brussel sprouts	Cabbage
		Carrots	Cauliflower
		Coconut	Corn meal
		Egg yolks (no more than 1-2 per week)	Figs
		Hazelnuts (filberts)	Leafy greens
		Kelp	Lentils
		Millet	Oats
		Prunes	Rye seeds
		Sesame seeds	Soy milk
		Watercress	Whole wheat

Other good foods to help lower your blood pressure:

		Asparagus	Celery
		Currants	Chocolate
		Dandelion	Garlic
		Onion	Kiwi
		Mangos

Avoid the following foods:

• Any foods with salt, soda, sodium or MSG
• Canned veggies, unless sodium-free
• Toothpaste containing saccharin or baking soda
• Diet soda
• Sugar substitutes
• Soy sauce

If you are trying to avoid meats, you can find soy-based meats for almost any kind of meat including hotdogs, ribs, burgers, chicken wings, turkey and even duck.  Some of them taste pretty good, especially if you prepare them like you would a regular meat product, but always check the sodium content.  For an entire day, you never want to consume more than 2,400 mg of sodium.

If you are trying to avoid refined and processed snacks, there are dozens of products that are made with whole grains and taste like the original product without the extra fat, sugar and salt.  Many of them even come organic.

If you are trying to avoid traditional dairy products, try products made from almonds, grains, or soy.  Whole Foods, Trader Joes and most health food stores have a wide variety of products, ranging from vegetarian milks to cheese, to choose from.

Being a diabetic, you always need to be concerned about sugar.Having diabetes doesn't mean that you can't eat foods containing sugar, as long as the total amount of carbohydrate for that meal is taken into context for your day’s overall eating plan.

Most people with diabetes can eat desserts, use sweeteners and still keep their blood glucose (sugar) levels in their target range. It is about having balance and choosing your sugars wisely. These options are available for sweetening your foods:

• Honey, molasses, date, maple sugar, amazake, barley malt or rice syrups, turbinado sugar, sucanat, maple syrup, and corn syrup
• Reduced-calorie sweeteners - which I would try to avoid - are erythritol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol
• Low-calorie sweeteners such as acesulfame potassium, aspartame, saccharin and sucralose

The side-effect of sugar consumption – no matter how you ingest it or it fits into your diet plan – is weight gain.  If you are overweight, the chances are you got that way by consuming refined carbohydrates. 

Avoid foods that promote diabetes:  white sugar, sucrose, corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup.  The most important thing for any diabetic is to understand the types of carbohydrates and the Glycemic Index to figure out how to eat properly. 

I do not recommend low-calorie sweeteners for a variety of health issues not related to diabetes, but diabetics need to know about them and how they can relate to your diet plan:

Low-Calorie Sweeteners

Don't throw away your low-calorie sweeteners just because sugar is safer than you thought. Low-calorie sweeteners are "free foods." They make food taste sweet, have no calories, and do not raise blood glucose levels. They do not count as a carbohydrate, a fat, or any other exchange.

Low-calorie sweeteners can be added to your meal plan instead of being substituted, but I do not recommend heavy usage of any of these sweeteners because of other health-conscious concerns not necessarily related to diabetes. 

What melslife is about is presenting you with choices for you to create your own balance.  Here’s a list of low-calorie sweeteners:

• Saccharin (Sweet N Low, Sugar Twin)
  Saccharin can be used in both hot and cold foods to make them sweeter.  You may recall that some studies giving very large quantities of saccharine to rats raised concerns that saccharin could cause cancer, but many studies and years of use have shown saccharin to be safe in the quantities used by consumers.  What you probably don’t know is that saccharin is made from a petroleum-based solvent.
  
  
• Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)
  Aspartame is another low-calorie sweetener. Because high temperatures can decrease its sweetness, check NutraSweet.com for guidelines when using aspartame in recipes.  Aspartame combines two amino acids – phenylalanie and aspartic
  
  
• Acesulfame potassium (Sweet One, Swiss Sweet, Sunett)
  Another low-calorie sweetener on the market is acesulfame potassium, also called acesulfame-K. This sweetener is heat stable and can be used in baking and cooking.
  
  
• Sucralose (Splenda)
  Sucralose is the newest low-calorie sweetener on the market. Sucralose is not affected by heat and retains its sweetness in hot beverages, baked goods and processed foods.

If you like to cook, sugar does more in hot foods - especially baked goods like cookies and cakes - than just add sweetness.  Sugar affects the way the foods cook and the final texture.  Substituting a low-calorie sweetener may affect the texture and taste of your creation.  Many people use a combination of sugar and a low-calorie sweetener to reduce overall calories, while still producing acceptable results.

All of these low-calorie sweeteners may help people who are overweight or have diabetes to reduce calories, but remember it is always about balance.  Too much of anything is not good. These sweeteners are also useful for reducing calories and carbohydrates when used instead of sugar in coffee, tea, cereal and on fruit.

When you’re considering foods with low or reduced-calorie sweeteners, always check the Nutrition Facts on the label.  By comparing the calories in the sugar-free version to the regular version, you’ll see whether you’re really getting fewer calories.  You’ll also want to compare the fat content of the labels.

Some people might choose the regular version of a food and cut back on the serving size instead of buying the sugar-free version.   Consider price as well.  Sometimes sugar-free versions cost more.

Foods with low or reduced-calorie sweeteners can have fewer calories than foods made with sugar and other caloric sweeteners.  That can help if you’re trying to lose weight or even prevent weight gain.  However, some sugar-free foods or products that use low-calorie sweeteners actually have more calories than, and may have more fat than, the sugar sweetened versions.

If you are trying to avoid eggs, whether they are for eating or baking, you’ve got many choices.  They include:

• Applesauce for baking (3 tablespoons applesauce = 1 egg)
• Bananas for baking (1/2 banana blended or well mashed = 1 egg)
• Egg substitutes such as Orgran’s ‘Egg substitute mix’
• Ener-G Egg Replacer - by Ener-G Foods; free of gluten, wheat, casein, dairy, egg, yeast, soy, nuts and rice,  is an excellent choice for baking
• Tofu (1/4 cup blended soft or silken tofu = 1 egg).  You can also scramble tofu, which has its own unique flavor and texture (depending upon spices and preparation) that might even exceed your expectations.

Here are my favorite food alternatives:

• Milk:  Try rice or soy milk (SILK brand is delicious!)
• Butter:  Try Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
• Ice cream:  Try Rice Divine rice ice cream
• Cheese:  Try FYH Mozzarella (non-dairy)
• Yogurt:  Try non-fat Greek plain yogurt or plain soy yogurt
• Meat:  Try baked tofu or seitan
• Oils: replace saturated and trans-fats with olive, canola and other natural oils
• Eggs: Try egg substitutes or egg whites for eating and “Egg Replacer” for baking
• Sugar: Try Stevia for coffee and for baking replace conventional white sugar with maple sugar or natural sugar brand such as Sucunat.
• Mayonnaise: Try FYH Vegenaise.  You won’t know the difference!
• Bagels:  Try Western Bagel’s Alternative Bagel.  For most people, they are diabetic-friendly

Everything is about eating in balance.  Know your choices.