The Diabetic diet prescribed for the patients supplies around 2000k.cals a day, give some or take away some. It consists of three main courses, each supplying 400 to 500k.cals together with the accompaniments, interspersed with an evening sugarless tea and biscuits, morning coffee and night milk, both with no sugar and also buttermilk or vegetable soup or sugarless lime juice and Marie biscuits at 11AM, each drink contributing 60kcals and each biscuit 30k.cals. Added to this diet list is that the whole food will have no salt and no oil, which actually translates to a patient being allowed 5gms of salt per day, and very very little oil to go with the food. And the doctors advise forty minutes of brisk walk a day. Vegetables and fiber intake is a must, and the doctors insist on greens in the food being mandatory. Certain medicines are also given to keep the sugar levels under control.
Initially, right on the first day and second, the whole diet looks woefully little. The question creeps in the back of mind as to whether one will be able to survive on this diet. I for one had already reduced the intake of food, salt and oil, but, even then I was in for a shock looking at the dismal quantity. Both my colleague and my brother who were taking care of me in the hospital after I had a minor heart attack and was recouping, were adamant sticklers of the norms and rules, and they were aided by a battalion of nurses and doctors, so, I had no other go except to observe the system. And of boy, how nicely it worked!!
1. One week down the line, or may be a little more, I had lost 7kgs!! I was weighing 81kgs before the attack, and now it showed 74kgs as my weight, my height being 175cms. It was pleasure looking at myself in the mirror. With the strict following of the diet, I could maintain that weight right through to this day, 3 months after the attack. What is more, I could not observe the diet on certain days because of certain extraneous compulsions, and on these days, I had to eat much more, which resulted in the weight increase by 2kgs or more. But, two days of observations of the diet system brought the weight back to 74kgs. This happened two or three times. And, now I am very sure of how to get back to 74kgs, even if the weight goes up by a kg or two.
2. In the days before I took on to diet, I used to feel a bit sleepy after taking food, and now, that is gone! The meals are all very light and they don’t make a demand on the system. One can be brisk all through the day!
3. The visits to the toilets get reduced both in the day and in the night. The urine is lighter both in colour and in density. The irritability and the nagging feeling in the bladder and the tracts get reduced drastically, and the patient lives no more in the nightmare of having to look around for a toilet, just in case… ! A total relief!!
4. I always get a feeling that the high sugar level in the blood causes ulcers all the way, but, a doctor cousin of mine questions the veracity of the statement. May be it aids ulcers, but, it doesn’t cause one, he opines. Nevertheless, when I have more sugar levels, the gums in my teeth get minor cuts, with blood oozing out of them. Some people get persistent cough! The irritability of the urine tracts may also be because of the miniscule bruises caused by high sugar levels in the blood and may be urine. The cysts start appearing on the body. There may be many more ways the higher sugar levels in the blood show up!! Now, all these are gone if a patient follows the strict diet regimen. I don’t suffer from bleeding gums any more, and the cyst sizes in the body have shrunk.
5. The vegetables and greens are a must. For one it helps the patient to get the feeling that he has had sumptuous amount of food. The fiber controls the cholesterol levels in the body. And the vegetables and greens supply a good lot of proteins, vitamins and minerals needed for the body. From the patient’s point of view, the intake helps easing the bowel movements, especially as the intake of food has got reduced.
6. Stresses and tensions definitely make the sugar levels shoot up! When a diabetic patient gets sick, his sugar levels shoot up, and this prevents the healing of the system. It is better on such cases to agree to the doctor’s advice of administering Insulin injections till the body is cured of the illness.
7. Not that a diabetic patient loses much on the taste front! The diabetic food can also be prepared very tasty!
Actually, the body and the system show up their disapproval for the oily fried food and the like, but, the craving in us ignores these symptoms and goes ahead with such unwanted food stuff! When one takes more oil than what the body tolerates, one can feel that the underneath of the tongue has become thick and numb and the lower part of the eyes heavy and soggy, and somewhere along the way the body system asks one to stop it. When one takes too many sweets, the tongue tastes sour, the eyes become irritable and burning, and may be the body temperature goes up. There may also be this slight metallic sensation. The doctors call the whole thing as dry mouth sensation or something like that.
We can also avoid gas problems by limiting the intake of pulses to the required quantity.
8. In my personal opinion, may be the Marie biscuits part in the diet get substituted by fruits. For the same calorie value, the fruits add volume. They also have fiber content.
We can also quench our craving for the potatoes and the like, by reducing the quantity of cereals appropriately and taking them only as boiled vegetables.
A strict regimen of diabetic diet intake goes a long way in not only helping the patient lead a normal healthy and long life, but, it also helps him ward off blood pressure and other ailments.
