By now you know that diabetes cannot be cured but can be treated so that an individual leads a normal life. Patients who maintain their blood glucose levels within the normal range suffer from lesser complications as compared to those who frequently experience fluctuations in the blood glucose levels. A good synchronization between diet, life style and drugs can help in preventing /delaying the onset of complications.
As a dietician, our key objective involves bringing about life-long adoptable quantitative and qualitative changes in the nutrient intake, dietary habits and food choices of the patient(s) as per their insulin drug dosage and life-style. The dietician should work in close co-ordination with the doctor, and other members of the patient care team. We will now discuss the details for dietary management for dietary which will be followed by a briefing on life style modifications and drug/ insulin. While reading the subsequent concepts one must keep in mind that successful management of diabetes involves holistic approach will coordination between diet, lifestyle and hypoglycaemic drugs/ insulin. Let us begin our discussions with dietary management.