New study on diabetic diet makes eating tastier

As a type-2 diabetic, juggling one's diet between desire and demand is difficult.

You take your blood sugar rating four times a day, and try to keep your blood sugar level below a rating of 140. Yet most food we've been raised on contain too many sugars and carbs, diabetes aggravators. So you're always searching for a way to eat right while still trying to keep your diet tasty and satisfying. And you make sure to exercise each day.

New hope as emerged today from The New York Times, which reports that beans and nuts -- two of my favorite foods -- do more to keep your blood sugar down compared to a high-fiber, brown grain approach. This news affects so many people, particularly our children who are getting diabetes in epidemic proportions.

My diabetes came from the steroids I've had to take for three years to keep my body's organs from deteriorating from all the chemo. My doctor says it looks like my diabetes will end when my chemo does. And that, by the grace of God, will be soon.

The New York Times reported:

Beans and nuts are among foods that only modestly increase blood glucose levels; scientists describe these foods as having a low glycemic index. The new study, which lasted six months, is one of the largest and longest to assess the impact of foods with a low-glycemic index, researchers said.

Participants on the low-glycemic diet also saw significant improvements in cholesterol after six months, with increases in HDL, the so-called “good” cholesterol associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, the study found.

“That’s an important issue today, because there’s a double whammy for people who are diabetic," said Dr. David J. A. Jenkins, lead author of the report and a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto. "If they’re men, they have twice the risk of heart disease, and if they’re women, they have four times the risk. If you can hit the heart disease to which they’re particularly vulnerable, you may have something useful."

“Pharmaceuticals used to control Type 2 diabetes have not shown the expected benefits in terms of reducing cardiovascular disease,” he added.

The study was published on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.