Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet For Diabetics Author: Julianna Bragg Website: Added: Fri, Sep 8, 2006 14:44:09 Category: Diabetes

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Every item on a diabetics diet must be chosen very carefully, since each food choice they make can have a profound effect on their overall health.   Not only long-term effects - but almost immediate reactions to the foods they eat.

Diabetes affects people from all walks of life and backgrounds, regardless of age or gender.  Left untreated, diabetees can cause wounds to heal slowly, infections take longer to cure, blindness, and kidney failure.  One of the most important treatments for diabetes is strict control of the diet, and a vegetarian lifestyle with its emphasis on low fat, high fiber, nutrient-rich foods is ideal for these patients.

Affecting more than 30 million people worldwide, this disease inhibits the body from properly processing foods. 

Normally, most of the food we eat is digested and converted to glucose and is then carried by the bloodstream to feed the cells in the body.  Then the hormone insulin helps glucose pass into cells.

Diabetics are unable to control the amount of glucose in their blood because the mechanism that converts sugar to energy doesn't work correctly.  Insulin is either not present in insufficient quantities - or ineffective.  This results in a glucose buildup in the bloodstream and leads weakness, inability to concentrate, loss of co-ordination and blurred vision.  

An incorrect balance of food intake and insulin can result in low blood sugar levels in a diabetic, and if the condition persists it can lead to coma and even death.

There is no cure for diabetes, but it can be successfully controlled through diet and exercise, oral medications, injections of insulin, or a combination of these.  Instead of counting calories diabetics must calculate their total carbohydrate intake so that no less than half their food is made up of complex carbohydrates. 

Diabetic vegetarians have discovered that as a result of a meatless diet, they have to use insulin injections less often.  This gives them a feeling of power and control over their disease.

About the Author:
Julianna Bragg is a free-lance writer for medical journals on many aspects of health with an emphasis on Women's Health.