Tips for having diabetes under control also at Christmas

During the Christmas holidays we share with family, friends and co -workers meals and dinners that contain foods rich in sugars and fats.For this reason, people with diabetes must maintain food under control to avoid possible complications and mismatches in their illness.

Diabetics can adjust during these Christmas holidays their menu through feeding plans for portions to enjoy the same Christmas meals as their family.Of course, experts remember that avoiding excesses and physical exercise helps improve diabetes control.

The food power plan is made by the patient's medical team and is a useful tool to maintain control over diabetes.On the one hand, it allows to individualize the strategy to follow during the intake according to the nutritional, metabolic and dietary habits of the person with diabetes.On the other, it helps to draw the equivalences of the different menus depending on the content of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and caloric contribution.

In addition, these plans include food conversion tables through a system of rations that help the patient establish equivalences."The person with diabetes that has a diet by portions knows that for example 20 grams of bread are equivalent to a ration of carbohydrates. If you have four portions of bread during food, you can replace them with other types of food with theSame glycemic content, ”explains María Luisa Amaya, a specialist in therapeutic and diabetological education and member of the Scientific Committee of the Diabetes Formative Program of the University of Alcalá.

These equivalence tables have also been adapted to include foods and sweets typical of these dates of the year."A portion of 25 grams of nougat or a traditional polvorón equals about 30 grams of bread, that is, a ration and a half of carbohydrates each. In this way, the patient can remove a ration and a half of bread or other breadof flour and replace it with very controlled amounts of certain foods that are taken exclusively at Christmas, "says Amaya.

However, it should be taken into account that these equivalences must be restricted to indicated dates, because the amount of carbohydrates can be the same, but the caloric content of certain foods can be much higher.In this sense, endocrinology specialists also remember that people with diabetes should limit their consumption of alcoholic beverages.Although there are fermented drinks with a low carbohydrate content, such as cavas, and some conversions with other foods can also be established, the patient must have an exhaustive control over alcohol intake throughout the Christmas period.

Thus, to compensate for this greater caloric contribution, experts insist on the importance of including sport within the individualized diabetes patient program."If a person consumes a diet with the same amount of rations but with greater contribution of calories, this must be compensated with a progressive and adapted increase of their physical activity," adds Amaya.

Avoid the modification of insulin ratios

In addition, this educator points out that there are people who handle their diabetes well and are able to modify the insulin units that must be injected to control their blood glucose levels.However, medical professionals remember that these insulin variations should be agreed with their usual endocrinology team.And in any case, they advise them as a general rule for all those patients who have not received adequate therapeutic training, since they involve certain dangers if they do notThey practice rigorously.

For this reason, and beyond that with insulin certain mismatches can be compensated in glycemic control, experts agree that the best mechanism to control diabetes during Christmas is the one exercised by the patient himself.

Finally, the expert in therapeutic and diabetological education recalls that "type 2 diabetes does not disappear at the time of year or any other circumstance. Therefore, while still enjoying the holidays, the people who live with this disease, thanThere are many, they can't stop taking care of themselves. "And it is that adjusting the intake of certain foods does not imply the need to develop a different menu from the rest of the diners.As noted, "what you have to try is not to vary the glycemic content during intake, although food varies. To facilitate this task, from the field of therapeutic education we recommend the adoption of a food plan for rations or equivalences"

In this sense, the Spanish Family and Community Medicine Society (SEMFyC) and Lilly have an initiative for education and support for people with diabetes, the program 'In last is Thursday', whose objective is that health professionals and patients canWork together to see the disease in a different way.Each month this program includes a question of interest for both;During the month of December, the doubts of the patients for the parties, family or work dinners and the advice given to them have been highlighted.

   0