Nutritionist Cooks Diabetes Friendly Recipes

Hey guys, my name is Jo Sebastian. I'm a registered nutritionist and dietitian and welcome to another episode of Nutrition Eats where we break down nutrition information and eat. Our goal in this series is to help you switch your nutrition recommendations into everyday habits and meals. So if you're ready, today's episode is about diabetes. Let's talk about diabetes. Full name, diabetes mellitus. Common types of diabetes is type 1, type 2, gestational and maturity onset diabetes in the young. Diabetes is essentially inappropriately elevated blood sugar levels because of lack of insulin or insulin resistance. What the heck is insulin? Insulin is a hormone secreted by your pancreas in the islets of Langerhans in the beta cells. Insulin is a hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels just like glucagon. You have your meal and what happens is glucose is taken by insulin to be brought to the cells for use now or later. So insulin basically brings down your blood sugar levels. On the other hand, if your blood sugar levels are too low, glucagon will take the stored energy and bring it to the bloodstream to the cells that need it. After you eat a meal specifically with carbohydrates, this carbohydrate is broken down into glucose which will then be used for energy either immediately or stored in the liver and the muscle as glycogen. Now let's talk about the types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is characterized by the destruction of the beta cells in the pancreas. Like we said, that is the cell that creates insulin. So basically insulin has a really hard time being created by those with type 1 diabetes. This is often due to genetics and autoimmune in nature. So this is the type of diabetes that usually needs those insulin shots. You know when you see it in the movies, they gotta like shoot themselves with some insulin. Type 2 diabetes on the other hand is when your cells don't respond regularly to insulin. Otherwise this is called insulin resistance. So as much as your body is able to produce insulin, it's either your body has a hard time actually responding to it, so insulin resistance, which means your insulin sensitivity is low and insulin sensitivity is your body's ability to respond to insulin. So your body has a hard time responding to insulin even if it keeps on creating as much insulin as possible. Sometimes the pancreas will start to burn out because it's making so much insulin that the body can't use and the blood sugar levels rise. So oftentimes those who have type 2 diabetes are either not producing enough insulin or the insulin that they do produce is not effective. Insulin resistance is multifactorial, which means there are many possible causes. But most often they are from lifestyle factors like sleep, diet, exercise, vices, and more. But interestingly enough, it actually has a higher genetic predisposition than type 1 diabetes, which means you are more likely to have type 2 diabetes if somebody in your family has it as well. Maudie on the other hand is a mutation in your gene which sort of acts like type 2 diabetes but in the younger generations. And this is more likely to happen if you do have somebody in your family who has it as well. Then you have pre-diabetes. So pre-diabetes is you're not really diabetic but your body already exhibits insulin resistance. So you do have elevated blood sugar levels. Oftentimes insulin resistance that keeps on growing over time and not addressed will develop into type 2 diabetes. Next we have gestational diabetes. So this is a type of diabetes that occurs in pregnant women who don't previously have diabetes. So if you aren't diagnosed with diabetes and then you get pregnant and then you do develop diabetes, this is called gestational diabetes. It can often clear up after you give birth but it's usually seen in the second and third trimester of your pregnancy. The thing is pregnant women tend to be more insulin resistant because of their extra nutritional needs. Now that we've gone through the types of diabetes, let's ask ourselves what are the signs and symptoms? How do I know that I have diabetes or what should I look out for if I should definitely get tested? Number one, extreme thirst. So for example, you drink a lot of water throughout the day but even no matter how much you drink, you still feel like you are thirsty. Number two is that constant hunger. Like we said, insulin resistance is when your body has a hard time actually catching those sugar cells and bringing it for you. So your body feels like it's never really fed. Then we have number three which is constant urination or frequent urination. Even if you're not drinking that much water, you still constantly need to pee. Then you have constant exhaustion. So your body isn't getting enough of that energy into the cells so you're gonna feel always tired. For type 1, you often have weight loss as one of the symptoms while for type 2 diabetes, you often have weight gain. And in longer cases of diabetes, slow wound healing occurs. So if you have a wound that is taking so long to heal itself, that could also be a major concern. If you feel any of these signs and symptoms, please consult your physician because we must get it checked. What are the risk factors for diabetes? Which means that what are the things that I might have that will increase my chances of having diabetes? Number one, genetics, lifestyle factors, an unbalanced diet, lack of exercise, constant overeating. These will also increase your risk for diabetes. Smoking and other vices like drinking alcohol, lack of sleep, aging, an increased body fat percentage, gestational diabetes, and also non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I've been diagnosed with diabetes. What do I do now? Well then comes in the management. Just because you are diagnosed with diabetes does not mean that it is automatically no hope because there are a lot of ways to manage it. You have your lifestyle interventions like working out and shifting your sleep and stress. You have your medications and of course your nutritional management. Do take note that everything we're going to say here is just a general recommendation. You still need to check with your own physician and dietician to make sure that the recommendations or the plans are made exactly for you. Especially if you need insulin shots or medication. Let's first start off with carbohydrates, the feared nutrient. Carbohydrates are a macronutrient that your body literally needs for energy. It's actually your body's preferred energy source especially for your brain and your blood cells. What happens is when we eat carbohydrates, the body breaks it down into sugars. Now sugars is not a bad thing, okay? This is just what it's called, your saccharides. So you have glucose, fructose, and galactose. Now like we mentioned, insulin will be bringing those glucose or those sugar cells to where they need to go so that they can be used for energy. Now what we want to do is give your body enough time to process it so that it doesn't feel overloaded. So again, are carbs bad? No. The average human needs 45 to 65% of their calories to come from carbohydrates. So let's dive into our diabetic tips. Number one, choose lower glycemic index carbohydrates. Again, carbs are not bad, we just have to choose the ones that can be more beneficial blood sugar-wise. Your glycemic index measures the impact of how fast a food item will increase your blood sugar and how fast it will drop it. Glycemic indexes higher than 55 usually say that it's probably going to increase your blood sugar a little bit fast, while lower than 55 will say that it's going to have a better impact on your blood sugar levels. However, there is a difference between your glycemic index and your glycemic load. And this is often what some people forget or don't give attention to. So even if you're choosing your low glycemic index foods, the load or actual impact to your blood sugar levels will differ. For example, one piece of bread on its own might increase your blood sugar. But to slow it down, we can incorporate some fat, protein, or fiber like chicken spread or peanut butter. That decreases the glycemic load. Number two, pair your carbs with protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Just like we mentioned, to reduce your glycemic load, you want to pair your carbs or dress your carbs with some companions to slow down digestion and absorption. Number three, space out your carb intake. There are some diets out there that will tell you to just eat one meal a day or just have all of your intake at this time. But oftentimes, when your meals are just compounded into one time of your day, your blood sugar levels can shoot up. If you space it out more evenly and equally, your blood sugar levels will be much more regulated throughout the day. That's why having meals or snacks every two to three hours is often a recommendation by dieticians to their diabetic clients. Because this can help you manage it better and decrease the risk of complications like hypoglycemia. Number four, mindful of your fat and salt intake. Diabetes does focus more on your carbohydrate intake, but because it increases the risk of hypertension, kidney concerns, and a lot of other things, we do want to be mindful of the intake that can possibly lead us to increasing other health concerns. This doesn't mean that you have to fully change your diet, we just have to be more mindful of that intake. Number five, proper energy balance. We don't want to eat too much, but we also don't want to eat too little. Especially because the more you starve yourself, the hungrier you get. Especially since your blood sugar levels will make you feel hungry anyways. Plus, overeating constantly may also spike that intake. But I do want to give a little bit of a disclaimer that there are many reasons why people might struggle with overeating. It could be related to restriction, it could be related to stress, or even the uncontrolled blood sugar. So don't be too hard on yourselves if you struggle with overeating. Just be mindful, take a step back, and take a look at your overall nutrition. And number six, lifestyle factors. Nutrition is one part of diabetes, but there are so many other things that you have to look into. Your vices, your sleep, your stress, and consistency with your medication. Nutrition is one part, but lifestyle is a bigger one as well. So basically, that was the breakdown of your nutritional recommendations. Oh, that was a tough one. But don't worry, because we're going to apply that into our meals later on in this episode. And we'll also be answering some of your diabetes concerns. So let's get cooking. Let's begin by preparing our onion and garlic. Did you know that when you crush the garlic, that is when the allicin, which is the nutrients, comes out? This always makes me feel the most, like, professional when I do this. I'm always like... How do we make budget-friendly meals? Especially when you have to pay for medication, you have to pay for doctor's bills, and so many things. It's always important to know that when you have local ingredients, it will always be a little bit less expensive. For example, we have mungo, malunggay. These are ingredients that can be very helpful when it comes to those who struggle with your budget. So this is a very budget-friendly and diabetic-friendly dish because it's low glycemic. We're using mungo, which has a lot, a lot, a lot of fiber, and we're adding as much nutrients as we can. Can I have rice with my meals? How much rice should I be eating? How much, in general, will depend on your overall needs. So I can't give an exact amount. However, I can give a quick tip for those who like to eat rice but struggle with their blood sugar. And that is not to eat hot rice or freshly cooked rice, eat it 12 to 24 hours after. And it will have a lower glycemic index with more resistant starch. And now we're gonna add in the mung beans. Don't forget your water. There. So while we wait for the mungo to cook, as we said, we just gotta put it aside. It's all good. Do what you gotta do. We're also gonna prepare our protein and I'm going to be using some tilapia or some fish. Is fish better than the other protein sources for diabetes? Well, it's usually a lower fat source and higher in some unsaturated fats like your omega-3s. It can be more nutrient-dense but it isn't necessarily better. You know, it doesn't mean that you can only have fish but it can be a great variety. All salted up and now we pan-fry. Whoa. Okay, we're back to the mungo. The fish is cooked and so is the mungo. So the last thing we add is the malunggay. So as we wait for the malunggay to cook, I will answer something that somebody always asks me when it comes to diabetes. What diet is best for me? I'm diabetic. Is there a specific diet that I should follow? Generally for diabetics, we do a balanced diet with moderate carbohydrates. So it doesn't have to always be super low carb. It doesn't have to be no carb, just moderate carbohydrates. And we practice carb counting, which is making sure that your carbohydrates are well spaced out throughout the day. We also prioritize, of course, your high fiber foods, high fiber carbs, unsaturated fats. So it's more of like general guidelines and recommendations. The mediterranean diet is often used though for those with diabetes because it tends to follow a lot of nutrition recommendations that can be very beneficial for diabetics. Oh look at the malunggay. It added so much color. Now it looks like fun to eat, yummy, delicious. All the ingredients are ready. Let's plate it. So we have our brown rice here, nice high fiber, lower glycemic index, and then we have our mungo. So now we're going to put it in the bowl. And just like that, we've got a meal. Let's jump into making our snacks. So we're gonna make like an egg wrap. So we're gonna be using our egg as a wrap for this dish. Is there any specific fruit or veggie or is there anything that is very specific for diabetics? As long as you are eating them in their full form rather than juice because that's where most of the fiber will be, definitely up to you what you will choose. But when it comes to fruit, it will depend on the amount per serving. So fruits do have fiber but we don't want to have like a giant bowl of mangoes at once. It would be better to spread it out throughout the day. One of the questions that we got in the previous episode, the one on Picos and Diabetes, asked us the question of can we So they're actually very different and that is actually why we made a whole episode dedicated to diabetes because it's still completely different from Picos although they do have some similarities. So as we mentioned in the beginning of the episode, type 1 diabetes is usually autoimmune in nature, a destruction of the beta cells in your pancreas giving you a hard time or your body can no longer produce insulin which is needed to use the carbohydrates. Well type 2 diabetes, you're insulin resistant which means you're able to still produce insulin in some amount but you're not as efficient as at using it. Diet-wise, there aren't major differences. It's just that you have to be a little bit more aware of your insulin shots and when you take your insulin if you have type 1 versus type 2. It just means that when you're type 1 the difference is really trying to time it with your medication for those meals and also being aware of your blood sugar levels throughout the day. That's why you see people taking their blood sugar in between the meals or in between the days so they can really watch it. So we're gonna flip and pray at the same time. That's it. Let's finish up our wrap now, put our ingredients on top. So our question is on gaining weight while diabetic. So if you're underweight and you're trying to gain weight with diabetes, how do you do it without raising your blood sugar levels? It's also important to note that in these situations it's very important to consult with your dietician because you have to know if you're type 1 diabetic, type 2 diabetic, any other health concerns that might need a little bit more intervention. But generally it's about increasing your calorie intake and if you are struggling with increasing your blood sugar per meal then spreading it out would be important. And also again incorporating your higher calorie food items that aren't too high in carbohydrates. But of course if you are type 1 diabetic because it's common for those who have type 1 to lose weight then it would be a mixture of having a dietician on board to help you out and your medication. So these are all general recommendations you still need to consult for your own specific case. Okay it's time to taste our dishes. I'm excited and this is actually the one I'm excited for so we'll start with this one. Tastes healthy but it's good. The fish it rounds out the whole dish. I think this is going to be really filling, really satisfying, high fiber. Perfect. Okay let's move on to this one. Everybody's waiting for this one. This is like a crepe. It's a savory crepe but a little bit of sweetness from the greek yogurt. Wow I did good. And there you go. Two really easy and when I mean easy I mean easy because I have literally no skills in the kitchen. So this is doable for anybody out there. High fiber, moderate carbohydrates, very helpful for those with diabetes. If you guys have any other health concerns or questions then leave that in the comments because maybe the next video can be for you. Oh don't we like that? We like that? Anyways thank you guys so much for watching. I hope that this video was helpful for you in any way and I hope to see you guys in the next one. Bye!