Special dietary guidelines have been developed for diabetic patient in Czech Health SPA resorts.
The main points of the dietary are:
-get overall weight control
-achieve the control of blood sugar levels through personalizing carbohydrates choice
-reducing fat consumption, particularly saturated fat
Doctor Kalousek from Spa-Resorts.cz emphasizes, that for each forms of diabetes nutritional goals are different.
Because researches point that for patients with diabetes type I carbohydrates have the most effect on the amount of required insulin and also the preservation of blood sugar control. For the best blood glucose levels it is highly important to keep balance of carbohydrate consumption, insulin, and physical activity.
For child with type 1 diabetes is important keeping control over getting enough nutrition. Weight and growth patterns are a very useful guideline to follow the nutrition adequacy.
For diabetes type 2 patient the main concern is a weight control. In fact about 85 % of diabetes 2 patients are overweight. The main aim of a meal plan in these cases is improvement of blood glucose levels. Surprisingly for many patients, just a moderate weight loss and fair increase in physical activity can be good enough levers to control type II diabetes.
However children with diabetes type 2 represent particular challenges. Meal plans have to be changed quite often to follow the child’s different calorie requirements due to growth. In general three small meals and three snacks are required to fulfill calorie needs.
Dr Kalousek states:
In Czech curative SPA we help our patients with diabetes, including children to find optimal nutrition balance through the fooling factors:
PROTEIN
Keep consumption of protein somewhere in the range of 15 - 20% of total calories. Choices low in fat is recommended such as nonfat dairy products - fish, legumes, skinless poultry, and lean meats.
FAT
In general, reduce the amount of dietary fat. Less than 8 % of calories should come from saturated fat. These are the fats that increase "bad cholesterol» - LDL. Dietary cholesterol should be less than about 200 mg per day. In addition, consumption of unsaturated fats should be minimized.
SUGARS
Reducing consumption of high-calorie and low-nutritional foods, specifically those with a high content of sugars. Sugar containing meal should be substituted for other sources of carbohydrate, for example potatoes.
CARBOHYDRATES
Carbohydrate choices should obviously come from cereals or whole-grain breads, pasta, beans, fruits, and also vegetables. Carbohydrates differ in their calorie level, and thus also affect weight and blood glucose levels.
