The nutrition basics that can help you to reverse diabetes is knowing about how you should implement carbohydrate, protein and fats into your day and how they affect your body. Understanding these elements is essential if you are to reverse diabetes. Once you have the knowledge and understanding you will be able to achieve optimum health.
Following is a list of nutrition basics for carbohydrate, protein and fats to help you understand these elements a little better:
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrates mainly come from plant foods like fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, and legumes. Carbohydrate is a part food, for example, sugars; most types of fibre and starch are considered a carbohydrate. The reason the body needs carbohydrate is because it is the main source of energy and is an essential source of fuel for the brain; your brain is the most energy demanding organ that exists in your body, unlike your muscle cells that can burn fat and carbohydrate, your brain cannot burn fat.
If you limit your intake of carbohydrate your brain will firstly rely on the stores of carbohydrate in the liver, these are used up within hours and then your liver begins to create glucose from non-carbohydrate sources that include amino acids from muscle cells. As we know that if your glucose is low you will suffer a hypo attack. The symptoms of this kind of attack are nausea, confusion, dizziness, and incoherent speech, which mean your brain is not getting enough glucose. The recommended daily dose of carbohydrate is around 50% of your energy requirements, which will differ slightly depending on your individual needs.
Protein
Protein is made up amino acids, which are the building blocks for your body as well as protein being part of every cell in your body, which is vital in the growth and repair of tissues in your body. This includes your skin, muscles, hair, blood cells, hormones etc. Like carbohydrate, protein is used as fuel and is quickly converted into energy.
Protein can be found in many animal and plant foods like meat, which includes chicken, beef, lamb and pork, fish, dairy products, legumes, and nuts. Protein contained in meat especially is rich in micronutrients like zinc, iron, and vitamin B12, and fish is a good source of omega-3 fats. Protein does not directly affect your blood glucose levels but up to half of the protein we eat eventually gets converted into glucose, this process is called ‘gluconeogenesis’ which means the creation of new glucose.