Diabetic Diet - Specific Diets

Specific Diets

The Pritikin Diet consists of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and so on, and is high in carbohydrates and roughage. The diet is accompanied by exercise.

G.I. Diet – lowering the glycemic index of one's diet can improve the control of diabetes. This includes avoidance of such foods as potatoes cooked in certain ways, and white bread, and instead favoring multi-grain and sourdough breads, legumes and whole grains—foods that are converted more slowly to glucose in the bloodstream.

Low Carb Diet – It has been suggested that the gradual removal of carbohydrates from the diet and replacement with fatty foods such as nuts, seeds, meats, fish, oils, eggs, avocados, olives, and vegetables may help reverse diabetes. Fats would become the primary calorie source for the body, and complications due to insulin resistance would be minimized.

High fiber diet – It has been shown that a high fiber diet works better than the diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association in controlling diabetes, and may control blood sugar levels with the same efficacy as oral diabetes drugs.

Paleolithic diet – The Paleolithic diet has been shown to improve glucose tolerance in humans with diabetes type 2, humans with ischemic heart disease and glucose intolerance, and in healthy pigs. These are a limited number of studies in a limited number of subjects, but the knowledge about the benefits of the Paleolithic diet in diabetes is emerging. The scientific foundation for the Paleolithic diet and the relationship between what humans eat and diseases of the western world (including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, ischemic heart disease, stroke) is the subject of a comprehensive textbook, which is geared towards both professionals and interested laypeople alike, and which spans over 2000 references.

Vegan diet – A low-fat vegan diet improves glycemic control similar to the ADA diet.