Today, without exaggeration, diabetes is not just a disease, but rather a way of life. With timely diagnosis and joint efforts of both the doctor and the patient himself, it is absolutely easy to prevent the development of complications of such a formidable disease and compensate for it as soon as possible and more effectively. The main attention of patients and treating specialists in this pathology is directed to the correction and normalization of plasma glucose levels. At the same time, the main and effective way to achieve a positive result is to maintain a diet and normalize the diet.
Basic principles of rational and proper nutrition in type 1 diabetes
With diabetes, nutrition should be balanced, regular, fractional, complete and comply with the following principles: carbohydrates during the day shouldbe distributed so that most of them are for breakfast and lunch; it is unacceptable to skip meals; with an increase in physical activity, it is necessary to increase the amount of carbohydrates in the diet; the presence of fat in the diet is mandatory; evenly distribute bread units for all meals; alcohol should be avoided completely.
Bread units
For all patients with diabetes, especially the second type, it is imperative to control the amount of carbohydrates. For the convenience of their calculation, a single measure of calculation was created and unified, called the bread unit (XE). One such unit contains from ten to twelve grams of carbohydrates. Thanks to the bread units, you can calculate the amount of carbohydrates needed for eating with various diet products. Such calculations are convenient and simple for the patients themselves.
Table of bread units for type 1 diabetics
The photo shows the tabular information results of basic food products and the number of bread units in them.
One piece of bread (which is only one centimeter thick), no matter what flour it is made from, contains only one bread unit. The fact that crackers are dietary may also seem deceptive, because they still remain bread (albeit dried), with the same amount of the aforementioned units in it. This fact causesmandatory control of food consumed.
The table of bread units for type 1 diabetics contains a list of all the necessary products for a complete diet. To count bread units, doctors do not oblige to weigh each product - the use of measuring spoons, cups and glasses is quite acceptable.
An important and interesting point is the fact that a thinner porridge is absorbed faster than a thick one. This feature will help in a faster impact on sugar levels. So, if a diabetic patient has an increased amount of plasma glucose levels, then preference should be given to crumbly cereals, and in a hypoglycemic state - liquid, for example, semolina. The table of bread units for type 1 diabetics pays special attention to such a common product, like potatoes. This root crop has a very high content of carbohydrates, as well as its "close relative" Jerusalem artichoke, the bioavailability of which directly depends on the method of their preparation. So, mashed potatoes increase the glucose content in the bloodstream much faster than potatoes cooked in their skins. The remaining root crops do not need strict control and counting the number of these units in them, since they are completely devoid of sugars or their content is negligible (see the table of bread units for type 1 diabetics).
Pumpkin and beetroot are the most preferred vegetables to eat asexactly one unit is contained in a piece of as much as 200 g. But the berry richest in carbohydrates is grapes. Only 70 grams contains 1 XE. Therefore, it is most often used in hypoglycemic conditions to quickly raise plasma glucose concentrations. It may seem strange why the table of bread units for type 1 diabetics does not contain eggs, fish, meat and cottage cheese at all. But this is not a mistake. These foods have little or no effect on plasma glucose levels and can be consumed without undue concern.
Table of bread units for type 1 diabetics
In the above image, the main foods are arranged in a kind of "food" pyramid, which give a visual representation of the importance of controlling the bread units in a particular product.
Conclusion
In diabetes, along with traditional drug therapy, proper nutrition is of great importance. To simplify the calculation of carbohydrate intake in the diet of such patients, the described units are used. Information about their content in a certain amount of food makes it possible to easily control your diet and compensate for the disease itself. Now you know what the table of bread units for type 1 diabetics is. Thanks to it, you can quickly and accurately calculate the amount of food you need and keep your sugar level within the required limits.
