Sticking to your diabetes diet at lunchtime is easier than you think. Here's a week's worth of ideas to keep your midday meal interesting and healthy.
If breakfast is the most neglected meal of the day, lunch can often be the most hurried. Fast-food restaurants and food courts often prevail over more healthy options because we lead such hectic lives. But they don't have to be your only option — and, in fact, they shouldn't be your first choice if you have type 2 diabetes.
In general, try to pack your own lunch whenever possible — the health benefits can be enormous. Short on prep time? Put these quick and nutritious lunch ideas on your diabetes menu to fill you up and keep your blood sugar in check.
1. Salads
Salad should be a part of your lunch menu if you have diabetes. You can create a different salad every day of the week by varying your toppings. Try grilled chicken, shrimp, or fish, but avoid heaping on a lot of fattening ingredients, such as bacon bits and heavy cheeses.
Salads with lots of raw vegetables are best, including carrots, cucumbers, radishes, celery, and spinach. Sprinkle nuts or seeds on top, add a few dried cranberries, and garnish with some avocado chunks to give it zip. Always choose low-fat or fat-free salad dressings or, for a change, flavored vinegars.
2. Sandwiches
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As with salads, there are many ways to spice up a sandwich. Start with whole-grain bread or a whole-wheat tortilla. Add lean meat, such as turkey, ham, or grilled chicken; layer on your choice of veggies; add mustard, low-fat mayo, or hummus to the mix — and you have a filling and tasty lunch. Stay away from greasy chips, French fries, and other fattening sides. Instead choose fruit, a few pretzels, or carrot and celery sticks to complement your meal.
3. Hearty Soups
Soup can be a good option for lunch, with many healthy choices to consider. Chicken noodle, chicken and rice, and tomato (made without cream) are all good soup choices. Others include butternut squash, gazpacho and other chunky vegetable varieties, miso, and pasta and bean soups. Avoid cream-based soups and chowders. Remember, soup freezes well. You can make a large batch and freeze it in individual containers; with a microwave you have a nearly instant lunch.
4. Pasta
As long as you choose whole-grain pasta, you can eat all types of noodles, such as penne, angel hair, or spaghetti. Top it with a healthy tomato sauce, then add chicken, shrimp, or turkey meatballs and a variety of vegetables. Add a crisp salad and you have a healthy and filling lunch.
5. Pizza
Pizza can be a good choice &mash; in moderation. Choose a thin-crust variety, ask for light cheese, and include vegetables as the topping instead of fatty meats like pepperoni.
6. Tuna, Chicken, and Shrimp Salads
When you make these protein-based mixes, you can control the mayonnaise and the good-health factor. Choose low-fat mayonnaise, and not too much of it. Add fiber and bulk with chopped celery, diced bell pepper, and chopped onions to taste. Serve on whole-grain bread or scoop onto a bed of lettuce.
7. Veggie Stir-Fry
For a more exotic lunch, go for a bowl of vegetable stir-fry and brown rice. Avoid the fast-food version, which can be high in fat and sodium, and make it yourself by sautéing the vegetables with a healthy cooking spray and soy sauce. Prepare it the night before for dinner, making enough to bring leftovers for lunch.
More Healthy Lunch Tips for Type 2 Diabetes
To better control type 2 diabetes, keep these tips in mind:
Choose low-fat or fat-free salad dressings and watch how much you use.
Pick whole-grain bread over white bread.
Practice portion control.Follow the diabetes food pyramid: Eat more grains, beans, and starchy vegetables and less fats, sweets, and alcohol. In between and equally divided are protein choices, non-starchy vegetables, fruit, and milk and dairy products.
Choose lean protein sources, such as turkey, ham, chicken, lean roast beef, and fish.
Avoid fried foods.
Stay away from fatty chips and mayonnaise-based salads, like potato salad. Complement your meal with sliced carrots and celery or fruit salad.
If you are craving a sweet after lunch and fresh fruit just won't do, reach for sugar-free, fat-free frozen yogurt. Be careful of sorbets and sherbets that are loaded with sugar.
Avoid sugary beverages; drink water and tea instead.
Consult with a certified diabetes educator or registered dietitian to get more lunch ideas. How much and what types of food you should eat varies, depending on your specific needs — a dietitian can help create a meal plan that is right for you.
Showing posts with label body fat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label body fat. Show all posts
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Long Distance Runners Have More Coronary Plaque?
A group of elite long-distance runners had less body fat, better lipid profiles, and better heart rates than people being tested for cardiac disease, but, paradoxically, the runners had more calcified plaque in their heart arteries, according to a new study…
Investigators performed computed tomography angiography on 25 people who had run at least one marathon a year since 1985, according to senior author Robert Schwartz, MD, of the Minneapolis Heart Institute and Foundation. They compared the athletes with 23 control patients who were undergoing the same scan for symptomatic or suspected heart abnormalities.
In controls, the calcium plaque volume was 169 mm3 compared with 274 mm3 for the elite runners (P=0.028), the researchers reported at the American College of Cardiology meeting. The runners also had a higher calcium score and higher non-calcified plaque volume, although those differences did not reach statistical significance.
Lead author Jonathan Schwartz, MD, of the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver stated that the reasons for the high calcified plaque readings among hard-core athletes are elusive, "but the [runners'] favorable factors may be counterbalanced by metabolic and mechanical factors that enhance coronary plaque growth."
"You have to consider that these runners may be in a constant state of inflammation, and that may be why we are seeing more plaque," added Schwartz.
He said the researchers, who originally set out to compare their results with European studies using electron beam CT, sent letters to elite runners identified as having completed at least one marathon race in each of the last 25 years. "All the runners we contacted agreed to be in the study," he noted.
The investigators also identified a control group of 23 men who were undergoing coronary CT angiography for clinical reasons, typically for elevated risk factors or abnormal or/inconclusive stress tests.
The participants underwent 64-slice computed tomography angiography and were compared for blood pressure, heart rate, and serum lipids. The scan data were analyzed using commercial plaque characterization software for calcified and non-calcified plaque and calcium score.
No one is sure exactly what the plaque findings mean.
"I'm not sure you can make much from these data," added Maria Rosa Costanzo, MD, a spokesperson for the American Heart Association and medical director of the Edward Hospital Center for Advanced Heart Failure in Naperville, Ill. "We don't have any idea of the outcomes of these patients."
She also noted that the number of patients in the study was small.
But the investigators aren't finished. "More subjects are under study for clarification of these results," said the younger Schwartz.
Investigators performed computed tomography angiography on 25 people who had run at least one marathon a year since 1985, according to senior author Robert Schwartz, MD, of the Minneapolis Heart Institute and Foundation. They compared the athletes with 23 control patients who were undergoing the same scan for symptomatic or suspected heart abnormalities.
In controls, the calcium plaque volume was 169 mm3 compared with 274 mm3 for the elite runners (P=0.028), the researchers reported at the American College of Cardiology meeting. The runners also had a higher calcium score and higher non-calcified plaque volume, although those differences did not reach statistical significance.
Lead author Jonathan Schwartz, MD, of the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver stated that the reasons for the high calcified plaque readings among hard-core athletes are elusive, "but the [runners'] favorable factors may be counterbalanced by metabolic and mechanical factors that enhance coronary plaque growth."
"You have to consider that these runners may be in a constant state of inflammation, and that may be why we are seeing more plaque," added Schwartz.
He said the researchers, who originally set out to compare their results with European studies using electron beam CT, sent letters to elite runners identified as having completed at least one marathon race in each of the last 25 years. "All the runners we contacted agreed to be in the study," he noted.
The investigators also identified a control group of 23 men who were undergoing coronary CT angiography for clinical reasons, typically for elevated risk factors or abnormal or/inconclusive stress tests.
The participants underwent 64-slice computed tomography angiography and were compared for blood pressure, heart rate, and serum lipids. The scan data were analyzed using commercial plaque characterization software for calcified and non-calcified plaque and calcium score.
No one is sure exactly what the plaque findings mean.
"I'm not sure you can make much from these data," added Maria Rosa Costanzo, MD, a spokesperson for the American Heart Association and medical director of the Edward Hospital Center for Advanced Heart Failure in Naperville, Ill. "We don't have any idea of the outcomes of these patients."
She also noted that the number of patients in the study was small.
But the investigators aren't finished. "More subjects are under study for clarification of these results," said the younger Schwartz.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Body Fat Linked to Diabetes Risk in Older People
To avoid Type 2 diabetes, seniors may need to watch their weight just as closely as younger individuals do, a prospective cohort study showed....
Among individuals 65 and older, several measures of adiposity and weight gain were associated with a greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes during follow-up, according to Mary Biggs, PhD, of the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Seattle, and colleagues.
The hazard ratios ranged from 1.9 to 6.0 when broken down by sex.
Self-reported body mass index at age 50 and weight gain from age 50 to study baseline were both also associated with risk of incident diabetes. "We found it surprising that the relationship between adiposity or body fat and diabetes was so strong among older adults," Biggs said.
"I think the results affirm the importance of weight control during middle age and suggest that weight control remains important into older ages in terms of reducing diabetes risks."
Although overweight and obesity are well-recognized risk factors for Type 2 diabetes among young and middle-age individuals, the relationship has not been well studied in older adults, according to the researchers.
So they turned to the Cardiovascular Health Study, which prospectively followed 4,193 men and women who were at least 65 and free of diabetes at baseline from 1989 to 2007. The participants came from four counties in North Carolina, Maryland, California, and Pennsylvania.
At baseline, mean age of participants was 72 and their mean BMI was 26 kg/m2 for both men and women; 45% had prediabetes (fasting glucose of 100 to 125 mg/dL).
Through a median follow-up of 12.4 years, there were 339 incident cases of Type 2 diabetes, defined as use of diabetes medication or a fasting glucose of at least 126 mg/dL.
With increasing quintiles of various measures of adiposity, there was a corresponding greater risk of developing diabetes, with no significant differences by sex or race.
All multivariate models were adjusted for age, sex, race, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and dietary factors.
The magnitude of the increased risk associated with various measures appeared to fade with age, with about half the risk in individuals 75 and older compared with those 65 to 74. However, the interaction with age was significant only for BMI at age 50 and at baseline and for fat mass.
There are several possible reasons risk might be increased to a lesser extent in older individuals, according to the researchers.
"Among older adults, standard anthropometric measures may not adequately quantify body fat due to age-related changes in body composition, including decreases in skeletal muscle mass and height," they wrote.
In addition, among older individuals, regional fat distribution may be more important in the etiology of diabetes than absolute fat mass, the pathophysiology of diabetes may differ, and selective survival may be involved. Changes in body weight were also associated with diabetes risk.
Compared with individuals who had a weight fluctuation of no more than about 4 pounds, those who gained 20 or more pounds from age 50 to baseline or 13 pounds or more from baseline to the third follow-up visit had a two- to threefold increased risk of developing diabetes.
"Results of this study affirm the importance of maintaining optimal weight during middle age for prevention of diabetes and, while requiring confirmation, suggest that weight control remains important in reducing diabetes risk among adults 65 years of age and older," the researchers wrote.
Among individuals 65 and older, several measures of adiposity and weight gain were associated with a greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes during follow-up, according to Mary Biggs, PhD, of the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Seattle, and colleagues.
The hazard ratios ranged from 1.9 to 6.0 when broken down by sex.
Self-reported body mass index at age 50 and weight gain from age 50 to study baseline were both also associated with risk of incident diabetes. "We found it surprising that the relationship between adiposity or body fat and diabetes was so strong among older adults," Biggs said.
"I think the results affirm the importance of weight control during middle age and suggest that weight control remains important into older ages in terms of reducing diabetes risks."
Although overweight and obesity are well-recognized risk factors for Type 2 diabetes among young and middle-age individuals, the relationship has not been well studied in older adults, according to the researchers.
So they turned to the Cardiovascular Health Study, which prospectively followed 4,193 men and women who were at least 65 and free of diabetes at baseline from 1989 to 2007. The participants came from four counties in North Carolina, Maryland, California, and Pennsylvania.
At baseline, mean age of participants was 72 and their mean BMI was 26 kg/m2 for both men and women; 45% had prediabetes (fasting glucose of 100 to 125 mg/dL).
Through a median follow-up of 12.4 years, there were 339 incident cases of Type 2 diabetes, defined as use of diabetes medication or a fasting glucose of at least 126 mg/dL.
With increasing quintiles of various measures of adiposity, there was a corresponding greater risk of developing diabetes, with no significant differences by sex or race.
All multivariate models were adjusted for age, sex, race, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and dietary factors.
The magnitude of the increased risk associated with various measures appeared to fade with age, with about half the risk in individuals 75 and older compared with those 65 to 74. However, the interaction with age was significant only for BMI at age 50 and at baseline and for fat mass.
There are several possible reasons risk might be increased to a lesser extent in older individuals, according to the researchers.
"Among older adults, standard anthropometric measures may not adequately quantify body fat due to age-related changes in body composition, including decreases in skeletal muscle mass and height," they wrote.
In addition, among older individuals, regional fat distribution may be more important in the etiology of diabetes than absolute fat mass, the pathophysiology of diabetes may differ, and selective survival may be involved. Changes in body weight were also associated with diabetes risk.
Compared with individuals who had a weight fluctuation of no more than about 4 pounds, those who gained 20 or more pounds from age 50 to baseline or 13 pounds or more from baseline to the third follow-up visit had a two- to threefold increased risk of developing diabetes.
"Results of this study affirm the importance of maintaining optimal weight during middle age for prevention of diabetes and, while requiring confirmation, suggest that weight control remains important in reducing diabetes risk among adults 65 years of age and older," the researchers wrote.
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