batampos– Nutritionist Ekky M. Rahardja, MS, Sp.GK, from the Indonesian Association of Clinical Nutritionists. advise diabetics to eat smaller portions but more often.
“The body (of diabetics) is less able to push sugar into the cells, so it’s better to eat small portions but often,” said Ekky in a health webinar, Thursday.
The usual portion of the meal for a healthy person can be divided into two, and eaten at intervals of three hours. All healthy foods can be consumed, as long as they do not contain preservatives or other additives.
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Rice as a source of carbohydrates is also not the “enemy” if the portion is adjusted and combined with pieces of vegetables that contain carbohydrates.
“The simplest thing for each meal is five tablespoons of rice, also add vegetables such as carrots, beans, broccoli, corn or chayote and steamed,” he explained.
Steaming process does not need to be too long, just two minutes. Mix vegetable pieces with rice so that blood sugar levels rise slowly after eating.
“You can eat as many vegetables as you want as long as you don’t use additives like peanut sauce or mayonnaise,” he advises.
If a diabetic patient’s weight is normal, a healthy diet can be maintained. However, if you are overweight, he suggests limiting your intake of fats and carbohydrates that are easily absorbed and quickly raise blood sugar.
Limit the use of sugar, because sugar intake in healthy people should not be too much. In Indonesia, the recommended daily sugar intake limit has been stated in the Minister of Health Regulation No. 30 of 2013 where the maximum sugar consumption for adults is 50 grams or four tablespoons per day to avoid the risk of diseases such as diabetes.< /p>
“Sugar is a sweetener, if you don’t need a sweetener, you don’t have to use sugar,” he said.
If you really want to eat something sweet, try not to eat it on an empty stomach because it is easily absorbed by the body. However, he does not advise diabetic patients to consume sugary drinks including soft drinks for health reasons.
Everyone, including diabetics, needs all the nutrients that are good for the body, including nutrients from fruit. For fruit consumption, diabetics are advised to eat fruit after eating. For example, a diabetic patient can eat oranges, after a gap of a few hours the patient can eat three dates, only after that diabetics can enjoy six pieces of fruit, such as sliced papaya.
Ekky said that daily food needs to be considered not only for diabetics, but also for everyone.
“Also use natural sweeteners without calories, so that blood sugar is controlled every day,” he explained. (*)
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