Think Before You Eat: 15 Foods to Avoid with Diabetes

I'll be showing 1 of the 15 foods to avoid along with an healthier alternative recipe. Another of many great articles and recipes from one of my favorite web sites, Diabetic Living On Line.

Think Before You Eat: 15 Foods to Avoid with Diabetes

By Lori Brookhart-Schervish
These top food offenders contain high amounts of fat, sodium, carbohydrate, and calories that may increase your risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, uncontrolled blood glucose, and weight gain. The good news is you can indulge in your favorite foods and still eat healthfully with our satisfying and delicious alternatives.

#9 Regular Soft Drinks

Sugar-laden soda is a quick derailer to your diabetic diet. Every 4 grams of sugar equals 1 teaspoon, so if your drink has 30 grams of sugar, that's equal to 7.5 teaspoons of sugar.

Drinks with high sugar and carbohydrate contents not only add calories and carbs to your meal plan, but they may also raise blood glucose and cause weight gain.

Of course, there are diet versions of many drinks that are made with artificial sweeteners.

Get more on drink choices that won't add to your waistline:

Staggering Statistics:

You may decide to shake up your beverage choices after totaling the calories and carbohydrates. Like Jerry Murris, 52 and type 2, of Fairfax, Virginia, you may find your drinks have more calories and carbs than you expect. "I changed my ways lickety-split," Jerry says. The results? He shed pounds, plus his blood glucose levels dropped toward normal. You may be able to achieve this too, just by changing to lower calorie and sugar-free beverages.

A team of obesity experts formed as a Beverage Guidance Panel reports that American adults consume an average of 230 calories from beverages daily. Worse, nearly half drink 500 calories a day. In 1977, Americans consumed two calorie-sweetened beverages each day. By 1996, the number of portions rose to 2.5. That's more calories from beverages each day, especially because portion sizes during the same time period grew from 14 ounces to 21 ounces.

Barry Popkin, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition and coauthor of the proposed beverage guidance system, blames this increase on the growing number of liquid high-calorie options that are now available at take-out windows, supermarkets, and convenience stores.

"This greater, grander array of calorie-containing beverages is one strong factor underlying our obesity epidemic and the closely related higher incidence of type 2 diabetes," he says.