When discussing diabetes and diets, we often focus on carbohydrates. This is because carbohydrates (carbs) are the foods that impact your blood sugar. Carbs are digested into glucose, or sugar, to provide fuel for your body, and in the process increase your blood sugar.
It is important to understand which foods do not increase your blood sugar: fat (which was discussed in another blog) and protein. Protein, carbohydrate, and fat are essential nutrients, meaning they each play a vital role in the human body. Protein’s job is to make and repair our body’s cells, which is important for growth and healing. This means that protein intake from our diets helps to build and maintain muscle in our bodies, as well as heal wounds on skin, organs, and bones that are injured (for example: cuts, burns, broken bones, wounds from surgery, etc.)
Studies show that people with diabetes are more prone to muscle loss compared to people who do not have diabetes. Given that protein is essential for building muscle, paying attention to protein intake is important for diabetes management. People with diabetes are more prone to foot ulcers, leading to amputations if left untreated. Because protein helps skin heal, it’s important to get enough of it when managing diabetes.
Protein gets digested much slower than carbs. When foods are digested slowly, nutrients move from the stomach to the bloodstream slowly. This is a benefit for people with diabetes. A meal mixed with protein and carbs will be digested much slower than a meal with only carbs. Therefore, it’s best to eat protein with each meal to help slow down the digestion and delivery of glucose (sugar) from the meal going from the stomach to the blood stream. This slow delivery prevents blood sugar spikes. Another benefit to slowing digestion is that it helps with satiety or a feeling of fullness. Have you ever had a high carb breakfast like cereal and found yourself hungry a short while later? Compare that to when you had a high protein breakfast, such as an omelet. Did that omelet keep you feeling full longer? Typically, balanced meals that include enough protein will keep you feeling full longer than meals with high amounts of carbs.
Best protein sources for people with and without diabetes include lean cuts of meat such as chicken, fish, eggs, low-fat or non-fat Greek yogurt and cheese, nuts, nut butter, and pumpkin seeds.
RESOURCES:
https://www.diabetesfoodhub.org/articles/the-importance-of- protein-for-people-with-diabetes.html
https://www.joslin.org/patient-care/diabetes-education/diabetes-learning-center/carbs-protein-and-fats-their-effect
All Blogs are written by Professionals in the fields of Nutrition, Human Development and Diabetes.