You can keep your diabetes well under control by sticking to a well-balanced diet including carbohydrates, fibre and fats. The key here is to eat at regular intervals to enable your body to use the insulin it produces and maintain an active lifestyle.
You can include special diabetic recipes in your cooking to develop healthy eating habits. However, this doesn’t mean that you not need to prepare a separate diabetic recipe every time you sit down to eat. You just have to know what kinds of food are recommended for you and what you must avoid.
Here is a quick checklist of all items you must include in your diabetic cookbook.

Carbohydrates: Fiber-rich carbohydrates including fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes are good for a diabetic. You should focus on limiting your carb intake by controlling your portion size or controlling your carbohydrate intake in grams. Try diabetic recipes by mixing whole fruits like apple, banana, pear or oranges with low-fat yoghurt. You can also find diabetic recipes for baked vegetable casseroles. Dairy products including milk provide essential nutrients to our body. They have a low glycemic index and should, ideally, be a part of your diet irrespective of age. But, you should avoid saturated high-fat milk. Stick to low-fat alternatives including skimmed milk, yoghurt and cottage cheese.

Fibre: Try and include as much dietary fibre in your diet as you can. Certain plant fibres cannot be digested or absorbed by the human body. As they move through the body to be eliminated from our digestive system, they absorb toxic waste, cleaning up our system on the way. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, peas and lentils, whole-wheat flour and wheat bran are all rich in fibre content. Try diabetic recipes using beans; they are not only filling, but they also cut down your cholesterol. Diabetic recipes for cakes using whole-wheat flour can take care of the occasional sweet tooth.

Fish as an alternative to high-fat meats: Certain species of fish including salmon, sardines, tuna and herrings are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce the level of triglycerides in the body. They should be included in your diet for a healthy hat. Red meat is not recommended for diabetes patients, you can try replacing it with low-fat fish like cod, tuna and mackerel.

Fats: Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can help in lowering your cholesterol levels. However, you should include them in your diet in limited quantities. Nuts like almonds, pecans and walnuts make for a healthy snack. But, considering their high-calorie content, limit yourself to shot-size serving. Try diabetic recipes using canola, olive and peanut oils as substitutes for butter and other cooking mediums. Avocados lower the level of cholesterol in your body and can be included in a diabetic diet. But, they have high-calorie content; so it is best to limit your weekly intake.

It will not be a surprise to you if you were told that over one-third of US children and teens eat fast food daily. There are many reasons fast food is so popular among kids as well as adults. For starters, they are quick to make and eat. Fast food tastes good and not heavy on the pockets. With working parents, kids are forced to eat junk while they are not at home.

Though reasons for eating junk are plenty, so are reasons for eating healthy food. Junk food causes more health problems than one can possibly think of. They are also responsible for the negative mental growth among kids and young adults as well as adults. Some of the most common and obvious problems junk food causes are diabetes, depression, nutrient deficiencies and high sodium levels.

A healthy diet for kids would include lot of green leafy vegetables, fruits, vegetable juices, dry fruits and nuts, eggs, fish and other seafood, and dairy products. Healthy balanced diet has all necessary proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins.

Here are some dishes you can make at home that would balance your kid’s diet and keep them off junk:

Breakfast “ This is the most important meal of the day and should be heavy as it will keep your kid energized through out the day. Include Granola cereal, yogurt, scrambled eggs, toast, vegetable omelet, whole grain pancakes, cooked broccoli with mushrooms, cooked leafy vegetables and fruits. Make sure fruits are not consumed with food and there is a gap of at least 15-20 minutes between fruits and food.

Lunch “ For lunch you can pack them spinach cakes as they are quick to eat and extremely healthy for your kids. Healthy wraps are perfect for lunch as they are again easy to eat and are quick lunch item for them to consume anywhere. Make sure to avoid unhealthy ingredients in your wrap and replace them with healthy food items such as carrots, beetroot, basil and other green leafy vegetables along with other items.

Dinner “ You can make healthy vegetable or chicken soup for your kids for dinner. Soups such as sweet potato and lentil soup is tasty and liked by kids. Creamy tomato soup is esay to make once you are home from work and is full of nutrients that adds to the healthy diet of your kid.

Food consumption is a very important activity in a person’s life regardless of their age. It’s is very important to stop the junk food intake of your kid as early as possible because junk food can and will hamper your kid’s health in the long run. So it’s essential to educate your kids of the benefits of consuming healthy food and harm of intaking junk food.

High fiber snacks can be a boring substitute that too when you have had a habit of eating guilty pleasure food on a daily basis. The down low with guilty pleasure or junk food is that, even though taken in good quantities because they taste so good, they often leave you insatiate which leads to overeating and eventually gaining unhealthy pounds.
You do not have to give up on taste to switch to an all high fiber snack. There are ample ways through which you can improve your experience with high fiber snacks.

You can use a multigrain bread in your sandwich instead of the regular white one. Multigrain bread is a good source of fiber and contains minimal gluten. The gluten which is there in the white bread in very large quantities is replaced with real fiber present in the multigrain bread. It is naturally heavy in nutrients and keeps you full for longer duration.

Kick the old habit of having plain old corn flakes with milk and replace it with oats and bran flakes. Oats and bran flakes are rich source of soluble fiber which is very good for digestion. Mix the oats and bran flakes with berries. It will definitely increase the Fiber content in your meal. Fancy a lavish pasta served with arrabiata sauce glazed with parmesan cheese? As delicious as it may sound, it has all unhealthy trans fat that will mess up your digestion. Go easy, and replace the regular pasta with wheat pasta or quinoa pasta, it will help you building on the fiber content.
Indulge guilt free by replacing your regular whipped cream loaded cake with carrot cake. It Includes oats and bran flakes in the crust and lace it with the occasional maple syrup and you will not miss that guilty pleasure cake anymore.

Broccoli soup added with cream and a hint of garlic is a great source of high fiber as broccoli is a great source of proteins and soluble fiber. If you are Hungry for a midnight snack, try having peanut butter sandwich. Peanut butter is a great source of fiber and even a greater substitute to your regular table butter. Add cheese and grill it until it melts to form threads and you have a grilled peanut butter sandwich, a savory high fiber snack, that will pamper your taste buds without adding on the unhealthy calories.