Читать книгу DASH Diet For Dummies - Sarah Samaan - Страница 52

Rest assured that diabetes will change your life, but it’s usually preventable, and DASH can be part of the solution. With its emphasis on healthy whole foods and limits on sugary foods and snacks, DASH is a great fit for people with diabetes. Critics of DASH cite its relatively high carb count, but it’s important to remember that not all carbs are the same, and the fiber content of DASH is quite beneficial to anyone with diabetes. In addition, the carbohydrate balance is reasonable and can be adjusted (anywhere from 45 percent to 50 percent of your total calories). DASH includes plenty of nutritionally rich complex carbohydrates, including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, but it eliminates sugary beverages, candy, chips, pretzels, salty processed crackers, high-sugar snack bars, and other highly processed foods.

The DASH creators weren’t dummies. They realized that everyone needs to sneak in a little treat from time to time, so the diet allows for up to five not-so-healthy snacks per week. It’s up to you to make those goodies count. If you have diabetes, you’ll need to account for all carbohydrates and calories.

You don’t have to take our word that DASH works. Several important studies have evaluated the effect of DASH on type 2 diabetes showing that adherence to DASH can help reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes. In the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (a mouthful if there ever were one), more than 850 non-diabetic individuals ages 40 to 69 filled out a detailed food questionnaire. After five years, those whose diets were most like DASH were 70 percent less likely to become diabetic compared to those whose eating habits strayed the farthest from the diet.