Fats are a source of calories from foods that provide energy, but they aren’t your body’s preferred source of energy. Calories from fat are used for energy if the body doesn’t have enough calories from carbohydrate. Insulin plays a role in helping your body store fat in your cells.
Fat provides a concentrated source of calories at 9 per gram. That’s more than double the calories per gram for carbohydrate and protein. There are four different types of fats—saturated, trans, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated. Fat-containing foods have varying amounts of these fats. Some of the fat you eat is in the food itself, like the fat in meat, chicken, and cheese. Some fat is added to foods, such as margarine on a potato, cream cheese on a bagel, dressing on a salad, or the fat from oil used in frying.
Fat Sources
These foods contain nearly all of their calories from fat:
• oils (all types)
• margarine, butter, and cream cheese
• salad dressings, mayonnaise, and sour cream
These foods contain many of their calories from fat:
• nuts and seeds
• sausage and bacon (regular)
These foods contain varying amounts of their calories from fat, depending on several factors, such as the cut of meat, whether the poultry is eaten with skin on or off, and whether the food is regular, low-fat, or fat-free:
• red meats (beef, lamb, pork, and veal)
• poultry
• seafood, fish, and shellfish
• cheese
• eggs
• milk and yogurt
Alcohol
Alcohol is obviously not a nutrient that the body needs to function, but many people choose to include alcohol in their eating plan. It is important to understand that alcohol contains 7 calories of energy per gram. It falls midway between the calories of energy per gram of carbohydrate and protein at 4 and fat at 9. Clearly, the calories from alcohol can add up. Another downside of alcohol is that the hefty dose of calories provides no nutritional value. You’ll learn more about the use of alcohol with diabetes in chapter 17.
QUICK TIP
Try to limit your consumption of alcohol to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men.
The Small Nutrients
Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins and minerals provide no calories. They are contained within foods and are essential for the body to function properly They help your body use the food you eat to make your body function. Each vitamin and mineral that your body needs performs a unique task to keep your body working and keep you healthy. In fact, beyond the known vitamins and minerals that foods offer, there are also hundreds of naturally occurring substances in foods that may protect against chronic health problems.
A key message about healthy eating in this book is to look to food first to get most of your essential nutrients. In the pages ahead, you’ll learn more about the importance of eating a wide variety of foods to get all the vitamins and minerals you need. Learn more about vitamins, minerals, and dietary supplements in chapter 7.
Water
Water makes up about 60% of your body weight. Water is considered an essential nutrient, and a constant supply of water is vital to the proper functioning of your body. Water contains no calories. You get water from the liquids you drink and the food you eat. Foods like vegetables, fruit, and milk contain a high percentage of water. People need about 8 cups (64 ounces) of fluids per day. This varies greatly with the climate you live in, the type of work you do, and your level of physical activity. It’s important to keep yourself properly hydrated and to use thirst as an indicator of how much water or other liquids you need. By far, water is the best beverage to choose to quench your thirst. You can learn more about choosing healthy beverages in chapter 16.
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Water makes up 60% of your body weight. Make sure you drink at least 8 glasses (64 ounces) of fluids per day.
The next two chapters describe the general healthy eating guidelines and the specific diabetes nutrition recommendations. This information will help you put the nutrition puzzle together.
Healthy Eating Guidelines for All
What You’ll Learn:
• the nine key healthy eating guidelines for everyone
• what and how people typically eat
• how the healthy eating guidelines for everyone match the healthy eating goals for people with diabetes
As a person with diabetes, do you wonder whether you should follow the healthy eating guidelines for everyone or if you need to follow a special set of guidelines? Do you wonder if you can (or should) lean toward vegetarianism or continue being a vegetarian if you already are? If you have heart problems, do you wonder whether you need to integrate yet another set of recommendations? Facing all these questions can be confusing, but don’t despair! Take a deep breath and get ready for a lot of good news and easy-to-follow healthy eating guidelines.
Today, most nutrition advice is quite simple and straightforward. In this chapter, you’ll see that the healthy eating guidelines suggested for everyone are very much in sync with the nutrition recommendations from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), which you’ll get the full details about in chapter 4. In fact, these guidelines are in sync with healthy eating recommendations from other important health associations, like the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. In other words, when it comes to healthy eating guidelines, today there’s essentially one set of guidelines for all.
Key Messages of the Dietary Guidelines
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are revised every five years. The 2010 edition will be available late in 2010. Look for these on the United States Department of Agriculture’s website, www.usda.gov It’s likely that nine key healthy eating messages will again emerge. Once you have read chapter 4, along with the rest of this book, you will see how closely these healthy eating guidelines echo the ADA recommendations.
1. Eat a variety of foods within the basic food groups while you stay within your calorie needs. In other words, make your calories count. Choose foods packed with vitamins and minerals. Don’t use your calories on foods that are high in added fats and sugars. These foods end up being high in calories and low in nutrition.
2. Control the amount of calories you eat to get to or stay at a healthy body weight. Staying at a healthy body weight through-outyourlife is a key to good health. It helps you prevent or delay many diseases,
