Remember!
•A water bottle with clean water and water purification tablets.
•Scissors and/or a pocket knife to open packets.
•A can opener and bottle opener.
•A bag or container for all waste such as empty cans, bottles, etc.
•Leave only your footprints behind!
Sick days
Your blood glucose may rise when you are ill and/or have an infection. It is therefore important to always take your prescribed insulin and/or diabetic tablets. Even if your appetite is poor, you still need to eat the necessary amount of carbohydrates. If you feel nauseous or vomit, it sometimes helps to slowly sip ice-cold ginger lemonade or Lucozade. When you start feeling better, you can have some dry crackers, grated apple, ice-cold pawpaw or vegetable or meat extract dissolved in hot water. Try to eat or drink something light at least once an hour. Vomiting and diarrhoea can lead to dehydration and uncontrolled diabetes. Consult your doctor in good time, but immediately if your symptoms last for longer than 24 hours or if your blood glucose remains higher than 15 mmol/litre.
Suitable carbohydrates when you are ill
•Ice-cold apple or grape juice.
•Ice-cold lemonade or ginger lemonade.
•Sugar-containing jelly, which has been dissolved and allowed to set.
•Ice-cold pawpaw, grated apple, stewed apple or canned pears.
•Boiled rice or pasta without any sauce.
•Toast – dry, add Marmite or Bovril later.
•Dry crackers such as Provitas or water biscuits.
•Plain sweet biscuits such as Marie biscuits.
•Weak black Ceylon or rooibos tea with honey and/or a slice of lemon.
•Soup with toast – strain the soup initially.
•Low-fat fruit yoghurt, custard or milk when you feel better.
Sport, exercise and diabetes
Regular exercise is an important part of a balanced lifestyle for everyone. Choose a physical activity that you enjoy, can afford and that you can do regularly (five times a week for 30 minutes). Going for a fast walk, a swim or cycling, exercising in the gym or attending aerobic classes are all good forms of exercise.
In the case of type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and blood glucose control can sometimes be improved to such an extent through exercise that the use of medication can be reduced or even stopped. It has also been shown that regular exercise can lower blood pressure and triglycerides.
In type 1 diabetes, regular exercise is also important but it is only advisable if you have already achieved good blood glucose control. People with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes should not exercise if their blood glucose values are higher than 15 mmol/litre because exercise can increase these values even further due to the release of glucose by the liver. The production of ketones can also be increased if insufficient glucose is released into the body cells where energy is produced. If your blood glucose levels are too low, carbohydrates with a high GI should be eaten before, during and after exercise.
Consult a dietitian to compile a suitable diet plan for you.
Pregnancy and diabetes
It is important that your diabetes should be well controlled before you fall pregnant. Because of changes in hormone levels during pregnancy, your nutritional and insulin needs will also change from time to time. Consult your dietitian regularly so that your diet can be adjusted in good time to benefit your own and your baby’s health. During this period it is particularly important to eat regularly, especially breakfast and the late-night snack. Starving yourself and skipping meals increase the risk of ketoacidosis, which can be life threatening for you and your baby. Use artificial sweeteners sparingly during pregnancy and avoid sweeteners that contain saccharine or cyclamates, because their safety during pregnancy has not been established.
Children and teenagers
The general guidelines for balanced nutrition for the growth and development of children and teenagers without diabetes also apply to those who have diabetes.
Visit the dietitian at least once a year so that the diet prescription and meal plan can be adjusted in good time to meet your child’s changing needs. Also take your child for a medical check-up at least once a year.
It is important that your child understands that a diabetic meal plan is a balanced eating pattern which has many advantages for a healthy body. Get the entire family to buy into this eating pattern and try to make meals pleasant occasions.
Put some effort into snacks and keep surprises in the freezer or cake tin. Older children can be taught how to make their own dishes and snacks. Children aged ten years and older should easily be able to prepare the recipes in this book. Children who are encouraged to prepare their own meals and snacks are being taught to take responsibility for controlling their own diabetes.
Can these dishes be stored?
Each recipe in this book has an indication of approximately how long the dish can be stored, if it needs to be stored in the fridge and if it can be frozen. The purpose of this information is to help you always have a meal or a snack available for emergencies and to plan your meals ahead of time for when life becomes hectic.
Measuring ingredients and the use of household and metric measures
If you measure ingredients accurately, you should not have problems with preparing the dishes in this cookbook. Accurate measuring cups, measuring spoons and kitchen scales are available commercially. A medicine spoon or baby bottle also works well when you need to measure small quantities such as a small amount of vinegar or oil. Shakers with volume indicators and lids that seal tightly are also readily available in most shops. The lid seals tightly and all you need do is to shake the mixture instead of having to beat it with a whisk, which also means fewer dirty dishes to clean.
You should find the following conversion table useful:
| Metric measure | Household measure | Metric measure | Household measure |
| 1,25 ml2,5 ml5 ml10 ml12,5 ml15 ml | ¼ teaspoon½ teaspoon1 teaspoon2 teaspoon1 dessertspoon3 teaspoons | 15 ml60 ml80 ml125 ml190 ml250 ml | 1 tablespoon¼ cup⅓ cup½ cup¾ cup1 cup |
Abbreviations
| ADSA | Association for Dietetics in South Africa |
| °C | degrees Celsius (metric unit of temperature) |
| CHO | carbohydrate |
| Chol | cholesterol |
| g | gram (metric unit of mass) |
| GI | glycaemic index |
| HDL | high-density lipoprotein (the “good” cholesterol carrier, which keeps blood vessels clean) |
| kg | kilogram (metric unit of weight) |
| kJ | kilojoule (metric unit of energy) |
| LDL | low-density lipoprotein (the “bad” cholesterol carrier, which clogs blood vessels) |
| med | medium |
| mg | milligram (metric unit of weight) |
| ml | millilitre (metric unit of volume) |
| mm | millimetre (metric unit of length) |
| MUFA | monounsaturated fatty acid |
| PUFA | polyunsaturated
|
