Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: This is the latest health brought to you by the Maria Holder Diabetes center and the Barbados Diabetes Foundation. In today's program, we speak with Victoria Cox as she shares on the topic Eat Right, Live, better nutrition and diabetes prevention.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Hello. So my name is Victoria Cox and I am a registered dietitian and I see patients at the Maria Holder Diabetes center with regards to getting their eating on track, helping them manage their blood sugars or cholesterol or high blood pressure, whatever the case may be. And we plan for logistically how they can start eating healthily and keep eating healthily. A healthy diet that's going to be one that has of course, lots of vegetables, high fiber starches in moderate portions, lean proteins, fruits, mostly water to drink, and one that does not heavily feature sugary beverages and fried foods and things like that. And eating healthy can reduce your risk of diabetes plain and simply by helping your body avoid big spikes in your blood sugar as well as helping you to maintain a healthy weight, which is a major risk factor for developing diabetes.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: She spoke on possibly the worst things we could consume and what we can focus on eating and drinking for better health.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Sugar sweetened beverages are the number one problem when it comes to just blood sugar management and managing your diabetes because at the end of the day you have to eat something. We don't have to drink anything other than water. We want to, but we don't have to. And gosh, nothing raises your blood sugar like a sweet drink raises your blood sugar. So honestly, that is something that I am pretty hardcore about. I always tend to stick to basics. Basics are not wildly exciting like the many crazy diets out there, but it's realistically what works. And so I always call it, you know, planning healthy meals is a 1, 2, 3 strategy. You have some kind of high fiber starch, some kind of lean protein and plenty veg. With the recognition specifically for people living with diabetes that the starch or the carbohydrate is the component that turns into sugar. That's also the component that we tend to be a little heavy handed with in terms of portion. So I'm talking, you know, rice, potato pasta, ground provisions, breadfruit, those types of things. It is not that they are bad, but they digest into glucose or sugar. So as far as our 1, 2, 3 goes, that starch, we really need to portion control it. One common misconception, well, for sure would be where does plantain fall? We're going to, you know, you can go and buy food from somewhere and planting is going to be mixed in with your vegetables. But plantain is very much a carbohydrate. Planting will definitely affect your blood sugar. And so it belongs categorically along with rice and potato and things like that. And another common misconception is just because something is healthy, it won't raise your blood sugar. That's not true. Fruits are healthy, ground provisions are healthy, but ground provisions are still starch. They still digest into sugar. And with fruits, natural sugar is still sugar, as we all learn the hard way.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: During mango season, Victoria shared on the individualized meal planning services at the mhdc.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: So everything here at the Maria Holder Diabetes center is fully individualized. There is no, you know, one size fits all when it comes to somebody's nutrition plan or ideal pattern of eating. So everything is fully based on that individual because everything is individualized. I'm fully taking into account the types of foods that are easily available in Barbados, hopefully foods that are local, foods that are affordable, foods that people like have access to. So that's part of it being individualized. I'm not trying to take what somebody does and completely 180 it. I am trying to work with what they're already doing because that's the most realistic way to make change and just see how can we adjust it so that it is healthier, but something that is going to be realistic for them.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: And she also shared on very practical tips you can implement right away for optimal diabetes management and overall good health.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Really try and avoid deep fried foods. So in the cooking process, really wanting to move away from lots of added oils or butters, things like that, mayonnaise, cheese, anything that's high fat like that is going to be very calorie dense, high calorie, without giving you any more food, it can double the calories of your food. Right. So really trying to minimize the fat sources. As far as sugars go again, I know I will keep always coming back to the sweet drinks because a sweet drink is going to be packed full of sugar, but it's not going to fill you. So it doesn't make you feel necessarily more satiated. You're still going to want to eat something. So again, you're going kind of doubling up on calories and then sugar at the same time. Quite literally, everybody can benefit from meeting with a registered dietitian to review their nutrition patterns and whether they have diabetes or any chronic health disease or not, whether they just want to make sure that they're going to live their healthiest life and feel their best. So anybody can book an appointment to come and see me and you can contact me at the Maria Holder diabetes center at 417-0305.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: This has been the latest health brought to you by the Maria Holder Diabetes Center.
