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In today’s video, we are going to talk about Pizza and Diabetes.
Diabetes, or high blood sugar, is a condition wherein the glucose levels in the blood are persistently elevated. The condition has two types – type-1 diabetes and type-2 diabetes. In type-1 diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. Whereas, in type-2 diabetes, the body is unable to process blood sugar effectively due to insulin resistance. Diabetes is a condition that affects millions of people around the globe.
Increasingly erratic lifestyles, poor sleep quality, and poor dietary habits are some of the factors that may be blamed for the growth in the number of diabetics. Diabetics have to be very careful about what they eat, lest their meals lead to a sudden rise in blood sugar levels and lead to other complications. Diabetics usually have to follow a strict diet have to monitor their blood sugar levels regularly to keep a check on sudden fluctuations.
Creating a Balanced Diet.
A balanced diet for a person with diabetes includes essentially the same foods you’d find on a nutritionally sound diet for anyone — a combination of complex carbohydrates, lean protein, fruits, vegetables, and dairy. A healthy diet also includes healthy fats such as those found in olive oil, oily fish, almonds, and walnuts. A good balance includes obtaining 40 to 60 percent of your daily carbohydrates from carbohydrates, 20 to 35 percent from protein, and 20 to 35 percent from fat. To help manage diabetes, you should limit refined carbohydrates and mix your consumption of both refined and complex carbohydrates with other foods.
When Eating Pizza.
Pizza crust usually includes a crust made from white flour, a refined carbohydrate. To avoid causing sudden spikes in your blood sugar levels, limit the amount of pizza you eat at any one time. Order thin crust pizza and opt for whole wheat pizza crust when available. Your choice of toppings also proves important in managing diabetes. Cheese, a good source of calcium, contains some sugar. Order a pizza with light cheese. You also need to manage your weight and cholesterol to control symptoms of diabetes.
If you want a meat topping, chicken makes a better choice than pepperoni. And if you add a lot of vegetables — tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, green peppers, spinach — these complex carbohydrates will help balance out the refined carbohydrates in the pizza crust. The Glycemic Index, a system that rates foods based on their effect on your blood sugar, provides a tool for keeping your pizza as diabetes-friendly as possible.
Counting pizza carbs.
To count the carbs in pizza, you’ll need a hand. Your hand, to be exact. You can estimate the number of carbs in pizza pretty well by using your hand as a measuring tool. A traditional, hand-tossed pizza that is the size of the average adult’s hand contains approximately 30g of carb. And don’t forget to include the corners! A traditional, hand-tossed pizza that is the size of the average adult’s hand contains approximately 30g of carb. And don’t forget to include the corners! In this example, the slice of pizza is slightly larger than an adult woman’s hand, so we’ll call it 35g.
An adult’s hand-size slice of thin crust? Go with 20g. Deep-dish, pan, or Sicilian? Call it 45g. To see if your hand is larger or smaller than average, count the number of your “hands” in a frozen pizza that has a nutrient label or a slice from a restaurant or delivery company that provides nutrient listings for its food. Slice sizes can vary tremendously.
Sources: https://www.livestrong.com/article/409865-can-a-diabetic-eat-pizza-chinese-food/, https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/diabetes-diet-how-diabetics-can-include-pizza-in-their-diet-in-healthy-manner-2040231
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