Nutrition and diet in prediabetes: detailed description

The fundamental point in prediabetes therapy is not drug treatment, but a low-carbohydrate diet with limited fat consumption. Without proper nutrition, no other measures will help normalize the pancreas and stabilize sugar levels within normal limits.

For patients with prediabetes, doctors may recommend one of two suitable diets. Diet No. 9 is suitable for those whose weight is normal, but for people with extra pounds and obesity, the doctor will suggest adhering to the requirements of diet No. 8. These two diets differ only in the recommended daily intake of calories and carbohydrates: diet No. 9 - up to 2400 kcal, diet No. 8 - up to 1600 kcal per day.

In diet No. 8, the consumption of salt (up to 4 g per day) and water (up to 1.5 l) is limited. However, overweight patients should consume more vitamin C, iron, calcium and phosphorus than people with normal weight.

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What can and what can not?

In order to more easily navigate the requirements of the dietary table, it is worth carefully studying the information explaining which foods can and cannot be eaten with prediabetes.

So, let's list the permitted products for prediabetes:

• Bread and other products made from rye flour and bran, as well as whole wheat flour
• Any pasta made from whole wheat
• Vegetable broths and soups based on them
• Okroshka
• Lean meat (veal, chicken, rabbit, turkey) – can be boiled, stewed with vegetables and baked
• Boiled tongue
• Sausages: boiled doctor's sausage and chicken sausages
• Lean fish (pollock, pike perch, pike, hake, etc.) – boil or bake in the oven
• Canned fish without added oil (in its own juice or tomato)
• Milk and low-fat dairy products (kefir, cottage cheese, yogurt)
• Cottage cheese made without added salt
• Dishes made from cereals (buckwheat, pearl barley, oatmeal and barley)
• Rice and wheat porridge (in small quantities)
• Pumpkin, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, asparagus, Jerusalem artichoke, celery and many other vegetables
• Any kind of cabbage
• Lettuce and greens
• Some carrots and beets
• Dishes from soybeans, beans, lentils and peas
• Fresh and baked fruits
• Fruit puree, jelly, sugar-free mousse
• Fruit kissels without sugar
• Nuts
• Homemade sauces with milk and tomato
• Low-fat sauces for dishes
• Black and green tea, herbal teas and decoctions, rosehip decoction,
• Compotes without sugar
• Fresh vegetable juices
• Fruit juices for children
• Mineral and purified water (preferably still)
• Any vegetable oils (unrefined)

In addition, it is allowed to eat first courses cooked in weak meat or mushroom broth without fat, low-fat sour cream (once a week) a couple of times a week. Potatoes can be very small and only boiled or baked. Butter can be added to prepared dishes in small portions.

Now let's list the foods and dishes prohibited for prediabetes:

• Yeast dough pastries with added butter and puff pastry
• White flour pasta
• Rich meat and mushroom broths, as well as dishes based on them
• Vermicelli soup
• Fatty meats (eg pork, duck, lamb) are prohibited in any form
• Smoked meats and sausages

• Any canned meat
• Fatty fish in any form
• Smoked, dried and salted fish
• Canned fish in oil
• Fish roe
• Homemade milk and high-fat dairy products
• Fatty cottage cheese, high-fat sour cream, cream
• Sweet dishes made from milk
• Hard and brine cheeses
• Fresh and dried grapes (dates and bananas also have high sugar content)
• Ice cream, jams, preserves, creams, candies
• Semolina and dishes made from it
• Instant porridge
• Canned vegetables
• Ketchup, mayonnaise, store-bought sauces, hot spices and fatty gravies
• Sweet carbonated drinks
• Grape and banana juice
• Lard, rendered internal fat, lard
• Margarine

To facilitate the work of the pancreas, it is recommended to switch to fractional meals (up to 6 times a day with a portion of no more than 200 g). Products from cereals and porridge for prediabetes (except rice) are best consumed in the morning, fruits - in the first half of the day, protein foods - at lunch and in the evening.

It is necessary to exclude from the diet foods and dishes that contain fast carbohydrates (honey, sugar, sweet fruits, premium flour), semi-finished products, fast food products, high-calorie sugar substitutes. In prediabetes, it is better to replace sweet fruits with sour-sweet or sour ones.

Dried fruits are not prohibited products for prediabetes, but you should still not consume them in large quantities.

Prediabetes Diet Menu for a Week

Let's look at an example of a menu that might be used by patients with prediabetes.

Monday

• 1 breakfast – oatmeal, a piece of wholemeal bread, tea with stevia
• 2nd breakfast – fruit puree
• Lunch - vegetable puree soup, 2 egg omelette, steamed chicken cutlet
• Afternoon snack – a glass of yogurt with biscuits
• Dinner – chicken soufflé, herbal tea

Tuesday

• 1 breakfast – pearl barley porridge, green tea with diet bread
• 2nd breakfast – baked apple
• Lunch – vegetable soup with weak chicken broth, cauliflower puree, boiled fish
• Afternoon snack – cottage cheese with added fruit
• Dinner - stewed cabbage with a small piece of gray bread, rosehip decoction

Wednesday

• 1 breakfast – barley porridge, fruit compote
• 2nd breakfast – fresh vegetable salad with olive oil
• Lunch – baked fruit with a piece of bologna sausage, fruit mousse
• Afternoon snack – cheesecakes baked in the oven
• Dinner – casserole of low-fat cottage cheese and fruit

Thursday

• 1 breakfast – buckwheat porridge, weak coffee with milk and sugar substitute
• 2nd breakfast – fruit salad
• Lunch – vegetable broth soup with a piece of lean boiled meat, pumpkin puree
• Afternoon snack – a glass of kefir
• Dinner – steamed omelette with a piece of rye bread, tea

Friday

• 1 breakfast – oatmeal, coffee with milk
• 2 breakfast -
• Lunch – zucchini puree soup, steamed omelette
• Afternoon snack – fruit and berry jelly
• Dinner – cheesecakes, green tea

Saturday

• 1 breakfast – pasta casserole with sausage, green tea
• 2nd breakfast – boiled beet salad
• Lunch – soup with weak mushroom broth, buckwheat porridge, steamed turkey cutlet
• Afternoon snack – a glass of fermented baked milk
• Dinner – fish with vegetables, baked in the oven, herbal infusion

Sunday

• 1 breakfast – pearl barley porridge, black tea with milk and stevia
• 2nd breakfast – cabbage pancakes
• Lunch – okroshka, boiled egg, a piece of bread made from bran flour
• Afternoon snack – cottage cheese with fruit
• Dinner – eggplants baked with minced meat and tomatoes

As we can see, even with a meager choice of products, if desired, you can put together a quite decent menu that will help you successfully overcome any health problems that have arisen.

Recipes for prediabetes

Now we will give you some recipes that will help diversify your table for prediabetes.

Chicken soufflé

• Chicken fillet – 400 g
• Egg white – 2 pcs.
• Skim milk – 100 g
• Flour – 1 tbsp.
• Large carrots – 1 pc.
• Small onion – 1 pc.

Cut the meat and vegetables into small pieces and grind them using a blender, gradually adding milk and flour. Salt to taste. Separately beat the whites into a firm foam. Carefully combine and gently mix both masses. Line a baking dish with parchment and pour in the finished puree. Place in an oven preheated to 180 ^o C for 20-30 minutes.

The dish can be diversified by adding other vegetables (zucchini, cabbage or pumpkin), which can be left in pieces rather than chopped into puree.

Diet cabbage rolls

• 10 leaves of white cabbage or Chinese cabbage
• 300 g lean chicken or turkey mince
• 3 medium tomatoes
• Onion, carrot, bell pepper – 1 each.

Blanch the cabbage leaves in water for about 2 minutes. Add finely chopped onion and bell pepper to the minced meat, as well as coarsely grated carrots. Mix everything, add salt and wrap in cabbage leaves. Place the finished cabbage rolls in a saucepan and pour in boiling, lightly salted water so that the cabbage rises slightly above the water. Peel the tomatoes, chop in a blender and add to the saucepan along with the bay leaf. Simmer the cabbage rolls in the oven for about 40 minutes (temperature 180 ^o C).

Pumpkin and Lentil Salad

• Lentils - 1 cup
• Garlic - 1 clove (optional)
• Radish - 100 g
• Pumpkin – 200 g
• A little vegetable oil for dressing, salt

Wash the radish and cut into circles. Boil the pumpkin and cut into cubes. Boil the lentils for 25-30 minutes. Mix all the ingredients, add chopped garlic, salt and olive oil, stir and you can eat.

Fruit and Vegetable Smoothie

• Walnuts – 3 pcs.
• Apples - 1 pc.
• half a stalk of celery
• Low-fat yogurt – ½ cup
• Sugar substitute

Grind the washed and chopped celery in a blender, add peeled and chopped apples and pour in the yogurt, continuing to whisk the mixture. Pour into prepared glasses and sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Instead of yogurt in the recipe, you can use low-fat kefir, non-carbonated mineral water, or apple juice diluted with water.

There are many more healthy and tasty recipes that allow people with prediabetes not to feel inferior and to diversify their table without harming their health. All you need is just a bit of desire and a pinch of imagination.