What Is a "Diabetes Diet," Really?
There's a perception out there that the diabetes diet is bland, restrictive, and hard to manage. Thanks to a better understanding of how carbs and insulin interact, and thanks to better tools like pumps and rapid-acting insulin, this is no longer the case. Understanding this new freedom and yet making smart choices is the foundation of establishing a good diabetes diet.
It's Not as Different as You May Think
It might not be fair to call what most assume is the diabetes diet — a strict meal plan that can never be swayed from — a myth. Not too long ago, that was the way of life. As recently as the late 1990s, children who were diagnosed with diabetes were immediately placed on rigid and restricted diets. Parents were taught to think in terms of meal plans and planned snacks and to not sway from that at all.
With the advent of rapid-acting insulin, health providers and families alike began to realize that flexibility was possible. This meant that, for the first time, kids could truly have an ice cream when they wanted it, dig into a piece of cake at a party, and even — be still the heart of diabetes parents everywhere — skip a meal if they were so inclined.
Fact
Rapid-acting insulin such as Humalog and NovoLog were approved for use in children circa 2000, giving parents the option of covering meals and snacks, thus allowing for more flexibility in eating plans.
This was revolutionary. But the world has been slow to catch on. Most in the general population still assume kids must avoid all sugars and many carbs. You'll hear it, and you'll need to correct it. It's a new world of diabetes, kids, and food out there. But it's still vital to think healthy and smart.
Why You Need Not Advertise It
In the old days, parents would have to let everyone know that their child could only eat certain things, so they wouldn't be tempted to eat things that their insulin and plan could not cover.
Alert
You need to prepare your child to respond when people say things like, “You're diabetic — you cannot eat that,” because it will happen. Help them with a stockpile of polite answers like, “My plan allows this. Thank you for your concern.”
Hurray for the fact that those days are in the past! Which means, for the most part, that you don't need to advertise (at least not in a big way) any special dietary needs for your child.
True, you will still need to remind your child and your family and friends that she must match food with insulin, but for the most part, just about anything you would feed a child on a healthy diet without diabetes works for your child, too.
