Remember Roughage

Fiber has been going in and out of diet fashion for 30 years, ever since Dr. Denis Burkett, working in East Africa, proposed that it protected against bowel disorders. The experts are still arguing about that theory, but there is no argument against the proposal that fiber is an essential ingredient of the daily food for people with Type 1 diabetes. High-fiber foods have three advantages for people with diabetes: they reduce the rise in blood glucose after meals, so that less insulin in needed and the blood glucose curve is flatter. They help to lower blood cholesterol levels – a very important action for the long-term health of all people with diabetes, be it Type 1 or Type 2. And they tend to be very filling, so that they help you eat less without leaving you hungry. They can in the way help people reduce weight, and they also help in producing normal daily bowel movements.

Fiber is the relatively indigestible material of plant stems and cell walls. We do not produce the enzymes to break them down in our gut (unlike herbivores such as rabbits), so that fiber is not nutritious in itself but it helps to slow down digestion of carbohydrates. This is the main reason for its ability to keep rises in blood glucose levels after meals to a minimum. Researchers have adopted this property to produce medicines, such as acarbose.

Foods rich in fiber include multi-grain breads, long-grain brown rice, wholegrain pasta, green and yellow vegetables (such as peas, beans, lentils, carrots, turnips, beetroot, cabbages, sprouts and lettuce) and unrefined wholegrain cereals.


HOW TO COPE SUCCESSFULLY WITH DIABETES, Dr. Tom Smith