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Toby Smithson
Toby Smithson, RDN, CDE, has managed her own diabetes for more than 40 years, and founded DiabetesEveryDay.com to share her insights into diabetes self-management.
Articles & Books From Toby Smithson
Step by Step / Updated 06-24-2016
Some foods are just big-time healthy, and with diabetes so closely connected to food and nutrition, these are the foods you want to incorporate into your daily eating habits.Oats are a whole grain, so they are a great start toward healthy right off the bat.Oats are most noted for bringing a specific soluble fiber called beta-glucans to the rescue.
Step by Step / Updated 06-24-2016
Much about managing diabetes can be costly, but food doesn’t need to be one of them. A diet that’s right for diabetes is a diet that’s right for virtually anyone, and there are enough foods that fit the bill for blood glucose control and heart health that your budget can remain flexible, and your choices are still many.
Step by Step / Updated 06-24-2016
An elevated body mass index (BMI), where body weight to height falls into the overweight, obese, or even higher category on that scale, is very common among people with type 2 diabetes, and it isn’t just a coincidence. Excess weight is a distinct risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, and excess weight makes blood glucose more difficult to control after diabetes is diagnosed.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes and as insulin-dependent diabetes, is what many people think of as real diabetes. The familiar image is one of an exceptionally thin child taking insulin injections, and that’s a fairly accurate image.
Type 1 diabetes does tend to occur at a younger age, and insulin injections are a routine part of having type 1 diabetes.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
A heart healthy diet is especially important for people with diabetes. Most people know that diet can contribute to unhealthy cholesterol levels, and those unhealthy cholesterol levels raise the risk for heart disease. A heart healthy diet can do more than improve cholesterol levels.
Heart health is so important to diabetes because diabetes itself raises the risk of heart attack or stroke two to four times higher than the risk for people without diabetes.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Type 2 diabetes doesn’t begin as a problem with insulin production like type 1 diabetes. In fact, the beta cells at the insulin factory are often working overtime. The high blood glucose levels that define type 2 diabetes result from a problem getting glucose into the cells that need it.
With type 2 diabetes some of the locks have been changed, and the key (insulin) doesn’t work.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Diabetic diet is a phrase you’ll hear constantly, and what could be more discouraging than to imagine yourself sentenced to an eating plan that’s so restrictive only people with diabetes have to subject themselves to it? The truth is almost the complete opposite. An eating plan that works for diabetes would be an appropriate eating plan for nearly anyone.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The Atkins Diet, surely the best-known low-carbohydrate weight loss plan, is based on a theory that excess weight is mostly related to excess carbohydrates. And this eating plan may be attractive to people with diabetes because the constant focus on carbohydrates in diabetes management plans could be interpreted to confirm the notion that carbs are inherently bad.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Who doesn’t love crunchy snacks? If you do, it’s best to share your love only with the snacks that love you back, and that means studying the nutrition labels for fat, carbohydrate (both potatoes and corn are carbohydrate foods), sodium, and added sugar.
About 12 to15 potato or corn chips make a 15 carbohydrate gram carb choice, and those few chips can come with 10 grams of fat or more, and 10 percent of your daily recommendation for sodium.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
One trick to eating healthier is keeping diabetic-friendly choices available at all times. You can fight the urge to hit the fast-food drive-through and instead whip up a convenient and healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack if you keep the right foods handy. Some healthy foods to always have on hand in your pantry include:
Olive oil or canola oil for healthy, unsaturated fats
Egg substitute for the high-quality egg white protein without the fat and cholesterol
Frozen fruits and vegetables for healthy choices at every meal
Herbs and spices, fresh or dried, to replace salt with intense flavors
Whole-grain, high-fiber tortillas for sandwich-like lunches without the full amount of carbohydrates in bread
Canned tuna (in water) to have healthy seafood available anytime — aim to eat seafood twice each week
Almonds, walnuts, or peanuts for healthy fats
Black beans (or your favorite beans) for healthy carbohydrate, protein, and soluble fiber Buy no-added-salt varieties of canned beans
Low-fat dairy products, including 1 percent or skim milk, and no-fat regular or Greek yogurt.