Article # 225. Diabetes Meal Plans and a Healthy Diet

Diabetes Meal Plans and a Healthy Diet

What is a diabetes meal plan?

A diabetes meal plan is a guide that tells you how much and what kinds of food you can choose to eat at meals and snack times. A good meal plan should fit in with your schedule and eating habits. Some meal planning tools include the plate method, carb counting, and glycaemic index. The right meal plan will help you improve your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol numbers and also help keep your weight on track. Whether you need to lose weight or stay where you are, your meal plan can help.

People with diabetes have to take extra care to make sure that their food is balanced with insulin and oral medications, and exercise to help manage their blood glucose levels.

This might sound like a lot of work, but your doctor and/or dietician can help you create a meal plan that is best for you. When you make healthy food choices, you will improve your overall health and you can even prevent complications such as heart disease and some cancers.

There are many ways to help you follow your diabetes meal plan. Some ways are creating your Plate or Carbohydrate Counting. These two meal planning methods are different but hopefully one is right for you.

What is a healthy diet?

A healthy diet is a way of eating that that reduces risk for complications such as heart disease and stroke. Healthy eating includes eating a wide variety of foods including:

• vegetables
• whole grains
• fruits
• non-fat dairy products
• beans
• lean meats
• poultry
• Fish.

There is no one perfect food so including a variety of different foods and watching portion sizes is key to a healthy diet. Also, make sure your choices from each food group provide the highest quality nutrients you can find. In other words, pick foods rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre over those that are processed.

People with diabetes can eat the same foods the family enjoys. Everyone benefits from healthy eating so the whole family can take part in healthy eating. It takes some planning but you can fit your favourite foods into your meal plan and still manage your blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol.

Article # 165. List of Autoimmune and Autoimmune-Related Diseases

List of Autoimmune and Autoimmune-Related Diseases

1.      Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM)

2.      Acute necrotizing hemorrhagic leukoencephalitis

3.      Addison's disease

4.      Agammaglobulinemia

5.      Alopecia areata

6.      Amyloidosis

7.      Ankylosing spondylitis

8.      Anti-GBM/Anti-TBM nephritis

9.      Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS)

10.  Autoimmune angioedema

11.  Autoimmune aplastic anemia

12.  Autoimmune dysautonomia

13.  Autoimmune hepatitis

14.  Autoimmune hyperlipidemia

15.  Autoimmune immunodeficiency

16.  Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED)

17.  Autoimmune myocarditis

18.  Autoimmune pancreatitis

19.  Autoimmune retinopathy

20.  Autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ATP)

21.  Autoimmune thyroid disease

22.  Autoimmune urticaria

23.  Axonal & neuronal neuropathies

24.  Balo disease

25.  Behcet’s disease

26.  Bullous pemphigoid

27.  Cardiomyopathy

28.  Castleman disease

29.  Celiac disease

30.  Chagas disease

31.  Chronic fatigue syndrome**

32.  Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)

33.  Chronic recurrent multifocal ostomyelitis (CRMO) 

34.  Churg-Strauss syndrome

35.  Cicatricial pemphigoid/benign mucosal pemphigoid

36.  Crohn’s disease

37.  Cogans syndrome

38.  Cold agglutinin disease

39.  Congenital heart block

40.  Coxsackie myocarditis

41.  CREST disease

42.  Essential mixed cryoglobulinemia

43.  Demyelinating neuropathies

44.  Dermatitis herpetiformis 

45.  Dermatomyositis

46.  Devic's disease (neuromyelitis optica)

47.  Discoid lupus

48.  Dressler’s syndrome

49.  Endometriosis

50.  Eosinophilic esophagitis

51.  Eosinophilic fasciitis

52.  Erythema nodosum

53.  Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis

54.  Evans syndrome

55.  Fibromyalgia**

56.  Fibrosing alveolitis

57.  Giant cell arteritis (temporal arteritis)

58.  Giant cell myocarditis

59.  Glomerulonephritis

60.  Goodpasture’s syndrome

61.  Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) (formerly called Wegener's Granulomatosis)

62.  Graves' disease

63.  Guillain-Barre syndrome

64.  Hashimoto's encephalitis

65.  Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

66.  Hemolytic anemia

67.  Henoch-Schonlein purpura

68.  Herpes gestationis

69.  Hypogammaglobulinemia

70.  Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)

71.  IgA nephropathy

72.  IgG4-related sclerosing disease

73.  Immunoregulatory lipoproteins

74.  Inclusion body myositis

75.  Insulin-dependent diabetes (type1)

76.  Interstitial cystitis

77.  Juvenile arthritis

78.  Juvenile diabetes

79.  Kawasaki syndrome

80.  Lambert-Eaton syndrome

81.  Leukocytoclastic vasculitis

82.  Lichen planus

83.  Lichen sclerosus

84.  Ligneous conjunctivitis

85.  Linear IgA disease (LAD)

86.  Lupus (SLE)

87.  Lyme disease, chronic 

88.  Meniere’s disease

89.  Microscopic polyangiitis

90.  Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD)

91.  Mooren’s ulcer

92.  Mucha-Habermann disease

93.  Multiple sclerosis

94.  Myasthenia gravis

95.  Myositis

96.  Narcolepsy

97.  Neuromyelitis optica (Devic's)

98.  Neutropenia

99.  Ocular cicatricial pemphigoid

100.                      Optic neuritis

101.                      Palindromic rheumatism

102.                      PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus)

103.                      Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration

104.                      Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH)

105.                      Parry Romberg syndrome

106.                      Parsonnage-Turner syndrome

107.                      Pars planitis (peripheral uveitis)

108.                      Pemphigus

109.                      Peripheral neuropathy

110.                      Perivenous encephalomyelitis

111.                      Pernicious anemia

112.                      POEMS syndrome

113.                      Polyarteritis nodosa

114.                      Type I, II, & III autoimmune polyglandular syndromes

115.                      Polymyalgia rheumatica

116.                      Polymyositis

117.                      Postmyocardial infarction syndrome

118.                      Postpericardiotomy syndrome

119.                      Progesterone dermatitis

120.                      Primary biliary cirrhosis

121.                      Primary sclerosing cholangitis 

122.                      Psoriasis

123.                      Psoriatic arthritis

124.                      Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

125.                      Pyoderma gangrenosum

126.                      Pure red cell aplasia

127.                      Raynauds phenomenon

128.                      Reactive Arthritis

129.                      Reflex sympathetic dystrophy

130.                      Reiter’s syndrome

131.                      Relapsing polychondritis

132.                      Restless legs syndrome

133.                      Retroperitoneal fibrosis

134.                      Rheumatic fever

135.                      Rheumatoid arthritis

136.                      Sarcoidosis

137.                      Schmidt syndrome

138.                      Scleritis

139.                      Scleroderma

140.                      Sjogren's syndrome

141.                      Sperm & testicular autoimmunity

142.                      Stiff person syndrome

143.                      Subacute bacterial endocarditis (SBE)

144.                      Susac's syndrome

145.                      Sympathetic ophthalmia

146.                      Takayasu’s arteritis

147.                      Temporal arteritis/Giant cell arteritis

148.                      Thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP)

149.                      Tolosa-Hunt syndrome

150.                      Transverse myelitis

151.                      Ulcerative colitis

152.                      Undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD)

153.                      Uveitis

154.                      Vasculitis

155.                      Vesiculobullous dermatosis

156.                      Vitiligo

157.                      Wegener’s granulomatosis (now termed Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA)

**NOTE Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue are listed, not because they are autoimmune, but because many persons who suffer from them have associated autoimmune disease(s)