Dietary management for high blood sugar: How enjoyable meals and hygiene habits affect blood sugar levels

Dietary Recommendations for People with High Blood Sugar

Maintaining a Pleasant Mood During Meals: Diabetic patients should not only maintain emotional stability in general, but also enjoy a pleasant mood during meals. A positive emotional state is just as important as nutrition. Studies have found that when people are in a good mood during meals, the secretion of various digestive juices increases significantly, making food taste better and aiding digestion and absorption, while also helping to stabilize blood sugar. However, a negative mood can suppress the appetite center, making food tasteless and significantly reducing appetite. Fluctuating emotions can also excite the sympathetic nervous system, promoting glycogen breakdown and leading to elevated blood sugar levels, which is detrimental to diabetic patients.

Therefore, diabetic patients should maintain a pleasant mood during meals. They should avoid anger and irritability at the table, try to avoid discussing unpleasant topics, and cultivate healthy eating habits.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease, so patients must ensure food hygiene to prevent food contamination and harmful factors from further damaging metabolic function, thus preventing illness from entering through the mouth. Food must be non-toxic, harmless, and meet nutritional and hygiene requirements. In their daily diet, diabetic patients should pay attention to the following dietary hygiene requirements:

(1) Some patients habitually bring their breakfast home in a shopping basket when they go to the market. While this saves time, it creates opportunities for cross-contamination between raw and cooked foods, easily leading to gastrointestinal complications. Therefore, diabetic patients must keep their shopping baskets clean, separating raw and cooked foods, and food from miscellaneous items. The shopping baskets should also be frequently exposed to sunlight for disinfection to prevent infection.

(2) Raw vegetables, raw meat, and raw fish often carry a large number of bacteria, even pathogenic bacteria and parasite eggs. Only after thorough cooking can these bacteria be largely eliminated. Furthermore, if raw and cooked foods are mixed, or if containers used for raw foods are used to store cooked foods, or if knives and cutting boards used for raw foods are used to cut cooked foods, cooked foods are easily contaminated, potentially causing intestinal infectious diseases. Therefore, raw and cooked foods should not be mixed at home, and utensils such as knives, bowls, and plates should be used separately. (3) Ginger is an essential condiment in the diet, but rotten ginger produces a highly toxic organic compound called safrole, which can cause liver cell degeneration. Diabetic patients are prone to liver dysfunction if they consume rotten ginger. Therefore, rotten ginger should not be consumed.

(4) Cooked meat products purchased from the market in summer are easily spoiled, especially after being contaminated by flies and dust. Various intestinal bacteria can easily grow and multiply inside, and direct consumption may cause illness. Therefore, cooked meat products purchased in summer must be heated and sterilized before consumption.

(5) Diabetic patients should not eat leftovers in summer and autumn because leftovers are prone to spoilage. If absolutely necessary, leftovers should be thoroughly heated and stored in a cool, ventilated place or in the refrigerator to prevent food contamination and spoilage.

(6) Ducks are susceptible to Salmonella infection, and this bacteria can infiltrate the developing duck eggs. Only after a certain period of high-temperature treatment can this bacteria in the duck eggs be eliminated. Therefore, diabetic patients should avoid eating undercooked duck eggs.

(7) Frozen foods purchased from the market, such as chicken, duck, meat, eggs, and frozen vegetables, should be eaten as soon as possible after thawing and should not be stored for a long time, otherwise the protein will decompose quickly, easily causing spoilage and nutrient loss.

(8) Tremella is a delicious and nourishing food for diabetic patients. However, spoiled tremella can produce a toxic substance similar to flavobacterium toxin, which can cause poisoning after consumption. Mild cases may experience discomfort in the upper abdomen, while severe cases can lead to death due to toxic shock. Currently, there is no effective drug treatment for this type of poisoning. Therefore, never eat spoiled tremella.

(9) Many people particularly enjoy eating stinky tofu, which smells bad but tastes delicious. However, stinky tofu contains a large amount of volatile basic nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide, both of which are putrefactive substances produced by the decomposition of protein and are harmful to the body. In addition, stinky tofu is often contaminated with bacteria and contains pathogens. Diabetic patients have poor immunity, so they should not eat stinky tofu. (10) Meat slices for hot pot should not be too tender, otherwise they are prone to infection with trichinosis and other parasites. To maintain the freshness and flavor of the meat slices, the method of adding raw meat only when the broth is boiling vigorously can be adopted. Do not add too much at once; add small amounts quickly to ensure the meat slices cook rapidly and remain tender. Furthermore, diabetic patients with poor spleen and stomach function should not eat hot pot meat slices.

(11) The nutritional value of various canned foods is inferior to that of fresh foods. Diabetic patients should pay attention to proper combination and adjustment when consuming them. Canned foods are best cooked in their packaging; this can sterilize them at high temperatures and preserve their original flavor. However, diabetic patients should preferably eat fresh foods more often and consume canned foods less frequently.

In conclusion, diabetic patients should develop good eating habits and pay attention to food hygiene. Only in this way can their dietary therapy truly be effective.