Portion control
Reducing carbohydrate portions
If you want to lose weight and push your diabetes into remission, but don't feel able to stop eating your usual foods, practice eating smaller portions.
For example, the starch in a plate full of rice breaks down into more than eighteen teaspoons of sugar - cutting down the size of your portions could reduce this to just a few teaspoons
Try this exercise...
Take a teaspoon and a packet of sugar and measure how much sugar is in the following foods:
- 4 chapatis: 14 teaspoons
- A portion of rice: 20 teaspoons
- Two pitta breads: 19 teaspoons
- Wholewheat spaghetti: 18 teaspoons
- One plantain: 10 teaspoons
Why not think about some concrete actions you might do to reduce your consumption of starchy foods that turn to sugar today?
If you reduce your carb portion sizes and keep them to less than a quarter of your plate, it'll help you reduce your blood sugar levels.
Filling up on green vegetables and eating sufficient protein and healthy fats will keep you from feeling hungry.
In the images on these pages, one drop of blood with a sugar cube represents a teaspoon of sugar or around 5g of carbohydrate.
