Nutrition is a science
Fruit and more;
be healthy by following
the advice of
the experts
Watch your weight and always lead
an active lifestyle
Eat more cereal, pulses, fruit and vegetables
Fats: choose the quality
and limit your intake
Consume sugar, cakes and sweet drinks in moderation
Drink plenty
of water
every day
What about salt? Less is better
Alcohol: if you do drink, limit your intake
Vary your diet often
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Consume sugar, cakes and sweet drinks: in moderation
Sugars are easily absorbed and they are used at different speeds. Therefore sugar consumption, especially if it is eaten alone, provokes a sudden increase in glycaemia (i.e. the concentration of glucose in our blood), which then tends then to go back down to its initial value (glycaemic curve) within a longer or shorter time span. This “glycaemic increase” is the mechanism that compensates feelings of mental and physical tiredness and of hunger between meals, and works in all those situations in which we experience hypoglycaemia or a “drop in sugar levels”. However, this process is not positive for people who, like diabetes sufferers, have difficulty in using glucose at a cellular level. Yet even the diets that diabetes sufferers follow, can include sugar and cakes, as long as the quantity is limited and it is eaten with a meal, i.e. with other food and especially with dietary fibre, which slows down glucose absorption, thus avoiding overly high glycaemic peaks.
Advice:
  • Moderate your consumption of sweet food and beverages during the day so as to avoid going over correct blood sugar levels.
  • Choose baked cakes, as they contain less fat and sugar and more starch, for example biscuits, cakes without fillings, etc.
  • Use a limited quantity of sweet products that are spread on bread, crisp rolls and crackers (such as jams, fruit preserves, honey and creams).
  • Limit your intake of products that contain a lot of saccharide, especially those that stick to the teeth, like soft sweets, nougat, etc. Always clean your teeth after you have eaten them.
  • If you want to consume low calorie food and drinks with artificial sweeteners, read the labels to find out what kind of sweeteners they contain and the advice you should follow.
(taken from “GUIDLINES FOR A HEALTHY ITALIAN DIET” – Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies and INRAN Italian National Institute of Food and Nutrition Research – 2003)