Your mom has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She needs to start checking her blood sugar levels. She needs to watch what she eats. It’s not going to be easy. Many foods have sugars hidden within them. Sometimes, sugar is an added ingredient in things you’d never expect to contain them.
The American Heart Association recommends women do not exceed 25 grams of sugar per day. Some foods will quickly put your mom over that limit. Store-bought bread, flavored yogurt, and salad dressing are high-sugar items.
Foods to Watch
If your mom likes pasta, whole grain noodles are a good choice, but she needs to watch jarred tomato sauces. Many add sugar, corn syrup, and other forms of sugar to sweeten them. She’ll need to start carefully reading labels or learn to make her own quick pasta sauces with canned tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, and olive oil.
Canned soups are another item where sugar is often added. If your mom loves Campbell’s Chunky Classic Chicken Noodle soup, she needs to be aware that they add sugar. There’s 1 gram of sugar in a one-cup serving. Campbell’s Healthy Request Tomato soup has 10 grams of sugar per serving and contains high-fructose corn syrup.
Words to Look For
While she’s reading nutrition labels, she wants to watch for corn syrup and sugar. She also needs to watch for the words barley malt, dextrose, fructose, glucose, and sucrose. You should also watch for honey, lactose, maltose, maple syrup, and rice syrup. Cane juice, demerara, sorghum, sucanat, and turbinado are others you’ll see regularly. She should become familiar with all the different forms of sugar to make sure she doesn’t miss any.
Your mom may need help with meal choices and cooking. Elder care aides can help with all of that. Elder care providers can work with your mom to find recipes that are diabetic-friendly takes on her favorite foods. They can create shopping lists and go shopping together.
Back at home, the elder care aide can carry in groceries, put them away, and prepare nutritious meals for your mom. They can also remind her to check her sugar levels and schedule appointments with her doctor as needed. Caregivers can also drive her to appointments.
These are some of the services elder care providers offer. Call our elder care agency to learn more about them and other options that might help your mom.
Sources: http://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/hidden-in-plain-sight/#.XDC1qVxKiM8
