Diabetic Nutrition Advice from the Pros

Registered dietitians (RDs) can play a crucial roll in providing proper nutrition therapy for type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients.

"Medical nutrition therapy provided by RDs is an effective and essential therapy in the management of diabetes. RDs are uniquely skilled in this process," says Marion J Franz, MS, RD, lead author of an article in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

The article presents 29 nutrition practice guidelines that are key to developing a nutrition therapy for treating patients with diabetes. According to Franz, "The nutrition practice guidelines provide recommendations for assessing client/patient needs and for selecting interventions, monitoring and evaluating outcomes." The information presented in this review provides RDs with the information they need to guide patients through a regimen of practices and lifestyle changes that will ease the process of managing diabetes.

The authors presented recommendations regarding major nutrition therapy factors such as carbohydrate and protein intake, cardiovascular disease, and weight management. With the help of RDs, patients not only have access to the proper information, but they also can receive personalized care to meet their individual needs.

Key recommendations from the article include:

• weight management strategies
• regular physical activity
• consistency in day-to-day carbohydrate intake for type 2 diabetes patients
• adjusting insulin doses to match carbohydrate intake for type 1 diabetes patients
• focusing on total carbohydrate intake rather than type of carbohydrate
• use of self glucose monitoring data to determine if patients are achieving their goals