Published on: May 06, 2022

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The Right Diet Plan: Diabetes and Weight Loss Myths & Facts

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Diabetes and Weight Loss Myths

Intermittent fasting, warrior diet, keto diet, diabetic diet, no meat diet, no-carb diet, low carb diet, etc. The list can and will go on.

It’s not just about how many types of diets there are but also how the opinion of what we should or shouldn’t be eating changes every couple of years. 

I remember this one time I tried to do a low-carb diet. Without any expert guidance and all it did was left me hangry and with headaches.

But we can’t possibly try all the diets to see which shoe fits us best. So here’s us busting some common diabetes and weught loss diet myths for you with the expertise of Fiiterfly’s nutritionists. 

5 Diabetes and Weight Loss Diet Myths

1. Fruits are loaded with sugar. You need to stop eating them! Especially, if you have diabetes – Myth 

Facts: While it is true that fruits are rich in natural sugars but doesn’t mean you should eliminate them. It is all about choosing the right combination and timing of consuming them. 

Fittertake: 

  • Don’t eat fruits with other meals and eat them instead as snacks between meals, which will reduce blood sugar spikes. 
  • Consume them in their natural form without making them into juices or desserts. 
  • Portion control is the most important thing. For example, eating 2 slices of mango a day instead of the whole mango. Eating a small bowl of assorted fruits instead of a big bowl of one single fruit. 

Even after all this, the thing that we need to realize is that everybody is different and so are our blood sugar responses, the only way for you to definitively know if the fruit is healthy or not is to chart your personal glycemic response using a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) device. Time to go enjoy those mangoes!

2. No carb diets are best for weight loss – Myth 

Facts: All the energy you need to function in life comes from carbohydrates. Eliminating them completely from your diet can lead to side effects including nutrient deficiency, mood swings, and even in some cases binge eating. 

Fittertake: 

  • It is important however to eat the right amount of carbohydrates along with a balance of other macro and micronutrients. Especially, if you have insulin resistance or other metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, or stubborn weight. 
  • Keep your fiber and protein intake up. 
  • Portion control is key in every aspect of the diet. 

If you want to know exactly how much carbohydrate will keep your blood sugar normal, you can enroll in Fitterfly’s program – Diabefly.

Where the nutrition coach will monitor your diet and blood sugar levels using meal mapping technology to design a highly personalized diet plan for you! 

3. Skipping meals or intermittent fasting is good to lose weight – Myth

Facts: If you have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes then not eating or fasting may put you at risk for hypoglycemia or low blood sugar episodes. It can also lead to dizziness and headaches.

Also, if you are taking medicines to manage a health condition. It is important to eat on time. Most importantly if you are combining your diet plan with a workout plan or high-intensity exercise.

Not to mention this is not a sustainable way to lose weight and can lead to binge-eating and contribute to increased weight. 

Fittertake:

  • If you want to try it make sure you clear it with your doctor or health management team
  • You need to check your sugar levels if you feel any symptoms of hypoglycemia and if you do follow the 15:15 rule. Eat 15 grams of simple sugar and wait for 15 minutes to see if your blood sugar level rises
  • Start small and work your way up

You need a qualified nutritionist to advise you on the kind of diet, a combination of food, and also the right time to eat. 

4. Diets that eliminate a food group from your diets, such as vegan, no meat, no dairy, or no gluten are good for your health -Myth

Facts: If you are suffering from a health condition such as celiac disease, lactose, or gluten intolerance, then you can eliminate those food groups from your diet.

However, if not then leaving these food groups out can make you susceptible to deficiencies and side effects associated with the same. 

Fittertake:

  • Use the fitterfly app to calculate the macros and micronutrients in your food 
  • Add nuts and seeds to your diet, wherever possible 
  • Snack on fruits and vegetables instead of unhealthy foods.   

5. Fad diets – Myth 

Facts: The right diet plan for you is the one you can follow for life. The right diet plan is the one that doesn’t feel like a diet plan at all but like a lifestyle. And it is only possible to get this by understanding your body’s response to your current diet.

Advancement in technology has made this easy with techniques such as meal mapping and personalized glycemic response which can be done using either a CGM device or by correlating your diet, exercise, and other biomarkers associated with your health condition. 

Fittertake: 

  • Check your blood sugar before and after meals to see if your meals are leading to blood sugar spikes 
  • Use a CGM device or an app to track your diet and its effect on your blood glucose levels 
  • If you cannot follow a diet for more than two weeks without side effects such as hypoglycemia, dizziness, and headaches then it is not sustainable 
  • Portion control and moderation are more effective than restrictive diets

We had this one member on the Diabefly Reverse program who found out they had blood sugar spikes after their meals because they consumed fruits such as strawberries and blueberries in their diet.

When the coaches found out about this, they recommended that the member stop eating fruits with meals and consume them as snacks, and the difference in daily blood sugar levels was seen within a week.

You can have that too. No need to self-impose unsustainable restrictions on yourself. 

Fittertake: Fitterfly’s programs are designed to create a unique personalized plan for you that not only takes into account your nutrition but also other factors that regulate appetite and weight.

Such as fitness, stress, and sleep management to ensure that you achieve your fitness goals. Using clinically-validated digital therapeutics (DTx) based programs. So, why waste time on google when you can get your diet (wait no, lifestyle plan) from India’s leading nutritionists. 

- By Fitterfly Health-Team
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