How to eat a balanced diet to avoid and treat diabetes? Advice from Komlan Bessanh, Doctor of Nutrition

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Extract from the article: On Tuesday 14 November, to mark World Diabetes Day, Champiso organised a free seminar on "The Fundamentals of Diet and Diabetes". The event, which took place at the company's Totsi headquarters, was attended by a number of people who took advantage o

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On Tuesday 14 November, to mark World Diabetes Day, Champiso organised a free seminar on "The Fundamentals of Diet and Diabetes". The event, which took place at the company's Totsi headquarters, was attended by a number of people who took advantage of free diabetes screening tests, blood pressure tests, weight tests, BMI calculations, diagnoses and consultations.  The aim is to learn more about the relationship between diet and diabetes.  A balanced diet is part of the treatment for diabetes. It must be adapted to your needs and include a variety of foods. Some of these foods are particularly important for maintaining a balanced diet and preventing cardiovascular disease on a daily basis. How can a balanced diet help combat diabetes? Komlan Bessanh, Doctor of Nutrition and CEO of Champiso, answers.

The beneficial effects of a balanced diet on your blood sugar levels and your general health have been scientifically proven. Eating a balanced diet is therefore an essential benefit for everyone, especially for diabetics.The first piece of advice I have for the public is to determine the 3 dietary times. In other words, never neglect breakfast; avoid skipping breakfast and trying to make up for it at lunch or dinner. It is in this way that the body creates what we call the automatism of accumulation.  This can lead to obesity and then diabetes.You should avoid snacking between meals.Take a 30-minute walk every day.

In terms of specific foods to include on your plate, you need to choose low-calorie foods, i.e. foods that help to limit dietary energy intake in the hope that this will improve your health and delay ageing. We need to eat according to our needs and at regular times, vary our food and, above all, drink enough water.You should limit fats, sugars and red meat considerably.There are 3 ways of putting together a meal.We need to structure our dish in 3 ways: one part reserved for fruit and vegetables, one part made up of starchy foods and the other part made up of protein sources; this can be lean meat, but favour plant sources: for example tofu, mushrooms, pulses. This way, we'll have a balanced diet.Once our diet is balanced, we can avoid diabetes.

Advice for diabetics

For those who already have diabetes, eat three meals a day.This helps to regulate glycaemia (blood sugar levels) and avoid snacking, which disrupts hormonal secretions, increases energy intake and therefore the risk of weight gain.

Our advice to diabetics is not to miss their regular meal times during the day, especially if they are insulin-dependent.Because when you have to take insulin and you miss a meal, either by saying you're doing intermittent fasting, you do damage to the body; you can immediately go into hypoglycaemia.So we especially ask insulin-dependent patients to respect their mealtimes and before taking their insulin, and to avoid eating too much fat and too much sugar.However, people can eat hypoglycaemic fruits such as watermelon, melon and slightly ripe papaya, but avoid bananas and over-ripe pineapple. The evening meal should not exceed 7pm. You can be diabetic and still eat properly, and eat what gives you pleasure without developing any risks; this is when the 3 meal times are controlled and respected.

Interview by William O.