Diabetic Protein Diets

Whether or not diabetics should eat a high protein diet is highly debated in the medical community. While many argue that protein is beneficial because it helps keep blood glucose levels from spiking, others contend that these types of diets are not balanced enough to give people with diabetes the adequate nutrition they need to be healthy. Really, the best thing diabetics can do is to consult their doctors and come up with a plan that works best for them individually.

Protein Diets

In recent years high protein diets like Atkins, the Zone and Protein Power have become quite popular. These diets have people eating foods like meat, eggs and cheese and restricting foods high in carbohydrates like fruits, grains, vegetables and some dairy products. These diets effectively help people lose weight because eliminating carbohydrates can cause a loss of body fluids. They also often send the body into a state of ketosis which can cause a loss of appetite.

According to healthcastle.com, "supporters of high-protein diets argue that eating fewer carbs (glucose) means your body will need to make less insulin. Therefore, they say, fewer carbs eaten = less insulin made = less glucose storage as fat = less weight gain." As a result, many believe eating a high protein diet can be beneficial for people with diabetes.
According to "Protein Principals for Diabetes," proteins are a good choice for diabetics because they can be broken down into energy and they can help restore the protein deficiencies many diabetics have.
Unfortunately eating too much protein can cause a number of health risks including high cholesterol, kidney and liver problems, and osteoporosis. So people with diabetes need to consider both the positive and negative outcomes of eating a high protein diet.

Diabetic Diet

High-protein diets have people eating up to 8 to 10 ounces of protein rather than the recommended 2 to 3 oz. per meal. That's 3 to 5 times as much as the American Diabetes Association recommends for diabetic patients. The ADA says that carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, whole grains and fruits are important for people with diabetes. In fact, it recommends that people with diabetes who do not have kidney disease get only 15 to 20 percent of their calories from protein. The rest should come from a balance of other food groups in order to provide adequate vitamins and minerals needed by the diabetic.

Marion Franz, and Drs. Mary C. Gannon and Frank Q. Nuttall agree with the ADA. They believe proteins are more likely to stimulate insulin secretion than carbohydrates. In fact, they contend that "high protein/low carb diets may worsen hyperinsulinemia (excessive insulin production.)" As a result of the lack of agreement among medical professionals on whether or not high protein diets are beneficial to diabetics, people with diabetes should proceed with caution to see what kind of diet actually works best to keep their blood sugar levels under control.