Strategy on living healthy with the South Asian diet

Salma Mehar, Consultant Diabetes Dietician, says that meal planning has to be practical. She also talks about how meal planning needs to be sensitive to cultural issues, religious beliefs and also cost. Salma talks about how diet can be challenging for some ethnic groups but that there are many meal plans available for people on online resources. She then talks about portion control especially when eating out and at festivals and controlling the amount of Carbohydrate you eat.

Salma Mehar, Consultant Diabetes Dietician, explains what the main five types of food group are. She tailors the information for people with Diabetes. She focuses in Carbohydrate as this group has the most effect on Glucose in the body. Secondly fruits and vegetable and how much and what sorts we can eat. Thirdly she tackles Protein. Dairy is the fourth group which is important in term so calcium. Lastly fats are discussed which can be useful too whereas saturated fats should be avoided.

Abdul Rais explains that people from a South Asian background have a much higher chance of developing Diabetes compared to the rest of the population. He talks about having blood glucose checks done and shares that these are often freely available. He also talks about the sorts of symptoms to look out for which might suggest you may have Diabetes.

Salma Mehar, Consultant Diabetes Dietician, talks about how important it is to engage with Healthcare providers to learn how to manage your Diabetes and blood glucose. She also talks about the importance of weight management in preventing complications in people with Diabetes. She talks about various sources of information available from face to face to online.

Daniel talks candidly about how he manages his weight. He talks about weighing himself regularly. He logs all the food he eats including calories and food groups. He also logs electronically how much exercise he does. All this allows him to stay in balance. He also talks about interacting the the dietician team for advice and help.

Chris explains that for him, the key word is balance. This was the title of Diabetes UK's magazine! He talks about how it's all about balance between carbohydrates intake and insulin and exercise. He explains that you have to be regular with things with Diabetes. Chris talks about the DAFNE programme making things significantly better in terms of everyday life. Lastly he talks about eating and how he deals with food generally.