What’s the Best Way to Manage Diabetes During the Holidays?
Eating healthfully during the holiday season is tricky—pumpkin pies, hot chocolates, and turkey roasts make the dinner table even more enticing than usual. For people who have diabetes, holiday indulgences can lead to blood sugar spikes and raise the risks of complications, such as high blood pressure and heart disease. And with so much conflicting nutrition advice online, figuring out what actually works can feel overwhelming.
You are what you eat—more than you think: Our bodies rely on the three macronutrients—fats, carbohydrates, and proteins—says Nate Wood, MD, assistant professor of internal medicine and director of culinary medicine at Yale School of Medicine. “Your body extracts macronutrients from whatever you eat, ‘junk’ or healthy, and uses them to keep you functioning,” he says.
But simply functioning isn’t the same as functioning well. Achieving an ideal, healthy diet that supports the body’s metabolism, optimizes our immune function, and reduces diabetes risk requires more than macronutrients alone. That’s where micronutrients—vitamins and minerals—come in. “We’re physically made of what we eat,” Dr. Wood says. “But what matters is where those macronutrients come from. Do they come packaged with micronutrients? Because the micronutrients are what keep us functioning well.”
Excerpted from Yale Medicine
