Economically viable Diet plan for Diabetes Mellitus

As we know that the whole world is facing a financial crisis (Global recession) and the diseases are also increasing at an alarming rate due to the stress and non affordability of various food. To cater to the Diet needs of a patient suffering from various diseases, keeping in mind the cost factor involved in eating a balanced healthy diet and at the same time keeping the expenses in check is a challenge. To meet this special challenge we have designed diet plans which are affordable as well as healthy. Now we will study how we have implemented such affordable diet charts in patient suffering from Diabetes and Obesity.

An obese woman, aged 50 years came to us for diet consultation for Diabetes & weight loss. She had recently developed Diabetes as complication of her obesity and still she is not yet on any medications. She also had complaints of severe pain in her knees and back because of her excess weight. Her weight was 90 kgs and height is 5.1 feet. She is over weight by 38 kgs.

After a complete dietary recall we found that her diet needed a lot of improvisation and that she did not eat her meals on time. Also she stated that she ate very little food with the fear of putting on more weight. We explained her that eating less food will not help her loose weight but definitely lead her to nutritional deficiencies and weakness; where as a right balanced diet and adequate exercise will help her loose weight and stay healthy. We advised her to eat healthy snacks at small intervals.

While talking to her we realized that she is not very well-to-do financially. There are only 2 members in the family she and her old husband who earns for the house. Keeping into mind their financial condition a diet chart had to be designed which includes food that they can afford; as prescribing food like almonds, nuts or fruits like apple, berries etc. are very expensive today. After careful analysis of her dietary habit and her lifestyle we designed a Customized Affordable Happy Livin Diet plan and a life style regime to suit her needs. She was asked to follow the diet for 15 days and come back for a follow up.

She came back after 15 days and said that she was feeling much relaxed and lighter by weight. She said she used to get lots of swelling earlier which has vanished. We checked her weight, she had lost 4 kgs (most of the weight loss was due to water loss that caused the swelling). Her electrolyte imbalance was corrected hence the swelling was reduced. She was feeling more energetic, also pain in her knee and back had reduced. We made some changes to her diet chart and asked her to come back after 15 days.

Now the weight loss was slow, she had lost only 1.5 kg in these 15 days. But remember a gradual weight loss is advised as your body cannot take the shock of sudden weight loss. One should not lose more than 2-4 kgs a month. We asked her to get her blood sugar reports done and come back after a month. When she came she was happy that her reports were in the normal range. She had lost another 2.5 kg in this period of time. In a span to 4 months she had lost 14 kg.

As she was showing remarkable improvement in her overall health and she was also following our affordable Happy Livin diet plan honestly and regularly. We educated her and gave her a customized Happy Livin maintenance diet chart to follow.