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I'm Having A Hard Time With Portion Control. I Am Always Hungry. If I Am Now Eating Healthier Why Is Portion Control So Important.

A DiabetesTeam Member asked a question 💭
Chicago, IL
June 17, 2023
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A DiabetesTeam Member

Portion control is often related to your glucose levels. If they are running too low, they will drive your appeitite, but similarly, a slighly higher level can drive your eating. So make sure to keep your levels as normal and as stable as possible. Also, very important to hydrate with water - not sodas and juices, beause often we are thirsty and not hungry but we don't recognise it. Remember a portion is the size of the palm of your hand. Eat off a smalller plate, and find an activity to do after meals, like a puzzle, or a walk, or watch an eduational YouTube video.

September 27, 2023
A DiabetesTeam Member

Hi @A DiabetesTeam Member. I recently read that people with uncontrolled diabetes may always feel hungry. With Diabetes, the body's cells are being starved, because the nutrients can't get inside of them and I suppose they send out "hunger" signals. Don't know if this is why you are always hungry-but it is a good thing for diabetics to understand, I think. Best wishes-keep asking until you get the answers you need.

September 9, 2023 (edited)
A DiabetesTeam Member

Hi Belen. Portion control is needed to prevent carb overload. Remember that "healthier" food will still contain carbohydrates. All of them are converted to glucose in your body before it can be used for energy.
Everybody has a limit for the consumption of carbs, this is called "portion control".
Regards.
Dewald de Beer

August 31, 2023
A DiabetesTeam Member

A couple of reasons

Portion control of the carbohydrates (sugar and starches) limits the amount of "blood sugar creating raw materials" we put into our system - you don't "eat the sugar" it won't end up in your blood stream so you must control your "carb intake" through controlling the portion size of the "carbs" you consume (or take more and more meds to compensate)

For weight control portion size reduces the total calories you are taking in - you won't gain weight if you are aren't eating "extra"

Felling "full" has less to do with how much you eat and rather "what" you eat - eating "fats" makes you feel full (and the sensation remains longer than others)

But FAT is high in calories (9 calories per gram) - so without portion control you would overeat "calories"

Some fats - saturated from red meat - are bad for the heart - but others (dairy) and unsaturated fats in nuts/seeds are very healthy which is why if you check out food guides (national) they suggest restricting red meat and eating lower fat all round

Protein (meats have zero carbs, plant proteins like beans are full of carbs) - so for a "diabetic" that must be concerned with "carbs in" a plant based diet might be great for our heart but it's not exactly "friendly" for blood sugar control

Protein will make us feel full and longer than carbs will (but not as much as fat) - but protein only has about 4 calories per gram so "waist friendly" compared to the Fat in similar quantities

Carbs (sugars/starches) do NOT make you feel full because they are converted to sugar and metabolized quickly (or left floating in your blood giving you high blood sugar)

We have grown up as "terrible eaters" - we learned to "grossly over eat crap" (we "supersize" everything) - if we had have exercised sound judgement, paid attention to what we were putting in our mouths and used portion control from the time we were kids........

You and I would likely not be here today........

June 18, 2023 (edited)
A DiabetesTeam Member

Thank you. Of all the books I have read you broke it down in simple terms so I could understand it. I am printing it and keeping it in my glucose log book.

June 18, 2023

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