Diabetic Pain or Diabetic Neuropathy and Your Diet

Diabetic pain or diabetic neuropathy may occur in diabetics. It is a sharp, burning sensation occurring in the lower legs and feet, due to poor circulation in the tiny blood vessels, or inadequate control of blood sugar. Like your organs and tissues, your nerves need oxygen and nutrients in order to function. Poor circulation problems damage not only your nerves, but also your eyes, heart and kidneys.

Medications that block the neurotransmitters in your brain may help alleviate diabetic pain. However, these medications, such as certain antidepressants, may make you "feel" less pain, but do not make the pain disappear.

The good news is that research studies have shown that you can eliminate diabetic neuropathy through diet and an exercise regimen.

In the past, scientists believed that eliminating starches (which release sugar) would control insulin. Unfortunately, eliminating starches and focusing on a diet high in fat and protein would only worsen the diabetic conditions and symptoms, such as diabetic neuropathy.

Then came the improved diabetic diets based on a set of "exchange lists" that determine the amounts of food items to consume. This improved version still falls short of preventing diabetic complications.

The optimum diabetic diet should be based on three principles:

1. Eating low-fat foods to control insulin production.

2. Eating complex carbohydrates (e.g. beans, fruits, grains, and vegetables) to slowly release the natural sugars in these foods, such that your body may utilize them for energy production.

3. Eating foods rich in fiber (the outer coating of grains and vegetables) to enable the slow and gradual absorption of natural sugars and to avoid any sugar spikes, which may damage the nerves leading to diabetic neuropathy.

In conjunction with a low-fat, high-fiber, and complex-carbohydrate diet, a regular exercise regiment further promotes good blood circulation to avoid neuropathy and other complications due to nerves.

Fight Diabetes without the use of insulin or drugs.

For more information on the disease, go to my website on diabetes.

Stephen Lau

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