A diabetic's guide to carbs, protein & weight loss

From high-protein diets to loading up on carbs, diet advice for diabetics can be confusing and contradictory. Here's some basics about carbs, protein and weight loss to help you choose a diet that works.

• Carbohydrates aren't dietary villains if you have diabetes.
• Carbs are the body's main source of energy and provide of B vitamins, iron and fibre.
• They also have the trace mineral chromium, thought to help cells use insulin.
• Carbohydrates save protein for the body, which it uses for repair and other important functions.

• While you don't want to totally cut carbs out of your diet, you don't want to get too many carbohydrates at one sitting.
• Carbs break down into glucose more easily than fat or protein.
• Carbs, the kinds in sugary foods and starches, are sometimes blamed for contributing to the obesity epidemic.
• Some researchers now believe that carbohydrates make weight control especially hard for people who are already too heavy.
• The reason is that because carbs break down easily into glucose, the body never has to burn its fat stores for energy.

• Be selective about what kind of carbs you eat.
• Carbohydrates in whole grains, for example, are important sources of fibre, vitamins and minerals.
• Studies have suggested that eating whole grains lowers the risk of diabetes, not to mention heart disease and stroke.
• Still, it's total calories that count most, no matter where those calories come from.

• Make sure you get protein at every meal. It makes you feel full longer than carbohydrates do, despite having the same number of calories as carbs.
• Protein digests more slowly than carbohydrates, so it doesn't have the dramatic impact on blood sugar that carbs do.
• Your body needs protein to build everything from muscles to hard-working enzymes, immune system cells and hormones.

• The high-protein foods we eat most often — especially meat — are high in saturated fat. This can be a problem if you're trying to lose weight.
• Saturated fat clogs arteries already vulnerable to heart disease and makes cells more resistant to insulin — the real problem behind type 2 diabetes.

• Protein doesn't burn as efficiently as carbohydrate or fat. To be used as fuel, it must undergo chemical changes that release toxic by-products.
• The body flushes out these toxins in urine, which helps explain why high-protein diets can make you lose weight fast. They cause water loss.
• High-protein diets may even endanger your health by overworking your kidneys. This isn't good for people with diabetes, who already have an elevated risk of kidney damage.

A proper balance of carbs and protein is an effective way to lose weight if you're diabetic. Be discerning in both to help your body stay healthy.