Diet counseling for diabetics

Includes bibliographical references (pages 56-62)A study of 40 diabetic patients was made to determine\ud dietary habits and knowledge of the diabetic diet.\ud Data was gathered from a dietary questionnaire and a test\ud of diabetic dietary knowledge. This information was correlated\ud with the patients' source of dietary knowledge.\ud Seventy percent of the patients had received diet\ud sheets, but only 78% of these patients had been taught to\ud use them.\ud Less than SO% of the sample followed their diet.\ud Fifty-nine percent of the insulin dependent patients consumed\ud meals at regular times each day. Twenty-eight percent\ud of the patients were at desirable weights.\ud Only 48% of the patients knew the number of calories\ud on their diet prescription. Seventy-five percent of the patients' diet prescriptions included a list of food exchanges, but, only 10% could recall how many were included\ud in their diet prescription. All patients with good adherence\ud and recall of their diet had been instructed by dietitians for a minimum of three hours.\ud Mean test scores of patients' diabetic diet knowledge\ud correlated significantly with the source of that\ud information. Those instructed by a dietitian obtained the\ud highest mean scores followed, in order, by instruction from\ud nurses, printed diet sheets, physicians, diet class, and no\ud instruction