The delicious way to beat diabetes with Phil Vickery

A staggering third of people who have died of coronavirus also had diabetes, so now is the time to beat it – TV chef Phil Vickery’s fabulous recipes will make it easy

Easy, tasty, healthy 

It’s a grim new statistic: official figures reveal that a third of those who’ve died from coronavirus this year also had diabetes. As Phil Vickery reveals here, fighting, beating and managing it is more crucial than ever 

More people than ever have diabetes – it affects more of us than all cancers and dementia combined. It is not always the easiest of conditions to understand, and not enough people appreciate the damage it can do. Symptoms include being unusually thirsty, feeling tired all the time and needing to pee more than usual.

By spotting symptoms early, taking prescribed medications and making healthy changes to diet and lifestyle, you can reduce your chances of developing diabetes complications.

The list of ingredients that you can eat if you have diabetes is very varied, but when you are building balanced, nutritional recipes, you need to be extremely careful – and it takes a huge amount of time and effort to get things right. You have to be strict not only when developing or cooking the recipes, but also to ensure you give the correct advice. Research is being published all the time and there have been significant changes even in the three years since the publication of my book Phil Vickery’s Ultimate Diabetes Cookbook.

For my latest book, Diabetes Meal Planner, I have tried to write easy, colourful and tasty recipes that will inspire you to get involved and cook. We have also taken into consideration shopping, so have kept ingredients to a minimum. Some recipes are very simple. We make no excuse for that – as a wise chef once said to me, ‘The fewer ingredients, the less you can hide.’ The overriding factor is the need to eat a nutritionally well-balanced diet, keeping an eye on calorie intake if you’re managing your weight [the nutritional values listed under each recipe are per portion]. But it also goes without saying that keeping active is crucial. I’m no doctor, but my brother is, so we often chat about diets, and he stresses the need for a combination of moderate exercise and a balanced diet.

People with diabetes spend around three hours with a healthcare professional every year; for the remaining 8,757 hours they must manage their diabetes themselves. An important part of this self-care is eating healthy, balanced meals. There isn’t a special plan for diabetics to follow; dietary guidelines are similar to those recommended for everyone. Making healthier food choices is good for everybody. This means including more whole grains, fruit, vegetables – especially green leafy varieties – and pulses such as beans and lentils. Also incorporate healthy fats: for example, oily fish, avocado and nuts. And eat less refined grains and processed meats, as well as sugary food and drinks. Lower your salt and saturated fat intake. Eat less red meat – maybe once or twice a week – and choose better quality produce, if possible.

Before making any changes to your diet it is best to check with your healthcare team, especially if the diet is restrictive and/or you’re on medication. Unless advised, it’s best to eat a variety of healthy foods rather than take vitamin and mineral supplements to get the essential nutrients and manage your diabetes.

BUY PHIL’S BOOK WITH A 50% DISCOUNT

Diabetes Meal Planner by Phil Vickery will be published by Kyle Books on 8 June, price £22. To order a copy for £11 until 14 June, go to whsmith.co.uk and enter the code YOUVICKERY at the checkout. Book number: 9780857837783. For terms and conditions see www.whsmith.co.uk/terms