Type 2 Diabetes Patients’ Awareness of Carbohydrate Consumption

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the awareness that diabetes patients have about their carbohydrate consumption.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were held with eleven patients with type 2 diabetes, aged 20 to 75. A qualitative and descriptive analysis was performed to explore their awareness of carbohydrate intake.

Results: Six categories were identified; 1) “making efforts not to overeat”; 2) “vague knowledge about carbohydrates”; 3) “preferences for eating carbohydrates that are easy to obtain”; 4) “general feelings about carbohydrates”; 5) “deviant eating behaviors triggered by accumulated stress resulting from lifestyle or dietary restrictions”; and 6) “eating carbohydrates to gain satisfaction”.

Conclusion: Type 2 diabetes patients consume carbohydrates, and regard them as the food that satisfies them most easily. When they fail to deal with the stress resulting from their lifestyle or dietary restrictions, they yearn for carbohydrates, which leads them to deviant eating behaviors. All of them had received nutrition education at least once; however, their awareness became vague over time, and wrong perceptions and misconceptions undermined their dietary self-management.