A diabetes diet is a healthy-eating plan that helps control blood sugar. If you have diabetes or prediabetes, your health care provider will likely recommend that you see a dietitian to help you develop a healthy-eating plan. This plan helps you control your blood sugar, also called blood glucose, manage your weight, and control heart disease risk factors. A diet for people living with diabetes is based on eating healthy meals at regular times.
Understanding the Basics of a Diabetic Diet
A diabetes diet simply means eating the healthiest foods in moderate amounts and sticking to regular mealtimes. It's a healthy-eating plan that's naturally rich in nutrients and low in fat and calories. Key elements are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
The Importance of Blood Sugar Control
When you eat extra calories and carbohydrates, your blood sugar levels rise. If blood sugar isn't controlled, it can lead to serious problems, including a high blood sugar level, called hyperglycemia. You can help keep your blood sugar level in a safe range. For most people with type 2 diabetes, weight loss also can make it easier to control blood sugar. Weight loss offers a host of other health benefits.
Individualized Meal Planning
A registered dietitian can help you put together a diet based on your health goals, tastes, and lifestyle. The dietitian also can talk with you about how to improve your eating habits. Make your calories count with nutritious foods.
Key Components of a Diabetes Diet
Carbohydrates: Understanding Their Impact
During digestion, sugars and starches break down into blood glucose. Sugars also are known as simple carbohydrates, and starches also are known as complex carbohydrates. Because carbohydrates break down into sugar, they have the greatest effect on your blood sugar level. To help control your blood sugar, you may need to learn to figure out the amount of carbohydrates you are eating with the help of a dietitian. You can then adjust the dose of insulin accordingly.
Read also: Vegan Diet for Diabetes Management
Fiber: A Crucial Element
Dietary fiber includes all parts of plant foods that your body can't digest or absorb. Fiber moderates how your body digests food and helps control blood sugar levels. Not all carbohydrates can be broken down and absorbed by your body. Foods with more non-digestible carbohydrates, or fiber, are less likely to increase your blood sugar out of your goal range. These include foods such as beans and whole grains.
Fats: Choosing Healthy Options
Foods containing monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can help lower your cholesterol levels. Diabetes raises your risk of heart disease and stroke by raising the rate at which you develop clogged and hardened arteries.
Saturated Fats: Foods to Limit
Avoid high-fat dairy products and animal proteins such as butter, beef, hot dogs, sausage, and bacon. Limit your intake of fatty foods, especially those high in saturated fat, such as hamburgers, deep-fried foods, bacon, and butter.
Trans Fats: Foods to Avoid
Trans fats should be avoided in a diabetic diet plan.
Cholesterol: Sources to Monitor
Cholesterol sources include high-fat dairy products and high-fat animal proteins, egg yolks, liver, and other organ meats.
Read also: Foods for Pre-Diabetes
Sodium: Keeping Intake in Check
Aim for no more than 2,300 mg of sodium a day.
Protein: Incorporating Lean Sources
Protein foods include meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, beans and peas, nuts, seeds, and processed soy foods. Eat fish and poultry more often. Remove the skin from chicken and turkey. Select lean cuts of beef, veal, pork, or wild game. Trim all visible fat from meat. Bake, roast, broil, grill, or boil instead of frying. When frying proteins, use healthy oils such as olive oil.
Fruits and Vegetables: Cornerstones of a Healthy Diet
Fruits and vegetables are key elements of a healthy diet. Choose fresh or frozen vegetables without added sauces, fats, or salt. Non-starchy vegetables include dark green and deep yellow vegetables, such as cucumber, spinach, broccoli, romaine lettuce, cabbage, chard, and bell peppers. Starchy vegetables include corn, green peas, lima beans, carrots, yams and taro. Note that potato should be considered a pure starch, like white bread or white rice, instead of a vegetable.
Choose fresh, frozen, canned (without added sugar or syrup), or unsweetened dried fruits. Try apples, bananas, berries, cherries, fruit cocktail, grapes, melon, oranges, peaches, pears, papaya, pineapple, and raisins. Drink juices that are 100% fruit with no added sweeteners or syrups.
Fish: Heart-Healthy Choices
Eat heart-healthy fish at least twice a week. Fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These omega-3s may prevent heart disease. If you are pregnant, are planning to get pregnant, or are breastfeeding, do not eat fish that's typically high in mercury.
Read also: Manage Diabetes with This Indian Diet
Grains: Prioritizing Whole Grains
There are 2 types of grains:
- Whole grains are unprocessed and have the entire grain kernel. Examples are whole-wheat flour, oatmeal, whole cornmeal, amaranth, barley, brown and wild rice, buckwheat, and quinoa.
- Refined grains have been processed (milled) to remove the bran and germ. Examples are white flour, de-germed cornmeal, white bread, and white rice.
Grains have starch, a type of carbohydrate. Carbohydrates raise your blood sugar level. For healthy eating, make sure half of the grains you eat each day are whole grains. Whole grains have lots of fiber. Fiber in the diet keeps your blood sugar level from rising too fast.
Dairy: Opting for Low-Fat Options
Choose low-fat dairy products. Be aware that milk, yogurt, and other dairy foods have natural sugar, even when they do not contain added sugar. Take this into account when planning meals to stay in your blood sugar target range. Some non-fat dairy products have a lot of added sugar. Be sure to read the label.
Oils: Using Sparingly and Wisely
Oils are not considered a food group. But they have nutrients that help your body stay healthy. Oils are different from fats in that oils remain liquid at room temperature. Fats remain solid at room temperature. Instead, choose foods that are high in polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats. These include fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. Oils can raise your blood sugar, but not as fast as starch. Oils are also high in calories. Try to use no more than the recommended daily limit of 7 tsp (35 ml).
Meal Planning Strategies
You may use a few different approaches to create a healthy diet to help you keep your blood sugar level within a typical range. The American Diabetes Association offers a simple method of meal planning. It focuses on eating more vegetables.
Carbohydrate Counting: A Key Technique
Because carbohydrates break down into sugar, they have the greatest effect on your blood sugar level. To help control your blood sugar, you may need to learn to figure out the amount of carbohydrates you are eating with the help of a dietitian. You can then adjust the dose of insulin accordingly. A dietitian can teach you how to measure food portions and become an educated reader of food labels.
The Food Choice System
A dietitian may recommend you choose specific foods to help plan meals and snacks. One serving in a category is called a choice. A food choice has about the same amount of carbohydrates, protein, fat, and calories - and the same effect on your blood sugar - as a serving of every other food in that same category.
The Glycemic Index
Some people who live with diabetes use the glycemic index to select foods, especially carbohydrates. This method ranks carbohydrate-containing foods based on their effect on blood sugar levels.
Portion Control: A Vital Skill
It's easy to eat more food than you need without realizing it. Foods higher in carbs include grains, starchy vegetables (such as potatoes and peas), rice, pasta, beans, fruit, and yogurt. Portion size and serving size aren't always the same. A portion is the amount of food you choose to eat at one time. These days, portions at restaurants are quite a bit larger than they were several years ago. One entrée can equal 3 or 4 servings! Studies show that people tend to eat more when they're served more food. If you're eating out, ask for half of your meal to be wrapped up to go so you can enjoy it later. At home, measure out snacks; don't eat straight from the bag or box. At dinnertime, reduce the temptation to go back for seconds by keeping the serving bowls out of reach.
The Diabetes Plate Method
The Diabetes Plate is the easiest way to create healthy meals that can help manage blood glucose. You can create perfectly portioned meals with a healthy balance of non-starchy vegetables, protein, and quality carbohydrates-without any counting, calculating, weighing, or measuring. All you need is a nine-inch plate! The Diabetes Plate can be used with any of the seven recognized meal patterns.
To use the plate method, put non-starchy vegetables on half your plate. These include vegetables like broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, mushrooms, peppers, salad greens, and tomatoes. Add lean protein foods-such as lean meats and poultry, fish, tofu, nuts, and eggs- on a fourth of the plate. Put carbohydrate foods-such as grains, fruit, yogurt and milk, and starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, and beans-on the final fourth of the plate. Make sure that you are not using an oversized plate. Get used to using the plate method at home. Then you can use it when you eat out. Write down your questions about using the plate method.
Sample Meal Timing
When planning meals, take into account your size and activity level. To better manage your blood glucose (blood sugar), eat at regular times and give your body two to three hours between meals to allow your blood glucose to lower to a desirable level before you eat your next meal. There are seven recognized meal patterns that are recommended for people with diabetes. Work with your health care team to identify the right pattern for you.
Meal Planning for Children with Type 2 Diabetes
Meal plans should consider the amount of calories children need to grow. In general, three small meals and three snacks a day can help meet calorie needs. Many children with type 2 diabetes are overweight. The goal should be able to reach a healthy weight by eating healthy foods and getting more activity (60 minutes per day). Work with a registered dietitian to design a meal plan for your child. A registered dietitian is an expert in food and nutrition.
The following tips can help your child stay on track:
- No food is off-limits. Knowing how different foods affect your child's blood sugar helps you and your child keep blood sugar in target range.
- Help your child learn how much food is a healthy amount. This is called portion control.
- Have your family gradually switch from drinking soda and other sugary drinks, such as sports drinks and juices, to plain water or low-fat milk.
Healthy Snacking
Healthy snacks can be part of your meal plan and help with hunger management between meals. Before you reach for a snack, figure out if you are hungry or thirsty (sometimes being thirsty can make your body think it’s hungry). If thirsty, drink water or a zero-calorie beverage. This can help prevent adding more calories to your day. When you do select a snack, choose healthy options that offer a combination of protein, healthy fats, and fiber, with or without carbohydrates.
Alcohol and Sweets: Moderation is Key
If you choose to drink alcohol, limit the amount and have it with a meal. Check with your provider about how alcohol will affect your blood sugar and to determine a safe amount for you. Sweets are high in fat and sugar. Keep portion sizes small. Here are tips to help avoid eating too many sweets:
- Ask for extra spoons and forks and split your dessert with others.
- Eat sweets that are sugar-free.
- Always ask for the smallest serving size or children's size.
Additional Tips for Success
- Plan your meals a week at a time: Use cookbooks or online recipes to plan several main meals. Plan some quick meals for busy nights. You also can double some recipes that freeze well.
- Make a grocery list: Make sure you have the ingredients you need for your recipes. List foods that you use to make breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. Post this list on the refrigerator.
- Read food labels: When shopping, read food labels to make better food choices. The Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods tells you how much carbohydrate is in a serving of the food. First, look at the serving size on the food label. Is that the amount you eat in a serving? All of the nutrition information on a food label is based on that serving size. So if you eat more or less than that, you'll need to adjust the other numbers. Total carbohydrate is the next thing you need to look for on the label. For foods that don't come with labels, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, you'll need a guide that lists carbohydrate in these foods.
- Eat a variety of foods: Eating a wide variety of foods helps you stay healthy. Try to include foods from all the food groups at each meal.
- Stay active: Along with healthy eating, you can help keep your blood sugar in target range by maintaining a healthy weight. People with type 2 diabetes are often overweight or obese. Losing even 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) can help you manage your diabetes better. Eating healthy foods and staying active (for example, 150 total minutes of walking or other activity per week) can help you meet and maintain your weight loss goal. Activity lets your muscles use sugar from the blood without needing insulin to move the sugar into the muscle cells.
Long-Term Benefits of a Diabetes Diet
Embracing a healthy-eating plan is the best way to keep your blood sugar level under control and prevent diabetes complications. Aside from managing your diabetes, a healthy diet offers other benefits too. Because this diet recommends generous amounts of fruits, vegetables, and fiber, following it is likely to lower your risk of cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer.
Seeking Professional Guidance
If you live with diabetes, it's important that you partner with your health care provider and dietitian to create an eating plan that works for you. Use healthy foods, portion control, and a schedule to manage your blood sugar level. In the beginning, meal planning may be overwhelming. But it will become easier as your knowledge grows about foods and their effects on your blood sugar. If you're having problems with meal planning, talk with your diabetes care team. Meal planning can be a key part of managing diabetes. You don't have to eat special foods. You can eat what your family eats, including sweets once in a while. You may want to work with a dietitian or a diabetes educator. They can give you tips and meal ideas and can answer your questions about meal planning.
The American Diabetes Association's Recommendations
Every year, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) publishes our Standards of Care in Diabetes (Standards of Care). The Standards of Care is a set of practice guidelines based on the latest scientific research and clinical trials. These guidelines are used by health care professionals to treat diabetes and its related health conditions. Every five years, a group of experts come together for an in-depth review of the nutrition guidelines in the Standards of Care. The result of this review is called the Nutrition Consensus Report. This is the foundation for the ADA’s recommendations for nutrition. The Nutrition Consensus Report identifies nutrition strategies that have been shown to help people reach or stay at their blood glucose (blood sugar) targets, reach weight management goals, and low risk for health conditions related to diabetes. The nutrition recommendations highlight that eating plans should be based on the needs of each person. Your own eating plan will be based on your own needs and preferences. The current report outlines seven key meal patterns that have been shown to help manage diabetes. Work with your health care team to decide which meal pattern works best for you.