No matter what type of diabetes you have, the food choices you make are important. Smart food choices help keep your blood glucose level in good control. Poor food choices work against your efforts to stay healthy.
Your meal plan must match your unique needs. That's why there is no one diabetic diet. When you work with a dietician to create your meal plan, it's like turning that blueprint into a home. Just as you choose a certain roof material or paint colour for your home, you can choose foods that suit your tastes. The most important guideline is that your meal plan needs to be individualized for you.
Your Food Plan
Diabetes doesn't change the kinds of foods you can eat. Basically, what's healthy for you is what's healthy for anyone who wants to eat well. Like everyone, you should focus on eating less fat, fewer sugary foods, and a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and fish.
Your food plan should give you enough calories to stay at a healthy weight for you. This is a weight you can achieve and stay with, and one that you and your doctor agree on. It may not be the ideal body weight found on the height/weight charts.
Your food choices can help you prevent or delay side effects of diabetes such as kidney disease, gastroparesis (slow stomach emptying), high blood pressure, and heart disease by helping you control blood glucose levels.
For people with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. Food is one tool you can use to treat your diabetes. Your food plan should help you keep your blood glucose level as near to normal as possible. Plan your meals at consistent times so that you eat when your insulin is working the hardest.
It's especially important for you to monitor your blood glucose levels. This will help you change your insulin dose to match the amount of food you usually eat.
Your meal plan should also help you prevent or treat very low blood glucose, even when you exercise. You also need food ideas for days when you're ill or don't eat normally. Even when you're sick, you still need to take insulin.
A dietitian can help you plan ahead to avoid low blood glucose and teach you what and how much food to eat to treat a low blood glucose reaction.
Children and teens need a food plan that keeps them growing normally. Pregnant women, women who are planning to get pregnant, and women who are breast-feeding need to develop a food plan that will keep blood glucose under tight control.
It's important for the health of mother and baby to have excellent blood glucose control from the first moment of pregnancy and while caring for an infant.
For people with type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes. You seek several health goals: good control of your blood glucose levels, better blood fat levels, more normal blood pressure, and a healthy weight. You may be able to reach both of these goals with a healthy eating plan and regular exercise.
If you also need insulin or diabetes pills, sticking with healthy food choices and portion sizes will help the medications work better.
Focus on cutting the fat in your diet, especially saturated fat and cholesterol. This objective works better than simply trying to lose weight. Space meals over the course of the day rather than eating a few large meals. Aim for a modest weight loss.
For many people, losing only 10 to 20 pounds can mean improved blood glucose and blood fat levels and lower blood pressure.
The best way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories and increase your activity level. Minor changes can help. For example, cutting out 250 calories per day and walking briskly for 20 minutes three times a week may be all you need to do to control weight and blood glucose levels.
Checking your blood glucose level at home is a great way to keep tabs on your progress.
Daily Guidelines
What are the basics of a nutritious diet for someone with diabetes? Nutrition means getting nutrients -- protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals -- from what you eat and drink.
The amounts of carbohydrate, fat, and protein in your daily meal plan depend on your individual needs and tastes. They also depend on your overall health and your treatment goals (blood glucose, blood fat levels, and weight goals).
Your nutrition needs change throughout life, as your body changes. As your needs change, so should your food choices.
Protein.
For most people, a healthy diet includes 10 to 20 percent of daily calories from protein (poultry, fish, dairy, and vegetable sources). If you have kidney disease, you and your doctor should talk about lowering your protein intake to around 10 percent of daily calories.
Fat.
A healthy intake of fat is 30 percent or less of your daily calories. Less than 10 percent should come from saturated fats (fats that are solid at room temperature), and up to 10 percent should come from polyunsaturated fats (fats from fish and other seafood).
Daily cholesterol intake should be 300 milligrams or less. Cholesterol is found in dairy products, eggs, and meats.
In general, we eat too much fat. To reduce our risk for heart disease, we all need to eat less saturated fat and cholesterol. Because having diabetes puts you at increased risk for heart disease, you have even more reason to watch your fat intake.
Carbohydrates.
The rest of your daily calories will come from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are found in fruits, vegetables, beans, dairy foods, and starchy foods such as breads.
Sugar is a type of carbohydrate. For most of the past 100 years, people with diabetes were told to avoid sugar. It was assumed that sugar, which quickly changes into glucose, would raise blood glucose levels more. But research has shown that this is not true.
Of course, there are still reasons why sugar is not a smart food choice. Your body depends on the nutrients supplied in the foods you eat. Sugary foods are often empty calories that provide no nutrients. Your dietician can help work foods with sugar into your meal plan. But they can't take the place of foods that supply vitamins and minerals.
There is no reason to avoid table sugar in favour of other sweeteners, such as fructose (the sugar found in fruit), corn sweeteners, corn syrup, fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate, honey, molasses, dextrose, and maltose.
On the other hand, there is no reason for people with diabetes to avoid foods that naturally contain sweeteners, such as fructose (fruits and vegetables) or lactose (dairy products).
Unless you have special health concerns or problems, you can follow the same guidelines for eating fibre and sodium as the general public. If you eat a variety of healthful foods, you don't need to take extra vitamins and minerals.
Alcohol.
The warnings the public hears about alcohol also apply to you. If you have well-controlled diabetes, you can work one or two drinks into your meal plan. Do not drink alcohol on an empty stomach. It can cause very low blood glucose.
If you take insulin or diabetes pills, you need to know how alcohol affects your blood glucose level by testing during and after drinking.
Success With Food
You may have tried meal plans or diets only to fail time and again. You may have lost weight only to gain it back. Just the thought of changing your habits may seem overwhelming. You should think about food choices in a new way:
Don't try to do it alone. Working food choices into a diabetes treatment plan is a complex task. It takes teamwork. You want to wind up with a meal plan that fits you. Get the help of a registered dietician and your doctor.
A dietician is a health-care professional with training and expertise in the field of food. All adults with diabetes should see a dietician every six months to a year to help with meal plans.
Look for one who has worked with many people with diabetes. Dieticians teach you many useful skills: how to use Exchange Lists for Meal Planning, published by the American Diabetes Association and The American Dietetic Association; how to count dietary carbohydrate or fat; how to read food labels; how to handle eating out in restaurants; and how to make healthy food choices when grocery shopping.
Dietitians help you discover a range of nutritional resources, including cookbooks and reference materials, so you can learn how to prepare healthy, delicious, and satisfying meals.
Start with what you are doing now. You and your dietician should begin by looking at your current habits. This is called a nutrition assessment. Building on what you do now, you can come up with a plan that will help you meet your health goals.
The plan should fit your food tastes, family or cultural customs, and lifestyle, while it helps you meet your health goals. You do not have to give up all your favourite foods. Make changes slowly. For example, your goal might be to lose 10 pounds.
You may be able to reach this goal by making some small changes:
Cutting down on portion size.
Eating less fat.
Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables.
Walking briskly for 20 minutes three or four times a week.
Because there is no one diabetic diet, you have lots of food choices. As you change, your plan can change too.
Know your health goals. How does your meal plan help you meet these goals? By testing your blood glucose and having other regular health tests, you get a picture of how your food plan affects your diabetes control. Talk to your doctor about how often you need to test your blood glucose at home. Keep track of your test results.
Staying healthy with diabetes will always be a challenge. When you work with your health-care team on your meal plan, you are working on one of the most important tools for feeling your best.
Although you need to follow a healthy eating plan, it's a blueprint that includes many choices. It's up to you to help shape a plan that you can live with.
Your meal plan must match your unique needs. That's why there is no one diabetic diet. When you work with a dietician to create your meal plan, it's like turning that blueprint into a home. Just as you choose a certain roof material or paint colour for your home, you can choose foods that suit your tastes. The most important guideline is that your meal plan needs to be individualized for you.
Your Food Plan
Diabetes doesn't change the kinds of foods you can eat. Basically, what's healthy for you is what's healthy for anyone who wants to eat well. Like everyone, you should focus on eating less fat, fewer sugary foods, and a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and fish.
Your food plan should give you enough calories to stay at a healthy weight for you. This is a weight you can achieve and stay with, and one that you and your doctor agree on. It may not be the ideal body weight found on the height/weight charts.
Your food choices can help you prevent or delay side effects of diabetes such as kidney disease, gastroparesis (slow stomach emptying), high blood pressure, and heart disease by helping you control blood glucose levels.
For people with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. Food is one tool you can use to treat your diabetes. Your food plan should help you keep your blood glucose level as near to normal as possible. Plan your meals at consistent times so that you eat when your insulin is working the hardest.
It's especially important for you to monitor your blood glucose levels. This will help you change your insulin dose to match the amount of food you usually eat.
Your meal plan should also help you prevent or treat very low blood glucose, even when you exercise. You also need food ideas for days when you're ill or don't eat normally. Even when you're sick, you still need to take insulin.
A dietitian can help you plan ahead to avoid low blood glucose and teach you what and how much food to eat to treat a low blood glucose reaction.
Children and teens need a food plan that keeps them growing normally. Pregnant women, women who are planning to get pregnant, and women who are breast-feeding need to develop a food plan that will keep blood glucose under tight control.
It's important for the health of mother and baby to have excellent blood glucose control from the first moment of pregnancy and while caring for an infant.
For people with type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes. You seek several health goals: good control of your blood glucose levels, better blood fat levels, more normal blood pressure, and a healthy weight. You may be able to reach both of these goals with a healthy eating plan and regular exercise.
If you also need insulin or diabetes pills, sticking with healthy food choices and portion sizes will help the medications work better.
Focus on cutting the fat in your diet, especially saturated fat and cholesterol. This objective works better than simply trying to lose weight. Space meals over the course of the day rather than eating a few large meals. Aim for a modest weight loss.
For many people, losing only 10 to 20 pounds can mean improved blood glucose and blood fat levels and lower blood pressure.
The best way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories and increase your activity level. Minor changes can help. For example, cutting out 250 calories per day and walking briskly for 20 minutes three times a week may be all you need to do to control weight and blood glucose levels.
Checking your blood glucose level at home is a great way to keep tabs on your progress.
Daily Guidelines
What are the basics of a nutritious diet for someone with diabetes? Nutrition means getting nutrients -- protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals -- from what you eat and drink.
The amounts of carbohydrate, fat, and protein in your daily meal plan depend on your individual needs and tastes. They also depend on your overall health and your treatment goals (blood glucose, blood fat levels, and weight goals).
Your nutrition needs change throughout life, as your body changes. As your needs change, so should your food choices.
Protein.
For most people, a healthy diet includes 10 to 20 percent of daily calories from protein (poultry, fish, dairy, and vegetable sources). If you have kidney disease, you and your doctor should talk about lowering your protein intake to around 10 percent of daily calories.
Fat.
A healthy intake of fat is 30 percent or less of your daily calories. Less than 10 percent should come from saturated fats (fats that are solid at room temperature), and up to 10 percent should come from polyunsaturated fats (fats from fish and other seafood).
Daily cholesterol intake should be 300 milligrams or less. Cholesterol is found in dairy products, eggs, and meats.
In general, we eat too much fat. To reduce our risk for heart disease, we all need to eat less saturated fat and cholesterol. Because having diabetes puts you at increased risk for heart disease, you have even more reason to watch your fat intake.
Carbohydrates.
The rest of your daily calories will come from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are found in fruits, vegetables, beans, dairy foods, and starchy foods such as breads.
Sugar is a type of carbohydrate. For most of the past 100 years, people with diabetes were told to avoid sugar. It was assumed that sugar, which quickly changes into glucose, would raise blood glucose levels more. But research has shown that this is not true.
Of course, there are still reasons why sugar is not a smart food choice. Your body depends on the nutrients supplied in the foods you eat. Sugary foods are often empty calories that provide no nutrients. Your dietician can help work foods with sugar into your meal plan. But they can't take the place of foods that supply vitamins and minerals.
There is no reason to avoid table sugar in favour of other sweeteners, such as fructose (the sugar found in fruit), corn sweeteners, corn syrup, fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate, honey, molasses, dextrose, and maltose.
On the other hand, there is no reason for people with diabetes to avoid foods that naturally contain sweeteners, such as fructose (fruits and vegetables) or lactose (dairy products).
Unless you have special health concerns or problems, you can follow the same guidelines for eating fibre and sodium as the general public. If you eat a variety of healthful foods, you don't need to take extra vitamins and minerals.
Alcohol.
The warnings the public hears about alcohol also apply to you. If you have well-controlled diabetes, you can work one or two drinks into your meal plan. Do not drink alcohol on an empty stomach. It can cause very low blood glucose.
If you take insulin or diabetes pills, you need to know how alcohol affects your blood glucose level by testing during and after drinking.
Success With Food
You may have tried meal plans or diets only to fail time and again. You may have lost weight only to gain it back. Just the thought of changing your habits may seem overwhelming. You should think about food choices in a new way:
Don't try to do it alone. Working food choices into a diabetes treatment plan is a complex task. It takes teamwork. You want to wind up with a meal plan that fits you. Get the help of a registered dietician and your doctor.
A dietician is a health-care professional with training and expertise in the field of food. All adults with diabetes should see a dietician every six months to a year to help with meal plans.
Look for one who has worked with many people with diabetes. Dieticians teach you many useful skills: how to use Exchange Lists for Meal Planning, published by the American Diabetes Association and The American Dietetic Association; how to count dietary carbohydrate or fat; how to read food labels; how to handle eating out in restaurants; and how to make healthy food choices when grocery shopping.
Dietitians help you discover a range of nutritional resources, including cookbooks and reference materials, so you can learn how to prepare healthy, delicious, and satisfying meals.
Start with what you are doing now. You and your dietician should begin by looking at your current habits. This is called a nutrition assessment. Building on what you do now, you can come up with a plan that will help you meet your health goals.
The plan should fit your food tastes, family or cultural customs, and lifestyle, while it helps you meet your health goals. You do not have to give up all your favourite foods. Make changes slowly. For example, your goal might be to lose 10 pounds.
You may be able to reach this goal by making some small changes:
Because there is no one diabetic diet, you have lots of food choices. As you change, your plan can change too.
Know your health goals. How does your meal plan help you meet these goals? By testing your blood glucose and having other regular health tests, you get a picture of how your food plan affects your diabetes control. Talk to your doctor about how often you need to test your blood glucose at home. Keep track of your test results.
Staying healthy with diabetes will always be a challenge. When you work with your health-care team on your meal plan, you are working on one of the most important tools for feeling your best.
Although you need to follow a healthy eating plan, it's a blueprint that includes many choices. It's up to you to help shape a plan that you can live with.
