Diet
Following a healthy diet can be one of the biggest challenges of diabetes, both at home and when eating out. You have to make many decisions each day about what, when, and how much to eat. With so many choices out there, it can be hard to identify and choose the foods that are healthy and match your meal plan. But to manage your diabetes, you must balance food, exercise, and diabetes medicine (if prescribed) so your blood sugar will not be too high or too low.
- What Is Blood Sugar?
- Creating Your Meal Plan
- Following the Food Guide Pyramid
- What You Eat
- How Much You Eat
- When You Eat
What Is Blood Sugar?
Whether you have diabetes or not, most food turns into sugar before it goesinto the bloodstream. This is important because your body uses sugar for energy. Sugar in the bloodstream is called “blood sugar” or “blood glucose.” insulin helps sugar move from your blood into your body's cells where it is used for energy. Your body gets the fuel it needs, in the form of calories, from the foods you eat. Carbohydrates, protein, and fat are the nutrients that provide calories. They are the basic parts of your diet.
Carbohydrate is the ideal fuel that provides energy for your body. Carbohydrates include foods such as breads, cereals, rice, pasta, vegetables, and fruits. Carbohydrates affect the blood sugar more than protein and fat because all carbohydrates are broken down into sugar. Therefore, it is important that your meal plan be developed so that your carbohydrate intake, exercise, and medication, if needed, work together to keep your blood sugar levels in a normal range. For help understanding carbohydrates, portions, and how to calculate the amount of carbohydrates in specific foods, go to the Carbohydrate Counter.
Protein is the nutrient that helps with growth and repair of your body cells. Most protein comes from meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, nuts, milk, yogurt, and cheese. Some of the protein you eat is converted to glucose and your meal plan will consider this fact. Most protein - that which comes from animal sources such as beef, pork, poultry, fish, milk, or eggs - contains cholesterol.
Fat is found in oils, butter, margarine, red meat, milk and cheese, nuts, and some desserts. Your body needs only small amounts of fat each day to remain healthy. Although your body does not turn much of the fat you eat into glucose, it still gets stored as excess calories and weight. Extra weight makes insulin less efficient.
Creating Your Meal Plan
The goal of your meal plan should be to control your blood sugar, maintain a healthy body weight, and feel well enough to carry on your daily activities and work. Your Diabetes specialist nurse or dietitian can assist you in planning the right amounts of foods, types of foods, and timing o f meals.
As you begin to develop your own meal plan, you may want to start by thinking about the foods that you normally eat. You can do this by keeping a list of everything you eat for three days, the time you eat them, and the amount you eat. After you have completed this list, work with your healthcare team to analyze the results. As you analyze your diet, ask yourself the following questions:
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what are your favorite foods?
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do you have "problem foods," such as donuts or French fries, that are not healthy and that you probably eat too much of?
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what size are your food portions?
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how often do you eat?
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how often do you over-eat?
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do you have a time of day that is more difficult to follow your meal plan
After you analyze your diet, you should work with your healthcare team to develop a meal plan that makes sense for you. This plan should consider the foods you enjoy as well as your usual eating habits, age, sex, weight, level of physical activity, and medications. Your own meal plan will tell you the kinds and amounts of food to eat. Even with this plan, you'll still have to make daily choices about food.
Following the Food Guide Pyramid
There are three main factors to consider when planning a diet for diabetes: what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat. The Food Guide Pyramid is a general guide to healthy eating. But it can be used by many people with diabetes, because the same nutritional principles apply
What You Eat
Eat a variety of foods. This prevents boredom in your meal plan. In addition, a balanced meal keeps blood sugar more even. Remember that foods closer to nature are healthier for you. Also, research has proven that a plant-based diet maintains health better than a diet based on animal-source foods. The Food Guide Pyramid promotes a plant-based diet since the bottom of the Pyramid represents the food that your diet is based on - grains, fruits, and vegetables. An overall nutritional philosophy is to "eat more of the best and less of the rest!"
In general, you should limit your intake of certain foods. Specifically:
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use sugar in moderation
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use salt and sodium in moderation
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limit foods that are high in fat and cholesterol
Whenever you choose a food, always ask yourself, "Is there a better choice available?"
| Foods to Avoid: | Foods to substitute: |
| Avoid fried foods, cold cuts, and higher fat cuts of red meat | Choose poultry, fish, loin or sirloin cuts of red meat, recommended broiling, grilling, or baking foods |
| Avoid food mixtures or casseroles | Choose plain potatoes, fruits, or vegetables |
| Avoid croissants, sweet breads, or "stuffed" breads | Choose pasta, whole grain breads and cereals |
| Avoid butter, sour cream, salad dressings, sauces, and gravies | Choose lemon or lime juice, flavored vinegar, low-calorie salad dressings, spices or herbs |
| Avoid excessive and sugary drinks | Choose diet drinks and sparkling waters (without added sugar) |
How Much You Eat
Eating larger servings will increase your blood sugar. Eating foods at the top of the pyramid (animal-source foods) will increase your blood fats, plus these foods contain more calories. Foods at the bottom of the pyramid contain more carbohydrates, which have the main effect on your blood sugar. Even though the Food Guide Pyramid encourages a diet based on these foods, people with diabetes need to control the amounts of these foods to keep their blood sugar from going too high.