Picking the right foods to eat when you have diabetes can help lower your blood sugar or keep it stable. Find out what to put on the menu when planning your diabetes diet.
Following a type 2 diabetes diet doesn’t mean you have to give up all the things you love — you can still enjoy a wide range of foods when managing this disease. Indeed, creating a diet for type 2 diabetes is a balancing act: It includes a variety of healthy carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The trick is ultimately choosing foods that are naturally rich in nutrients to help keep your blood sugar level in your target range and avoid big swings that can cause type 2 diabetes symptoms notes the Mayo Clinic — from the frequent urination and thirst of high blood sugar to the fatigue, dizziness, headaches, and mood changes of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), per the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
The Basics of the Type 2 Diabetes Diet: What Should You Eat?
To follow a healthy diet for diabetes, you must first understand how different foods affect your blood sugar. Carbohydrates, which are found to the largest degree in grains, bread, pasta, milk, sweets, fruit, and starchy vegetables, are broken down into glucose in the blood, which raises blood sugar, potentially leading to hyperglycemia according to the Mayo Clinic. Protein and fats have little, if any, impact blood sugar, notes a past review. However, both should be consumed in moderation — along with carbs — to keep calories down and weight in a healthy range.
To hit your blood sugar level target, eat a variety of foods but monitor portions for foods with a high carbohydrate content, says Alison Massey, RD, a certified diabetes educator in Frederick, Maryland. “[Foods high in carbohydrates] have the most impact on blood sugar level. This is why some people with diabetes count their carbohydrates at meals and snacks,” she says.
How Many Carbs Can You Eat if You Have Diabetes?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there’s no “one-size-fits-all” carb target for people managing diabetes. Ultimately, the amount depends on factors such as your age, weight, and activity level.
As a general rule, though, people with diabetes ought to get about one-half of their daily calories from carbs. To identify your daily carb need, multiply 50 percent by your daily calorie target. For example, if you eat 2,000 calories a day, aim to consume about 1,000 calories of carbs in food and drink. Because the CDC says 1 gram (g) of carbs provides 4 calories, you can divide the calories of carbs number by 4 to get your daily target for grams of carbs, which comes out to 250 g in this example. For a more personalized daily carb goal, it’s best to work with a certified diabetes care and education specialist or a registered dietitian to determine a goal that is best for you.
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The Best and Worst Type 2 Diabetes Choices by Food Group
As you pick the best foods for type 2 diabetes, here’s a helpful guideline from the NIDDK to keep in mind: Fill one-half your plate (use a 9-inch dish for reference) with nonstarchy vegetables. One-fourth of your plate should feature your protein (such as meat or a plant-based source), and the final fourth should include a grain or other starch, such as starchy vegetables, a piece of fruit, or a small glass of milk.
Because processed and sugary foods are unhealthy carbs, limit them in your diabetes diet, says Massey. That includes soda, candy, and other packaged or processed snacks, such as corn chips, potato chips, and the like. And while artificial sweeteners like those found in diet sodas won’t necessarily spike your blood sugar in the same way as white sugar, they could still have an effect on your blood sugar and even alter your body’s insulin response.
A previous study found that when 17 obese, non-insulin-resistant people ingested a beverage treated with the artificial sweetener sucralose (sold as Splenda) before taking a standardized dose of glucose, their blood sugar and insulin levels rose more than when they drank plain water. On the other hand, a meta-analysis published May 2018 in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that artificial sweeteners didn’t increase blood sugar levels. More research is needed to determine how artificial sweeteners affect people with diabetes.
For now, here’s what you need to know about choosing the most diabetes-friendly foods from each food group.
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What Foods High in Protein Are Good for Type 2 Diabetes?
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends lean proteins low in saturated fat for people with diabetes. If you’re following a vegan or vegetarian diet, getting enough and the right balance of protein may be more challenging, but you can rely on foods like beans (dried or canned beans, and bean products like hummus and falafel), nuts and nut spreads, tempeh, and tofu to get your fix, notes the Cleveland Clinic. Just be sure to keep portion size in mind when snacking on nuts, as they are also high in fat and calories, according to Harvard Health. The American Heart Association (AHA) counts a small handful (roughly 1.5 ounces) of whole nuts as one serving. If you opt for unsalted almonds, 1.5 ounces will provide 258 calories and nearly 23 g of fat, per estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Meanwhile, processed or packaged foods should be avoided or limited in your diabetes diet because, in addition to added sugars and processed carbohydrates, these foods are often high in sodium, according to the AHA. Getting too much sodium in your diet can increase your blood pressure and, in turn, the risk of heart disease or stroke, notes Harvard Health. And heart disease and stroke are two common complications of diabetes, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s important to keep your blood pressure in check when managing diabetes.
In addition to getting enough fiber, incorporating protein-rich foods in your diet can help keep you satiated and promote weight loss, per a past review. Losing just 5 percent of body weight has been shown to improve blood sugar control in overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes, according to a review published June 2014 in the International Journal of Clinical Practice.
Best options, according to the ADA:
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