Plan Ahead For Healthy Meals
Planning healthier meals and snacks can go a long way to helping you reach your goals. Talk to your registered dietitian or health-care team about the amount of carbohydrates that are right for you and for help with meal planning. A weekly meal plan will help you shop for the right foods and encourage more cooking at home.
What Physical Activities Should I Do If I Have Diabetes
Most kinds of physical activity can help you take care of your diabetes. Certain activities may be unsafe for some people, such as those with low vision or nerve damage to their feet. Ask your health care team what physical activities are safe for you. Many people choose walking with friends or family members for their activity.
Doing different types of physical activity each week will give you the most health benefits. Mixing it up also helps reduce boredom and lower your chance of getting hurt. Try these options for physical activity.
Eating Well To Beat Diabetes
If you are overweight or have a large waist, Type 2 diabetes can be avoided or delayed by reducing your weight and waist size. Every kilogram lost is associated with a 16 percent reduction in diabetes risk.
Along with increased activity, a healthy diet will help you manage your weight. No single weight-loss plan has been proven to be more effective than any other, so a healthy, balanced diet is recommended. If you have already been diagnosed as prediabetic or have Type 2 diabetes, it is particularly important to control your weight. Being a healthy weight makes diabetes easier to manage and can delay the onset of some of the most unpleasant complications of the disease.
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Can I Drink Alcohol If I Have Type 2 Diabetes
For most people with type 2 diabetes, the general guideline for moderate alcohol consumption applies. Research shows that one drink per day for women and two a day for men reduces cardiovascular risk and doesn’t have a negative impact on diabetes. However, alcohol can lower blood sugar, and people with type 2 diabetes who are prone to hypoglycemia should be aware of delayed hypoglycemia.
Ways to prevent hypoglycemia include:
- Eat food with alcoholic drinks to help minimize the risk.
- Mixed drinks and cocktails often are made with sweeteners or juices, and contain a large amount of carbohydrates so they will increase blood sugar levels.
- Wear a diabetes alert bracelet so that people know to offer food if you demonstrate hypoglycemic symptoms.
It also is important to know that hypoglycemia symptoms often mimic those of intoxication.
The Best Type 2 Diabetes Diet
So what does the best type 2 diabetes diet look like? We break foods down into three categories: green light, yellow light, and red light foods.
Green lights you can eat as much as you want, period. Yellow lights are okay, but shouldnt be daily staples. And we recommend removing red light foods from your diet and your pantry.
To learn more about this diet and how to execute it, you can check out our article on the diabetes diet, or talk to our coaches.
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When Should I Eat If I Have Diabetes
Some people with diabetes need to eat at about the same time each day. Others can be more flexible with the timing of their meals. Depending on your diabetes medicines or type of insulin, you may need to eat the same amount of carbohydrates at the same time each day. If you take mealtime insulin, your eating schedule can be more flexible.
If you use certain diabetes medicines or insulin and you skip or delay a meal, your blood glucose level can drop too low. Ask your health care team when you should eat and whether you should eat before and after physical activity.
Can I Snack In Between Meals
Some people with type 2 diabetes hear about hypos and think they need to eat snacks to avoid them. But this isnt the case for everyone.
You dont need to eat snacks if youre not taking any medication for your type 2 diabetes. If you treat your diabetes with medication that puts you at risk of hypos, like insulin, you may need a snack to prevent a hypo. But if you find youre having to snack a lot to prevent hypos, talk to your healthcare team so they can give you more advice.
Snacking in general can make it harder to manage a healthy weight though, which is really important for managing your diabetes. So if you do feel like a snack, go for a healthier option like carrot sticks and hummus or some dark chocolate rice cakes.
Weve got lots of simple snack swaps to try.
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What Types Of Diet Or Meal Plans Are Recommended For People With Type 2 Diabetes
Several dietary patterns have been studied, and have shown to have beneficial effects on type 2 diabetes. Because multiple patterns work, people can choose the eating pattern that works best for them. However, there are commonalities among all healthy diabetes diets. All healthy diabetes meal plans include:
People with type 2 diabetes must be extra aware of the carbohydrate content of their meals so their blood sugar levels don’t rise, or if they are using injectable insulin, so they can dose insulin appropriately.
A vegetarian or vegan diet can be a good choice for people with diabetes. Vegetarian and vegan diets are typically high in carbohydrates – about 13% higher than a diet with that includes both plant and animal products which we generally think is bad for diabetes. However, a vegetarian or vegan diet is typically fiber-rich and lower in calories and saturated fat, so the inflammatory risks associated with high meat consumption are avoided. Research studies that have tested vegetarian and vegan diets for people with diabetes have found them to be beneficial at reducing blood sugar.
A good quality vegetarian or vegan diet:
- Is high in vegetables and fruits
- Includes quality proteins such as beans, nuts, and seeds
- Includes plant-based fats such as olive oil and avocado
- Prioritizes whole grains such as brown rice and quinoa rather than refined carbohydrates
What Does The Science Say
“What can I eat?” is one of the top questions asked by people with diabetes when they are diagnosedand our goal is to help answer that question. A panel of scientists, doctors, endocrinologists, diabetes educators and dietitians reviewed over 600 research articles over the course of five years to see what dietsor eating patternswork well for people with diabetes. The results were published in our Nutrition Consensus Report.
The main finding? Everyone’s body responds differently to different types of foods and diets, so there is no single “magic” diet for diabetes. But you can follow a few simple guidelines to find out what works for you to help manage your blood sugar.
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Burning Calories: Gym V Everyday Activity
Exercise is essential for good health. It not only helps to maintain a healthy weight, but can lower blood-sugar levels because it helps your body to use insulin more effectively. You don’t need to join the gym, just aim for high levels of everyday activity, including walking, housework, playing with children and hobbies anything that gets you moving.
Breakfast Ideas When You Have Diabetes
Diabetes wont stop you from enjoying your food, but knowing some simple hacks and swaps will help you choose healthier options and make planning your meals a little easier. These ideas may not look much different from what you eat already, and your favourite recipes and meals can usually be adapted to be healthier without you noticing too much difference.
Here are some healthy breakfast ideas to choose from:
- a bowl of wholegrain cereal with milk
- two slices of wholegrain toast with olive oil-based spread
- a pot of natural unsweetened yogurt and fruit
- two slices of avocado with a hardboiled egg.
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Start With The Basics
Watch your portion sizes and calories. Cut back on fried foods, sweets, sugary drinks, and anything salty or fatty. Focus instead on lots of veggies, with whole grains, lean protein, low-fat dairy, fruit, and healthy fats. You may need to eat every few hours to keep your blood sugar levels steady. Your doctor or diabetes educator can help you fine-tune a diet so it works for you.
Go On A Structured Education Course
Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes can often feel like theres a lot to learn. But going on a course can help you understand what diabetes is and how food affects your body.
Ask your healthcare team about getting on a structured education course near you or find out more in our education information.
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Get Support To Eat Well
Get support from your healthcare team, and talk to family and friends about how youre feeling and what they can do to help. If you usually do the cooking at home or someone cooks for you, it can help to read this information together and talk about small swaps and changes you can make in the kitchen.
Protein: Make Your Choices Low In Saturated Fat
Unless you are a vegetarian or vegan, youre likely to get plenty of high-quality protein from lean meats, poultry, seafood, dairy, and eggs.
Both vegetarians and non-vegetarians should also look to plant sources for some or all of your protein needs. Plant foods like soy-based tofu and tempeh are excellent sources of non-animal proteins and fit quite well into a diabetic meal plan because they are also low in carbs.
The same can be said for nuts, and legumes such as black beans, chickpeas, lentils, and edamame as well as some whole-grain foods such as quinoa, kamut, teff, even wild rice and couscous.
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Protein Consumption And Diabetes
The body uses protein for growth and repair. Most people only require 2 to 3 small serves of meat or other protein foods each day. Most protein foods do not directly affect your blood glucose levels.
Protein foods include lean meat, skinless poultry, seafood, eggs, unsalted nuts, soy products such as tofu and legumes . Legumes also contain carbohydrate, so they may have an impact on your blood glucose levels.
Some sample serves of protein foods that are low in fat include:
- one cup of cooked split peas, beans, lentils or other legumes
- 100 g of cooked fish or other seafood
- 65 g of cooked lean red meat
- 80 g of cooked poultry without the skin
- 2 eggs .
Foods To Eat With Type 2 Diabetes
You can follow many different eating patterns and diets to meet your health needs.
With type 2 diabetes, be sure to pick a diet rich in nutrient-dense foods, which can help provide the fiber, vitamins, and minerals that your body needs.
You should also be sure to enjoy a variety of heart-healthy fats, including monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. These can help reduce your cholesterol levels to support heart health, according to a 2017 research review .
Similarly, eating plenty of foods high in fiber can enhance blood sugar management and help keep you feeling fuller for longer to help prevent eating when youre not hungry.
Your diet should also be sustainable and easy to follow. Diet plans that are overly restrictive or dont fit your lifestyle can be much harder to stick with in the long run.
Here are some examples of nutritious foods that your diet should include:
- fruits
- vegetables
- whole grains
- legumes
Here are some of the foods you should limit with type 2 diabetes:
- high fat meat
- full-fat dairy
- sweets
- sugar-sweetened beverages
- sweeteners
- processed foods
- trans fats
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Goal : Achieve A Healthy Body Weight
Body mass index uses your height and weight to determine how much body fat you carry. A BMI of 18.5 to 25 is considered to be a healthy weight range with a healthy amount of body fat.
Another measure: waist circumference is considered by many to be a better measure of excess abdominal body fat. A waist circumference greater than 40 inches for men, and above 35 inches in women has been shown to increase the risk of developing health problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
The closer you are to a healthy body weight or at least an acceptable waist circumference, the more likely you will be able to control, prevent, and possibly reverse your risks of diabetes.
Dont get overwhelmed by thinking about how much total weight you have to lose, Arevalo advises. Studies have shown that losing just 5-10% of your body weight will significantly improve your blood sugar levels as well as your cardiovascular health so set short-term goals of losing just 5-10 pounds to start.
Basic Eating Guidelines For Diabetes
If you have diabetes, follow a simple healthy eating plan, which includes:
- Eat regular meals throughout the day.
- Make vegetables the main part of your meal. Aim to fill at least half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables or salad at both lunch and dinner time.
- You may need to reduce the serving size of your meals and snacks, as eating too much can lead to weight gain and make diabetes harder to manage.
- Don’t add salt when you cook or at the table and reduce the use of high-salt foods.
- Use herbs and spices to add flavour to your food.
- Limit alcohol to 2 standard drinks per day, with some alcohol-free days each week.
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How Strict A Diet For Type 2 Diabetes
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Whats The Diabetes Diet
There is no such thing as a special diet exclusively for people with type 2 diabetes. No two people with diabetes are the same. So there isnt a one-size-fits-all way of eating for everyone with diabetes.
In the past, people with type 2 diabetes were sent away after their diagnosis with a list of foods they weren’t allowed to eat, or often told to cut out sugar. But our advice is to make healthier choices more often, and only have treats occasionally and in small portions.
Because we know that making healthier food choices is important to manage your diabetes and to reduce your risk of diabetes complications, like heart problems and strokes, and other health conditions including certain types of cancers.
Try and make changes to your food choices that are realistic and achievable so youll stick with them. This will be different for everyone, depending on what you eat now and the goals you want to achieve. Here are some examples of goals think about yours and write them down if that helps:
- I want to reach my target blood sugar level
- I want to reduce my cholesterol levels
- I want good blood pressure
- I want to be a healthy weight
- I want to be in diabetes remission.
Youre more likely to achieve your goals if you get some support whether thats from your healthcare team, your family and friends or other people with diabetes. There are millions of people with type 2 diabetes wondering what they can eat youre not alone in this.
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What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Keto Diet For Type 2 Diabetes
The keto diet is a low carb diet that emphasizes foods rich in protein and fat, such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, cheese, nuts, and seeds. It also includes nonstarchy vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and other leafy greens.
It limits foods high in carbohydrates, including grains, dried legumes, root vegetables, fruits, and sweets. Typically, ketogenic diets only include between
of nine studies, low carb diets could help enhance blood sugar management in people with type 2 diabetes while also improving levels of triglycerides and HDL cholesterol.
Another 2018 study had similar findings, reporting that the ketogenic diet could improve blood sugar levels and reduce insulin resistance.
However, depending on the protein-rich foods that you choose, the keto diet and many other low carb diets can be high in saturated fat. You can decrease your consumption of saturated fat by limiting the amount of red meat, fatty cuts of pork, and high fat cheese that you eat.
It can also be challenging to get enough fiber while following the keto diet. For this reason, its important to eat plenty of low carb foods that are rich in fiber, including nuts, seeds, and leafy greens.
Still, more research is needed to learn about the long-term benefits and risks of the keto diet and other low carb approaches to eating.