Diet is one of the most important things that you can control to help you manage diabetes, whether you have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. In this post, we’ll take a look at what a healthy diet for diabetics looks like and how you can get started to improve your diet.
Goals of Healthy Diet for Diabetes
For most people with diabetes, the main goal for healthy eating will be to:
- Achieve or maintain an ideal weight
- Reach target blood lipid levels
- Maintain fasting blood sugar less than 6 mmol/L and HbA1c less than 6.5%.
There are a few key things to help you reach these goals. Firstly, what you eat is important: it’s best to get less energy from fats and sugars and get more from high-fibre complex carbohydrates such as wholemeal bread, rolled oats, pasta, beans, lentils, apples and cereals. Additionally, how you eat is important: it’s best to eat at regular intervals throughout the day and to avoid long periods without eating.
Understanding Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are an important part of the diet for people with diabetes because they are responsible for providing a source of glucose to your body in your blood.
There are different types of carbohydrates, and it is important for you to understand how these can affect your blood glucose levels. This will help you to keep it constant, rather than swinging too high or too low.
Glycaemic index (GI) is a type of scale that is used to measure how quickly the carbohydrates are digested and released into the blood as glucose.
- Low glycaemic index (low-GI) foods are digested more slowly and gradually release glucose into the blood.
- High glycaemic index (high-GI) foods are digested more quickly and suddenly release glucose into the blood.
Every food is represented on the GI scale from 1 to 100. Foods over 70 are considered to be high-GI, and those below 55 are low-GI. Complex carbohydrates, which are high in fibre, tend to be low-GI and perfect for people with diabetes. Other examples of low-GI foods include:
- Low-sugar breakfast cereals (e.g. porridge, oats, bran, muesli)
- Wholegrain bread
- Fresh fruit (e.g. apples, bananas, oranges, stone fruit, grapes)
- Vegetables (e.g. broccoli, carrots, zucchini, spinach, peas, eggplant)
- Dairy products (e.g. milk, yoghurt, cheese)
- Starchy foods (e.g. sweet corn, lentils, pasta, noodles, brown or basmati rice, sweet potato, beans)
Understanding Fats
While some fat in the diet is a good thing, most people tend to consume too much fat in their everyday diet. In fact, most people would benefit from reducing the amount of fat that they eat. Fats can be found in many different foods, including dairy products (e.g. milk, butter, cream, cheese, yoghurt), meat and meat products, cooking oils and processed foods.
It’s okay to eat these foods occasionally, but the bulk of your diet should be fresh fruits and vegetables rather than high-fat foods.
Recommended Snacks For People with Diabetes
It’s important for people with diabetes to have some healthy snacks on hand during the day, to keep your blood glucose levels constant between meals.
Here are some great ideas for low-GI snacks that you might like:
- Nuts (e.g. peanuts, almonds, walnut, pecans)
- Dried fruit (e.g. apricot, prunes)
- Wheat biscuits
- Dark chocolate
On the other hand, there are high-GI snacks such as glucose lollies, biscuits, rice cakes and raisins. These types of snacks have a more rapid effect on your blood glucose, but can actually be useful if you suddenly feel like you have low blood sugar levels.
Where can you get help planning meals?
Fortunately, a healthy diet for diabetics doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, you won’t need any special meal plan or ingredients – the best diet for someone with diabetes very similar to the healthiest diet for anyone else.
However, if you’re finding it difficult to make changes or to know what to eat, you might like to talk to you doctor or pharmacist for advice. A dietician may also help to provide you with more specialized advice for your particular needs.
Healthy Diet Tips
Here are our top healthy diet tips for people with diabetes:
1. Eat Regularly Throughout the Day
Make sure that you have regular meal times so that you have a source of carbohydrates throughout the day. It’s best to eat at least one low-GI food with each main meal, and have some on hand as a snack just in case too.
2. Eat the Right Foods
What you eat is very important. Aim to eat more low-GI foods, moderate amounts of protein (e.g. meat, poultry, eggs, legumes), and reduce the quantity of food high in fat or added sugar.
3. Keep Track of Your Blood Glucose
The easiest way to know how well you’re doing in controlling your blood glucose levels is to test them. You are probably already doing this as part of your treatment for diabetes, but it can also be helpful to understand if you are eating too much or too few carbohydrates.
Want to know more?
If you’d like to know more about diabetes and the healthiest diet for diabetics, we’ll be happy to help you at Inverell Pharmacy. Simply stop by for a chat with one of our pharmacists at 132 Byron Street (next to Telstra) for more information, or give us a call on 026722 3146.
Inverell Pharmacy – your locally owned and operated pharmacy with 5 Pharmacists to Assist and Advise you.