Diabetes diet: Create your healthy-eating plan

 Diabetes diet: Create your healthy-eating plan

A diabetes diet is a healthy-eating plan that helps control blood sugar. Use this guide to get started, from meal planning to counting carbohydrates.

By Mayo Clinic Staff

A diabetes diet simply means eating the healthiest foods in moderate amounts and sticking to regular mealtimes. It's a healthy-eating plan that's naturally rich in nutrients and low in fat and calories. Key elements are fruits, vegetables and whole grains. In fact, this type of diet is the best eating plan for most everyone.

provider may suggest you aim for a smaller amount if you have high blood pressure.

Putting it all together: Creating a plan

You may use a few different approaches to create a healthy diet to help you keep your blood sugar level within a typical range. With a dietitian's help, you may find that one or a combination of the following methods works for you:

The plate method

The American Diabetes Association offers a simple method of meal planning. It focuses on eating more vegetables. Follow these steps when preparing your plate:

Fill half of your plate with nonstarchy vegetables, such as spinach, carrots and tomatoes.

Fill a quarter of your plate with a lean protein, such as tuna, lean pork or chicken.

Fill the last quarter with a carbohydrate, such as brown rice or a starchy vegetable, such as green peas.

Include "good" fats such as nuts or avocados in small amounts.

Add a piece of fruit or a serving of dairy and a drink of water or unsweetened tea or coffee.

Counting carbohydrates

Because carbohydrates break down into sugar, they have the greatest effect on your blood sugar level. To help control your blood sugar, you may need to learn to figure out the amount of carbohydrates you are eating with the help of a dietitian. You can then adjust the dose of insulin accordingly. It's important to keep track of the amount of carbohydrates in each meal or snack.

A dietitian can teach you how to measure food portions and become an educated reader of food labels. You also can learn how to pay special attention to serving size and carbohydrate content.

Choose your foods

A dietitian may recommend you choose specific foods to help plan meals and snacks. You can choose a number of foods from lists that include categories such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

One serving in a category is called a choice. A food choice has about the same amount of carbohydrates, protein, fat and calories — and the same effect on your blood sugar — as a serving of every other food in that same category. For example, the starch, fruits and milk list includes choices that are all between 12 and 15 grams of carbohydrates.

Glycemic index

Some people who live with diabetes use the glycemic index to select foods, especially carbohydrates. This method ranks carbohydrate-containing foods based on their effect on blood sugar levels. Talk with your dietitian about whether this method might work for you.

A sample menu

When planning meals, take into account your size and activity level. The following menu is for someone who needs 1,200 to 1,600 calories a day.

Breakfast. Whole-wheat bread (1 medium slice) with 2 teaspoons jelly, 1/2 cup shredded wheat cereal with a cup of 1% low-fat milk, a piece of fruit and coffee.

Lunch. Roast beef sandwich on wheat bread with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, medium apple and water.

Dinner. Salmon, 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil, small baked potato, 1 tsp margarine, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 cup green beans, medium dinner roll and unsweetened iced tea.

Snack. For example, 2 1/2 cups popcorn with 1 1/2 teaspoons margarine.

What are the results of this kind of diet?

Embracing a healthy-eating plan is the best way to keep your blood sugar level under control and prevent diabetes complications. And if you need to lose weight, you can tailor the plan to your specific goals.

Aside from managing your diabetes, a healthy diet offers other benefits too. Because this diet recommends generous amounts of fruits, vegetables and fiber, following it is likely to lower your risk of cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer. And eating low-fat dairy products can reduce your risk of low bone mass in the future.

Are there any risks?

If you live with diabetes, it's important that you partner with your health care provider and dietitian to create an eating plan that works for you. Use healthy foods, portion control and a schedule to manage your blood sugar level. If you don't follow your prescribed diet, you run the risk of blood sugar levels that change often and more-serious complications.