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Summary
If you have diabetes, your body cannot make or properly use insulin. This leads to high blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels. Healthy eating helps keep your blood sugar in your target range. It is a critical part of managing your diabetes, because controlling your blood sugar can prevent the complications of diabetes.
A registered dietitian can help make an eating plan just for you. It should take into account your weight, medicines, lifestyle, and other health problems you have.
Healthy diabetic eating includes
- Limiting foods that are high in sugar
- Eating smaller portions, spread out over the day
- Being careful about when and how many carbohydrates you eat
- Eating a variety of whole-grain foods, fruits and vegetables every day
- Eating less fat
- Limiting your use of alcohol
- Using less salt
NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Latest News
- Fatty Fish May Curb Eye Risks for Diabetics, Study Finds (08/18/2016, HealthDay)
Related Issues
- Could Switching to a Vegetarian Diet Cure My Diabetes? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
-
Diabetes and Dietary Supplements
(National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health)
Also in Spanish
- Diabetes Nutrition: Eating Out When You Have Diabetes (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Nutrient Content Claims (American Diabetes Association) Also in Spanish
- Reading Food Labels: Tips If You Have Diabetes (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Weight and Diabetes (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Specifics
- Alcohol (American Diabetes Association) Also in Spanish
- All about Carbohydrate Counting (American Diabetes Association) - PDF
- Artificial Sweeteners and Other Sugar Substitutes (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Best Food Choices (American Diabetes Association)
- Dairy (American Diabetes Association) Also in Spanish
- Diabetes Nutrition: Including Sweets in Your Meal Plan (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Diabetes Superfoods (American Diabetes Association)
- Grains and Starchy Vegetables (American Diabetes Association) Also in Spanish
- Managing Diabetes: Looking Beyond Carbs (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Non-Starchy Vegetables (American Diabetes Association) Also in Spanish
- Protein Foods (American Diabetes Association) Also in Spanish
- Understanding Carbohydrates (American Diabetes Association) Also in Spanish
- What Can I Drink? (American Diabetes Association) Also in Spanish
-
What I Need to Know about Carbohydrate Counting and Diabetes
(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
Also in Spanish
Health Check Tools
- MyFoodAdvisor (American Diabetes Association)
Statistics and Research
- Patient Access to Research (American Diabetes Association)
Clinical Trials
-
ClinicalTrials.gov: Diabetic Diet
(National Institutes of Health)
Journal ArticlesReferences and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
Find an Expert
- American Diabetes Association
- Find a Diabetes Educator (American Association of Diabetes Educators)
- Find a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)
-
National Diabetes Education Program
-
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Patient Handouts
- Counting carbohydrates Also in Spanish
- Diabetes type 2 - meal planning Also in Spanish
- Snacking when you have diabetes Also in Spanish
- Sweeteners - sugar substitutes Also in Spanish