Diet and Diabetes – What is the Best Diet For Diabetes?

Diabetics who want to best manage their condition often turn to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) for support. After all who better to advise of the important subject of diet and diabetes? The problem was, until fairly recently, the Diabetic Food Pyramid (the brain child of the ADA) was recommending a low fat, high carbohydrate diet. Fortunately today this has been revised and it seems that even the ADA has realized that it’s not fat that causes diabetes, it’s carbohydrates.


Recent research suggests that the less carbohydrates consumed, the less insulin is needed for even Type 1 diabetics. For type 2 diabetics, a lot of stress is taken off the pancreas to produce insulin. However, the medical community has been painfully slow to adopt this option.

So what are carbohydrates? Carbohydrates are typically referred to as carbs. A carbohydrate comprises starches and sugars which are converted into glucose by the body. There are simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates.

Simple carbohydrates are sugars, for example glucose, fructose, sucrose, and lactose. These are found mainly in processed foods, lollies and desserts. Unfortunately sugar is also a hidden ingredient in many processed foods including breakfast cereals. Complex carbohydrates are also starches. But complex carbohydrates can be found in foods such as legumes, vegetables and whole grain products. Both of these are converted into glucose to be used as energy by the body, but the body, in it’s wisdom treats the two types differently.

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Complex carbohydrates are digested slowly and thus do not trigger a large rise in insulin production, whereas simple carbohydrates can send insulin levels soaring. This is the reason you must become an expert at discerning the difference between these two types of carbohydrates when formulating a diabetic meal plan.

A diet for diabetes requires eliminating almost all pre packaged foods and fast foods as these are generally high in sugar and salt. In their place eat fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, eggs, chicken, turkey, beans, whole grains, and lean (preferably grass fed) meat. Cut down drastically on sugar, potatoes, white rice, and pasta. This doesn’t mean you can never have any of these foods, your blood glucose levels will likely dictate when you can indulge.

Typical low carb diets focus on around 5-10% carbohydrate as a proportion of total daily intake. A diabetic meal plan cab follow this as a guide. The advantage of low carb diets is they can make you feel full for longer, especially if you eat a lot of protein. The disadvantage is that can can be low in fiber. This is why you need some carbohydrate, such as brown rice to keep regular.

If you need to lose weight at the same time as eating a diabetic diet, you’ll need to have smaller quantities. There are certain tips you can use such as using less oil in food preparation and taking natural fiber supplements to enhance the feeling of fullness.

You need to become a label reader on a diet for diabetes. All that print on the back of cans and packages that you’ve probably ignored up to this point will suddenly become important. Most countries now have stringent labeling laws and you can determine the sugar and carbohydrate content of all packaged foods by simply reading the labels. Remember that a product that is marked “sugar free” may not be carb free. Become skilled at reading and understanding food labels so that you can control both your calories and carbs and thus manage your diet for diabetes. A diabetic diet may seem intimidating at first, but will become easier with time.

To find out more about diet and diabetes, visit http://diabetes.webmd.com/diabetes-diet-healthy-diet-basics