Healthy eating is important if you want to manage or prevent diabetes. Diabetes is a condition in which your body is not able control the level of blood sugar throughout the day. The foods you eat cause your glucose levels to rise in your bloodstream. If your body is not able to control it, you can damage your kidneys and nerves.
Healthy Eating and a Healthy Weight
If you have type 2 diabetes, your main focus should be on reaching a healthy body weight, since overweight is often a factor in this disease. You can reduce your body weight by eating a healthy diet that limits your calories and provides your body with essential nutrients to function properly. The three key lifestyle habits are exercise, body weight and diet.
Dietary Changes
Healthy eating is about eating the right types of foods and avoiding those that can contribute to spikes in blood glucose or contribute to chronic illness. If you have diabetes, focus your diet on four key dietary changes, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Start by eating whole grains instead of refined and processed carbohydrates such as white bread and white pasta. Second, skip foods that contain high amounts of sugar, especially energy drinks and soda. These will cause spikes in your blood glucose. Third, avoid foods high in saturated fat and trans fat and instead eat healthy forms of unsaturated fat from nuts, seeds and fish. Unhealthy forms of fat can lead to problems such as high cholesterol and heart disease, and will contribute to weight gain. Fourth, eliminate animal products and processed meat from your diet.
What You Should Eat
The four areas of dietary change are key if you want to manage your diabetes through healthy eating. For the best foods to eat, opt for whole foods, including fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and lean meats like fish and poultry. These foods provide healthy forms of carbohydrates, protein and fat. They also contain adequate calories and provide essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and fiber.
Considerations
Healthy eating will affect your diabetes in a positive way. Whole foods combined with adequate physical activity of at least 30 minutes per day will help you maintain a healthy body weight, which will improve your health and help you manage your diabetes. Your doctor may also recommend medication to manage your condition. Work with your health-care team to plan a diabetes diet that is easy to follow and customized to your body weight, activity level and blood glucose levels.
