If you have diabetes, your physician probably has told you that eating a diabetic diet can help control your blood sugar levels. However, there's no "one-size-fits-all" approach to creating a diabetic diet. You will need to work with your doctor and perhaps a dietitian to create a regimen that suits your particular health goals and needs, while helping keep your blood sugar as low as possible.
Diabetic Diet Basics
Your diabetic diet should have three main goals: achieve near-normal blood sugar levels, protect your cardiovascular system and help you lose weight, if necessary, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Generally, you should aim for a diet that includes about 45 to 65 percent carbohydrates, 25 to 35 percent fat and 12 to 20 percent protein. However, your doctor may need to adjust these percentages up or down to account for other health conditions; for example, people with kidney disease need to eat less protein, while people with cardiovascular disease may need less fat, especially saturated fat.
Foods to Eat
To achieve these diabetic diet goals, you will likely need to eat what is considered a "healthy" diet, with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. The American Diabetes Association recommends consuming lots of brightly-colored fruits and vegetables, since they often have the highest vitamin levels. You will probably also need to replace any highly-refined carbohydrates with whole grain carbs. For example, drop white bread and enjoy whole-wheat bread and skip white rice in favor of brown. You don't need to avoid sugar completely, but you should limit it. Drop whole-fat milk products in favor of reduced-fat or non-fat. Choose the leanest cuts of meat you can find, and try non-animal sources of protein, such as soy products. Last, make sure to use vegetable oils such as canola oil when cooking.
Eating Habits
You may need to change your typical pattern of eating to better manage your diabetic diet, according to the University of Cincinnati's NetWellness website. To keep your blood sugar from rising too much or falling too low, you will probably need to eat something every couple hours. This can represent a significant change if you're accustomed to eating one or two large meals a day, with few snacks in between. All your meals and snacks should contain carbohydrates --- preferably, complex carbohydrates --- to give you energy.
Considerations
If you are taking oral diabetes medications or using injected insulin, you will need to coordinate your medication dosing schedule with your meals. Follow your physician's instructions regarding pre-meal and post-meal blood sugar testing to make certain you're meeting your target blood sugar levels. In addition, if you're taking medication --- especially insulin --- make sure you don't skip meals, because that can lead to dangerously low blood sugar levels.
