What to Eat When You Have Diabetes

As for diet, the main thing to remember with diabetes is carbohydrate control. Your total daily intake of carbohydrates should be at least 130 grams per day, ideally 40 percent to 45 percent of your total caloric intake, according to guidelines from the Joslin Diabetes Center. If you regularly take medication or insulin for your diabetes, it's helpful to maintain meal-to-meal consistency in distributing your carbohydrates throughout the day.

What does this mean? It means you still need to eat plenty of carbs, which contain sugars, but you also need to become educated about selecting foods with a low glycemic index, which is a system of ranking how quickly certain carbohydrate-containing foods raise your blood glucose levels. Foods with a low glycemic index will raise your glucose levels more slowly and help your body stay on a more even keel.

So what are some of these foods? Primarily, they are vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole or minimally processed grains. The carbohydrates with high glycemic loads, which you want to avoid, are things like processed foods and refined grains—things like white rice, regular pasta, white bread and sugary low-fiber cereals. You also want to avoid things that are loaded with sugar—sodas, sweetened tea or coffee drinks, sweetened juices, dried fruits, desserts and candy. Some starchy vegetables also are high-glycemic foods, such as potatoes and corn.

The more fiber a food contains, the less quickly your blood sugar will react. That's why it's important to eat plenty of high-fiber unprocessed foods, such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and legumes.

If you have diabetes or prediabetes, it's also crucial to monitor the types of fat you consume. Try to limit your total fat intake to less than 35 percent of your total caloric intake. But, more important, concentrate on the types of fat you eat.

Focus on monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, such as found in olive and canola oils, nuts, seeds, avocado and fish, particularly oily fish like salmon, trout and tuna. Avoid foods high in saturated fats like beef, pork, lamb, high-fat dairy products (whole milk, cheeses and whole-fat yogurt). Also try to avoid trans fatty acids often found in some packaged snack foods, commercially baked goods, fast food and some margarines.