The CGM Blog
Diabetes Nutrition: Choosing the Right Foods for You
Diet is likely a central aspect of the diabetes management plan you’ve created with your doctor or diabetes dietitian. Understanding which foods are right for you and which foods to avoid when you’re living with diabetes empowers you to make choices that positively impact your blood sugar levels and overall health.
Food isn’t just fuel; it’s a part of our social lives and cultural traditions. Enjoying food, especially with your loved ones, can support your mental health.1 Maintaining a positive relationship with food can feel challenging when diabetes requires you to constantly watch what you eat, count carbs, and calculate insulin doses around mealtimes. Taking a creative approach to cooking and looping your loved ones in on your diet plan are great ways to keep food fun for yourself and stay motivated to stick to health choices along the way.
While there are certainly some foods that your doctor or dietitian might advise you to eat less of, know that there are plenty of delicious, healthy options that you can incorporate into your meal plan. Staying curious about how the foods you eat make you feel and how they influence your blood sugar levels can help you figure out what meals are best for you. Be sure to keep an open dialogue with your doctor and diabetes dietitian about your diet and let them know before you make any changes. Together, you can develop a diet you can stick to that feels good—and tastes great.
Foods that Can Support Your Diabetes Nutrition Plan
A diabetes dietitian can help you create a custom meal plan that will help you support your diabetes management. Diabetes Canada recommends that all people living with diabetes consult a registered diabetes dietitian about their nutrition needs. Though it’s just one of the ways to improve your A1C, Nutrition therapy directed by a dietitian has been shown to reduce A1C by one to two percent.2 Working one-on-one with a registered dietitian enables you to build a plan around the foods you already love to eat and better understand the foods you should avoid to ensure you feel your best. Check out this directory to find a diabetes dietitian near you.
Diabetes Canada recommends that diabetes nutrition plans start with Canada’s Food Guide.2 The guide suggests that individuals choose a variety of foods from the four food groups: vegetables and fruits, grain products, milk and dairy-free alternatives, and protein foods, including plant-based ones. Because everyone has different dietary needs, there are no hard and fast rules about which foods people living with diabetes should eat and foods they should always avoid. Diabetes Canada has some general guidelines about the foods to include in your diet and which to limit to improve your glucose management and keep you feeling as good as possible.
Foods to Eat More Often2
- Whole foods like fresh vegetables, meat, and grains like rice and oats
- Low-glycemic-index foods:
- Legumes including beans, lentils, and peas
- Whole grains
- Fibre-rich fruits and vegetables
- Healthy fats:
- Unsaturated oils like olive oil and peanut oil
- Avocados
- Fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, and tuna
- Pumpkin seeds
- Nuts
- Lean protein:
- Animal protein like fish, poultry, dairy, and eggs
- Plant-based protein like quinoa, tofu, tempeh, nut butters, and beans
Foods to Avoid or Be More Mindful About2,
- Processed foods:
- Beverages sweetened with refined sugar
- Fast foods
- Refined grain products like white bread and pastries
- High fat or greasy foods:
- Fries, potato chips, and cookies.
- Sugary foods:
- Candies
- Soft drinks
- Desserts like donuts, ice cream, and cakes
- Condiments like jam, honey, salad dressing, or sweetened sauces
It’s important to keep in mind that individuals living with diabetes may need to consume quick sources of glucose like juice, candy, or honey to help them prevent serious hypoglycemia.4 Always consult with your diabetes dietitian and doctor to make sure that you’re eating the right foods to prevent a hypo without causing a rebound glucose spike.
Diabetes Canada has some great recipe and meal-planning resources on their website. You can find diabetes-friendly weekly meal plans based on popular diets like the Mediterranean diet, as well as plans to inspire cooks with dietary restrictions.
Find recipes that fit your lifestyle in meal plans like:
There are also plans built around different international cuisines, including:
Food is as much a part of enjoying life and strengthening social connections as it is about physical nutrition. Be sure to talk to your doctor and dietitian in-depth about your preferences and your family’s food culture to design a diet that you’ll enjoy and can even share with loved ones.
In addition to their meal plans, Diabetes Canada also has a library of healthy recipes complete with handy nutrition information and video instructions. You can also find tasty recipes on the diaTribe Foundation website, which list the total calories of each recipe and modifications you can make (such as reducing the sodium or fat content of a recipe) to ensure that it fits your personal nutrition plan.
You may also be considering popular diets like the Mediterranean diet, the Keto diet, or the Paleo diet. Here’s what you need to know about these diets for managing diabetes. Even if certain diet plans and meals are highly recommended by others living with diabetes, remember that everyone is different. Be sure to check in with yourself and consult your doctor before experimenting with new eating habits.
Get Curious About How Food Impacts Your Body
Knowing what to eat and when to eat, tracking carbs, and administering insulin doses to match up with your meals is a lot of work. It can feel burdensome to constantly be thinking about how foods will make you feel in the moment and how your diet choices will support your diabetes management overall. When it comes to mealtimes, the prospect of checking your glucose levels with painful finger pricks and not knowing whether certain foods will impact you negatively minutes or hours later can make eating stressful.
Living with diabetes shouldn’t mean an end to having fun eating delicious foods and fully enjoying mealtimes with your loved ones. Having greater insight into how food affects you can help alleviate some of the worry that comes with selecting the right foods for you. One of the ways you can get a better idea of how food impacts your glucose levels is by using technology like the Dexcom G7 Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System.
With Dexcom G7, you can keep an eye on your glucose levels in the palm of your hand without the need for routine fingersticks.* Dexcom G7 works by using a sensor inserted just below the skin which takes glucose readings up to every five minutes. The wearable transmitter sends the data to a receiver or compatible smart device†, so you can view your glucose levels in real time, helping you take informed action to pick foods that support your glucose needs. The Dexcom Clarity app allows you to view glucose data from the past weeks or months, so you can spot patterns around mealtimes and see how your diet choices affect you over time.
Explore how Dexcom G7 can help you understand how the foods you’re eating affect your glucose levels and empower you to take control of your diabetes management.
* If your glucose alerts and readings from the G6 do not match symptoms or expectations, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions.
† For a list of compatible devices, visit www.dexcom.com/compatibility
† For a list of compatible devices, visit www.dexcom.com/compatibility
1 New survey: 91% of parents say their family is less stressed when they eat together. American Heart Association. October 10, 2022. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/new-survey-91-of-parents-say-their-family-is-less-stressed-when-they-eat-together
2 Sievenpiper JL, et al. Diabetes Canada 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Diabetes in Canada: Nutrition Therapy. Can J Diabetes. 2018;42 Suppl 1:S64-S79. doi:10.1016/j.jcjd.2017.10.009
3 Healthy eating. Diabetes Canada. Accessed March 23, 2023. https://www.diabetes.ca/nutrition---fitness/healthy-eating
4 How To Treat Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycemia). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Updated December 30, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/low-blood-sugar-treatment.html
2 Sievenpiper JL, et al. Diabetes Canada 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Diabetes in Canada: Nutrition Therapy. Can J Diabetes. 2018;42 Suppl 1:S64-S79. doi:10.1016/j.jcjd.2017.10.009
3 Healthy eating. Diabetes Canada. Accessed March 23, 2023. https://www.diabetes.ca/nutrition---fitness/healthy-eating
4 How To Treat Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycemia). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Updated December 30, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/low-blood-sugar-treatment.html