Nutrition Basics Every Diabetic Needs To Know

Aaaaaaaand were back! Happy New Year everyone! Hope it was a special one and you enjoyed the holidays with your loved ones. To start off the new year, we decided to roll out a series of blogs that discuss nutrition, popular diets and how those can impact diabetes and your glucose control. 

I am a firm believer that it is important to build a foundation before the rest of the structure can be made. And so I decided we’d start with the absolute basics — if you’re into nutrition or have had diabetes for awhile, you may know a lot of these things. HOWEVER not everyone is at the same level of knowledge and so to be fair, we are going to start from square one. 

Welcome to blog #1: NUTRITION 101 

With diabetes we always get a crash course in carbs and carb counting, but what about the rest of our plate? Often times so little attention is paid to those groups and it truly is unfortunate. As diabetics not only do we need to control sugars, but we need to keep an eye out for heart disease, high blood pressure, and other conditions that we are more likely to develop. So to start, I’m going to throw a little plate down below just to have a visual to help guide and keep us on track. 

Credit: Harvard Medical School

Vegetables

I know, I know, everyone talks about veggies and how important they are. BUT with diabetes they are so so important and it is my professional opinion that any diet that requires you to restrict this group is NO BUENO! 

Veggies are so good for us—they contain vitamins and minerals, which as diabetics we are more susceptible to lose through our urine. These vitamins and minerals help all the tiny little processes that occur in our body. Processes which give us energy, keeps our blood healthy, and protect our arteries! In addition they have fiber which keeps the digestive system moving—Hello gas! In all seriousness though, fiber keeps the digestive tract moving along and can help prevent diseases like colon cancer. It keeps us fuller for longer, so think about it: When we have diabetes, eating often will raise sugars and when our sugar is high we become more hungry which then causes this cycle of eating more to curb that hunger, which only results in higher glucose levels. Well with veggies, you either avoid starting that cycle since they’re low carb or have a food that will fill you up, while helping you break free from said cycle. 

Last but not least foods high in fiber can help slow the digestion of carbs, which means it slows down the rise in glucose. Veggies tend to be low in carbs, so when we’re high or not feeling right, they are a great go to snack. 

We’ve all heard 5 fruits and veggies OR MORE per day is great, and it truly is just that—emphasis on the MORE. But hard to visualize right? What I’ve always told my patients is your fist is ABOUT the size of 1 cup of veggies and in one day, we need 5 cups total. So don’t worry about getting the measuring cups out or your scale. Just compare your plate with your fist, or someone else’s if needed. 

OF COURSE I NEED TO MAKE THIS DISCLAIMER: there are veggies high in starch/carbs and those include potatoes, corn, yams, and many others. With those, you need to carb count! While they do have fiber and other healthy vitamins, as diabetics we do need to count those. My suggestion is to add a green leafy veggie and to count the starchy ones as your carb for that meal. This way you can ensure you have balance and aren’t eating twice the amount of carbs. 

Fruits

Now fruits follow the same track as veggies, but with this group, we need to be more mindful of their carb counts. I think it’s safe to say that most of us know that, so I won’t spend too much time dedicated here. 

What I will say is that we need variety. I always tell my patients to EAT THE RAINBOW! Get as many different colors of both fruits and veggies because each color represents a different vitamin, mineral, or antioxidant. Some good fruits to eat include those with lots of fiber to help balance out those natural sugars in fruits. These include berries, apples, and oranges—while foods like grapes, bananas, and dried fruits are a lot higher in natural sugar. 

Carbohydrates

Now this one is a biggie—but thank goodness because I think we all have a firm understanding of this group. Please remember to refer back to the picture above to help guide your understanding of portions and serving sizes. 

The biggest thing I can say about carbs: 

1) Stick to the grams your CDE/MD/medical team has set for you. For some, it’s more than others, but they have made numerous calculations to figure out what the best number is for YOU.

2) WHOLE GRAINS will help you. These include whole grain bread, brown rice, and oatmeal instead of white bread, white rice, or cereal. These guys are high in fiber and for the low down on fiber, just scroll back up to the veggie section.

3) Enjoy carbs—DON’T be afraid of them! Yes we CAN EAT THEM and every once in awhile it’s okay to splurge. Don’t feel guilty for that. 

I will touch on carbs in the upcoming series as many new diets talk about how awful they are. They really aren’t— we need carbs, they are our fuel and energy source—the problem is sometimes we go overboard and so my focus is to develop a healthy relationship with carbs. Silly I know, but for so many of us...so tough! Stay tuned for more info to come. 

Protein

What came to mind? MEAT MEAT AND MORE MEAT? I knew it! Don’t worry, you're not alone, even I gravitate towards meat when it comes to thinking about protein, but there are so many other great sources that don’t come from animals. 

For general health, it is important to limit the amount of animal protein that you consume. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to go all preachy, but days like Meatless Mondays and people who follow diets that limit animal protein are showing improvement in their health conditions. Like I mentioned earlier, as diabetics, we are more susceptible to develop heart disease, and animal protein is doing nothing to help. But, being diabetics, we do need a fine balance of protein to help us control our sugars..tough nuggets, I know. 

Protein servings should be roughly the size of your palm: P for Protein, P for Palm. Some great plant based proteins include: nuts, beans, tofu, tempeh, lentils, and legumes (be wary of carb counts with the last two). If you do opt for an animal protein—totally fine by the way—try to choose the leaner meats like chicken, fish, eggs, and low fat dairy products. 

We will also get more into protein as the series continues, but for now I think this is a good starting point. 

Extras

As you can see in the plate above, oils and fats are included, as well as a glass of water being substituted for the traditional dairy. For the basics, shoot for an oil that is minimally processed and contains more omega 3s (olive oil, canola oil). Studies show that while our bodies need a fine balance of Omega 3s and Omega 6s, 6s are pro-inflammatory, while 3s are anti inflammatory. With diabetes, any disruption in the system can impact blood sugars, so we want to try to shoot for a more anti inflammatory diet. Be mindful of products like coconut oil and avocado oil. While mainstream media is promoting how healthful they are, they are HIGH in saturated fats and as diabetics we need to be mindful of this to keep our arteries healthy. 

Servings of oils/dressings tend to be 2 tablespoons (size of your thumb) and it is important to limit things like butter, margarine, and lard (Crisco). 

So there you have it... Nutrition 101. I know that’s a LOT to process, but if we want to understand new diets that are coming out, we have to have a solid starting place. 

Let us know what you guys think and what diets you’re looking forward to hearing about! Best of luck to everyone. See you next month! 

-Taylor Gann, Nutritionist and Type 1 Diabetic