Healthy Eating Tips (Diet for People Living with Diabetes)

Eating a healthy, balanced diet is vital for people living with diabetes. Expert advice can help you make smart food choices, reduce portion sizes, and eat the right number of calories for your activity level.

Diabetes is a condition where your body can’t properly use and store food for energy. The body uses glucose, a form of sugar, as fuel. Glucose comes from foods that contain carbohydrates such as fruit, milk, some vegetables, starchy foods and sugar. Glucose enters your blood during digestion, where we sometimes refer to it as “blood sugar”.

Eat a variety of vegetables and legumes/beans

Eating a wide variety of vegetables every day is a great way to make sure that you are getting the nutrients you need to stay healthy. As well as providing important nutrients and loads of fibre, vegetables are very low in kilojoules meaning they are great food to fill up on without having to worry about your waistline. Most Australians need more vegetables in their diet. 

For good health, we should all be eating at least 5 serves of vegetables every day. A serve of vegetables is equal to ½ cup cooked green or orange vegetables, beans, lentils or other legumes; 1 cup of salad or ½ a medium potato. 

Eat 2 serves of fruit a day

In Queensland we are blessed with a huge variety of delicious fruit all year round. Like vegetables, fruit provides many important nutrients and is packed with fibre. Fruit provides more kilojoules than vegetables though, which is why it is recommended to eat 2 serves of fruit a day. 

Canned and frozen fruit are also great choices for quick and healthy snacks or to add to your favourite meals. Make sure to choose canned fruit in natural juice rather than syrup. 

Example serves of fruit include: 

1 medium apple, pear, banana or orange 

2 small apricots, plums or kiwi fruits 

1 cup of canned fruit 

½ cup of 100% fruit juice (no added sugar) 

4 dried apricots or 1 ½ tablespoons of sultanas 

Milk, yoghurt, cheese or dairy alternatives

Dairy foods such as milk, yoghurt and cheese are an important source of calcium and protein. Most adults are recommended to eat about 2 serves of dairy each day. For good health try to choose low fat or skim varieties of milk, yoghurt and cheese. 

An example serve from this food group is: 

1 cup of milk (250ml)  

2 slices of cheese  

200g tub of yoghurt 

½ cup evaporated milk 

If you don’t eat dairy foods, calcium fortified soy milk or yoghurt are great alternatives. Other non-dairy sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables, canned fish with bones like sardines or salmon and almonds. 

5 Healthy Eating Tips from People Living with Diabetes

1. Out of sight, out of mind

2. Be prepared
“I prepare healthy snacks, like fruit and raw vegetables, and keep them accessible. That way if I have a craving for a snack, the healthy choice is the easy choice,” explains Jane DeMeis of Fairport, NY.

3. Strategic shopping

4. Restaurant planning

5. What’s in a label?
“I’m a big believer in reading labels. Just because something says it’s low fat or low sugar, doesn’t mean it’s good for you,” warns Anthony Wilson of Virginia Beach, VA.

Learning how to understand and use the nutrition facts panel on food items can help you make healthier eating choices and identify nutrient-dense foods for a healthy diet. Remember that the information shown on the label is based on a diet of 2,000 calories a day. You may need less or more than 2,000 calories based on your age, gender, activity level, medical conditions, and weight goals.