Diabetes Health Center
Using a food guide for people with diabetes
A food guide is a tool for planning a balanced diet. A healthful diet provides the nutrients your body needs and decreases your risk for heart disease and other conditions. Most people use the food guide pyramid to plan a balanced diet.
Key points
- People with diabetes can use a modified version of the food guide pyramid to spread carbohydrate throughout the day. This helps prevent high blood sugar after meals.
- A food guide contains the same foods your family eats. You do not have to eat special foods.
- You can
successfully follow this method by:
- Planning your family meals ahead of time so you can enjoy the same foods as other family members.
- Providing lots of variety in the foods you eat so it's easier to follow your plan.
- Testing your blood sugar after meals to see what effect different foods have on your blood sugar level.
- Women with diabetes who are pregnant or breast-feeding need the same nutrition as pregnant or breast-feeding women who do not have diabetes. Pregnant women need extra calcium, iron, protein, and folic acid. During the second and third trimester, you also need about 300 calories per day more than you did before pregnancy. Regular meals and snacks are important to prevent low blood sugar during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Talk to your registered dietitian or certified diabetes educator about changes you may need to make to your food plan.
More information about diabetes can be found in these topics:
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Type 1 Diabetes: Recently Diagnosed
- Type 1 Diabetes: Living With the Disease
- Type 1 Diabetes: Living With Complications
- Type 1 Diabetes: Children Living With the Disease
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes: Recently Diagnosed
- Type 2 Diabetes: Living With the Disease
- Type 2 Diabetes: Living With Complications
- Type 2 Diabetes in Children
- Gestational Diabetes
A food guide is a way to plan a balanced, healthful diet.
- Foods within each group have similar nutrient content. For example, the foods in the milk and milk products group have similar amounts of calcium, protein, and carbohydrate.
- Each group has a recommended number of servings.
Test Your Knowledge
A food guide for people with diabetes is used to:
One of the advantages of using a food guide for people with diabetes is that you can eat the same food as everyone else in your family.
Carbohydrate is the nutrient that most affects your blood sugar level. The more carbohydrate you eat at one time, the higher your blood sugar level will rise. Spreading carbohydrate intake throughout the day helps keep your blood sugar levels within a safe range. A food guide for diabetes can help you plan your diet accordingly.
Eating the recommended number of servings from each food group every day gives you the proper amount of nutrients to meet your needs and reduces your risk for heart disease and other conditions. Eating regular meals can help you spread carbohydrate intake throughout the day.
Test Your Knowledge
A food guide for people with diabetes:
Here are some ways to start using a food guide for diabetes.
Eat regular meals
Eat at least three meals a day to spread your intake of food throughout the day. Plan several meals at a time. Plan to double some recipes and freeze the leftovers to use for other meals. Reuse menu plans.
Use the food guide
The food guide for diabetes can help you:
- Become familiar with the different food groups. Post a copy of the groups in a food guide for diabetes in a convenient place, such as on your refrigerator door.
- Plan meals to include
food from all the groups. A registered dietitian can help you plan the food
groups to include in each meal and snack.
- Breakfast may not contain a meat or a vegetable serving. However, it usually includes foods from the remaining food groups (milk, fruit, and grains).
- Lunch and dinner usually include foods from most or all food groups.
- Snacks may include only 1 or 2 food groups (usually a fruit or bread).
- Milk and dairy products are a separate group and if you don't like or can't drink milk, you will need to find a way to get more calcium in your diet. Talk with a registered dietitian about how to get enough calcium. If you are pregnant, you need extra calcium and may need to take calcium supplements.
- Eat standard portions. Sometimes what you may consider a serving is much larger than the recommended serving size. For example, if you eat a plateful of spaghetti (about 2 cups), you have eaten 4 servings from the grain group in a food guide. It's easy to eat more servings from a food group than are recommended for a balanced diet. You don't always need to measure and weigh the food you eat; however, it may be helpful when you are first learning what makes a standard portion. It can also be helpful to know what a serving size looks like.
Other suggestions
Other suggestions for helping you be successful in using a food guide include:
- Checking your blood sugar level before and 1 hour after a meal to see how food affects your blood sugar.
- Recording what you eat on a food record form. Review your
record with your diabetes educator at each visit and whenever you think your
plan needs adjusting. See an example of a
food record
form
(What is a PDF document?). - Getting more help. The American Diabetes Association has information and a poster on the food guide for people with diabetes. See the Where to Go From Here section below for the address, phone number, and Web site of the American Diabetes Association. However, you will still need to talk with a registered dietitian to set up a plan that fits your needs.
Test Your Knowledge
How many of the food groups are in a breakfast containing 2 ounces cold cereal, 8 ounces 1% milk, and 4 ounces orange juice? (You may need to review the food groups in a guide for diabetes.)
How many servings from each food group are in a breakfast containing 2 ounces cold cereal, 8 ounces 1% milk, and 4 ounces orange juice? (You may need to review the food groups in a guide for diabetes.)
How many servings from the meat group would equal 2 ounces of cheese?
Now that you have read this information, you may feel ready to start planning and eating regular meals using a food guide for diabetes.
Talk with your doctor, registered dietitian, or certified diabetes educator
If you have questions about this information, take it with you when you visit your diabetes educator. A registered dietitian can explain a food guide for diabetes and help you plan meals.
Organization
| American Diabetes Association (ADA) | |
| 1701 North Beauregard Street | |
| Alexandria, VA 22311 | |
| Phone: | 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) |
| E-mail: | AskADA@diabetes.org |
| Web Address: | www.diabetes.org |
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The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is a national organization for health professionals and consumers. Almost every state has a local office. ADA sets the standards for the care of people with diabetes. Its focus is on research for the prevention and treatment of all types of diabetes. ADA provides patient and professional education mainly through its publications, which include the monthly magazine Diabetes Forecast, books, brochures, cookbooks and meal planning guides, and pamphlets. ADA also provides information for parents about caring for a child with diabetes. |
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| Author | Caroline Rea, RN, BS, MS |
| Editor | Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA |
| Associate Editor | Michele Cronen |
| Associate Editor | Pat Truman |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine |
| Specialist Medical Reviewer | Matthew I. Kim, MD - Endocrinology & Metabolism |
| Last Updated | August 14, 2007 |
WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise




