There is no food that is off-limits when you have diabetes.
The key here is to watch your portions, balance what you eat, and have about the same number of carbohydrates in each meal.
These 4 tips can help you get started, along with recipe ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Test your blood sugar levels to learn how different foods affect them.
- Stick to a certain number of carbohydrate grams per meal. Usually this is about 45-75 grams three times a day.
- Balance carbs with fiber and protein in each meal. This is easy if you use the plate method. Make half of your plate vegetables, a quarter of your plate a carb like brown rice, black beans, or whole-wheat pasta, and the other quarter of your plate a healthy protein like chicken breast, fish, lean meat, or tofu. Add a small piece of fruit and some low-fat or fat-free milk or yogurt, depending on your carb target for that meal.
- Eat smart fats such as those in nuts, avocado, fish, olives, and other plants. Avoid saturated fats from meat, butter, cheese, and other dairy foods. Note: Coconut, although a plant, has saturated fat.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Energy Bars
These healthy peanut butter and chocolate energy balls deliver a mixture of simple and complex carbohydrates to help fuel you up whenever you need a little boost.
They’re no-bake and easy to make with ingredients you probably have on hand, like oats and nut butter. Feel free to experiment with different mix-ins–for example, dried fruit or chopped nuts–in place of the chocolate chips and coconut.
