What is a healthy diet?

Healthy eating is important to everyone but is even more important if you have diabetes. This is because some foods that you eat will affect your blood glucose levels. If appropriate, you may be referred to a dietitian for individual dietary advice tailored to meet your own needs.

Healthy eating guidelines for diabetes are based on the same guidelines that are applicable to the wider general population. It means eating a variety of foods in the correct proportions from different food groups each day.

Regular meals with consistent quantities of nutrients may be important in stabilising blood glucose levels and to help control the appetite, whereas an erratic meal pattern with variable quantities of carbohydrate can result in fluctuating glucose levels.

People with diabetes may have different dietary requirements depending on how long they’ve had diabetes and the treatments that they have been prescribed. For people with type 2 diabetes treated with diet alone or with tablets, the emphasis may be on general healthy eating and for some on weight loss and calorie reduction.

The Eatwell guide shown above is the recommendation for proportions of different food groups for the general population. For people with diabetes, a reduction in carbohydrate may be beneficial and there is evidence that a Mediterranean style diet with nearer 50% vegetable, 25% protein/fat, 25% starch (carbohydrate) balance can improve blood glucose levels.

We’ll look at the food groups in more detail in the next topic.