By: Sue Cotey and Andrea Harris, RNs
Dec. 22, 2016
Are you looking for a way to reset your diet to lose weight? Losing weight has many benefits, especially for people with diabetes. It not only can improve blood sugar levels but it can lower your high blood pressure and heart disease risk.
But it’s important not to go for a quick fix. For lasting success, focus on good nutrition and changes you can commit to long term. Yes, but how do you do that? There are many diets out there claiming health benefits. Here, we’ll talk through some common diets out there and offer our advice for people with diabetes.
Besides sticking to a particular diet, here’s some tried-and true tips:
- Watch portion sizes (particularly for carbohydrates). This can help cut down on calories and improve blood sugar.
- Divide food choices for a healthy plate. Go for half vegetables, one-quarter protein and one-quarter carbohydrates.
There many diets out there that you can look to for weight loss, but our list highlights the three best and three worst diet choices for people with diabetes.
What is the best diet for people with diabetes?
Champion diets offer well-rounded nutrition
1. DASH. Created to help lower blood pressure (aptly named Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), the DASH diet goes well beyond that. It is a well-rounded, healthy nutrition plan for everyone. DASH is rich in fruits, vegetables and grains, and low in fat, sugar and sodium.
For example, on a 2,000-calorie DASH plan, each day you would eat:
- Six to eight servings of whole grains
- Four to five vegetables
- Four to five fruits
- Two or three servings of dairy
- Six or fewer servings of meats (in this case, a serving is one ounce)
