Diabetic Foods

Diabetic Foods - How Food in Your Diet Affects Your Blood Glucose

Whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, what, when, and how much you eat all affect your blood glucose. Blood glucose is the main sugar found in the blood and the body's main source of energy.

If you have diabetes (or impaired glucose tolerance), your blood glucose can go too high if you eat too much. If your blood glucose goes too high, you can get sick.

Your blood glucose can also go too high or drop too low if you don't take the right amount of diabetes medicine.

If your blood glucose stays high too much of the time, you can get heart, eye, foot, kidney, and other problems. You can also have problems if your blood glucose gets too low (hypoglycemia).

Keeping your blood glucose at a healthy level will prevent or slow down diabetes problems. Ask your doctor or diabetes teacher what a healthy blood glucose level is for you.

Blood Glucose: What Should My Blood Glucose Levels Be?

For most people, target blood glucose levels are:

Before meals - 90 to 130
1 to 2 hours after the start of a meal - less than 180

Ask your doctor how often you should check your blood glucose. The results from your blood glucose checks will tell you if your diabetes care plan is working. Also ask your doctor for an A1C test at least twice a year. Your A1C number gives your average blood glucose for the past 3 months.

Diabetic Foods and How I can Keep My Blood Glucose at a Healthy Level?

Eat about the same amount of food each day.

• Eat your meals and snacks at about the same times each day.

• Do not skip meals or snacks.

• Take your medicines at the same times each day.

• Exercise at about the same times each day.

Diabetic Foods and Glycemic Load (GL)

Like Glycemic Index (GI), Glycemic load (GL) is a useful food assessment tool for diabetics. However, unlike a foods's GI value, which tells you how fast (eg) 50g of carbohydrate in pasta raises blood-sugar, glycemic load tells you how fast an average serving of pasta raises blood-sugar. Glycemic load is therefore a slightly more practical tool for diabetics who want to improve their management of blood glucose levels.

Eat About the Same Amount at the Same Times Each Day

Your blood glucose goes up after you eat. If you eat a big lunch one day and a small lunch the next day, your blood glucose levels will change too much.

Keep your blood glucose at a healthy level by eating about the same amount of carbohydrate foods at about the same times each day. Carbohydrate foods, also called carbs, provide glucose for energy. Starches, fruits, milk, starchy vegetables such as corn, and sweets are all carbohydrate foods.

Talk with your doctor or diabetes teacher about how many meals and snacks to eat each day and the recommended diabetic foods to consume.