Food

Healthy eating is important for everyone. But when you have diabetes, you need to know how foods affect your blood sugar levels. It's not only the type of food you eat. It's also how much you eat and the types of food you combine in meals and snacks.

What to do:

• Learn about planning balanced meals. A healthy-eating plan includes knowing what to eat and how much to eat. Two common ways to plan meals are carbohydrate counting and the plate method. Ask your healthcare professional or a registered dietitian if either type of meal planning is right for you.

• Understand carbohydrate counting. Counting carbs involves keeping track of how many grams of carbohydrates you eat and drink during the day. If you take diabetes medicine called insulin at mealtimes, it's important to know the amount of carbohydrates in foods and drinks. That way, you can take the right dose of insulin.

  Among all foods, carbs often have the biggest impact on blood sugar levels. That's because the body breaks them down into sugar, which raises blood sugar levels. Some carbs are better for you than others. For example, fruits, vegetables and whole grains are full of nutrients. They have fiber that helps keep blood sugar levels more stable too. Eat fewer refined, highly processed carbs. These include white bread, white rice, sugary cereal, cakes, cookies, candy and chips.

• Get to know the plate method. This type of meal planning is simpler than counting carbs. The plate method helps you eat a healthy balance of foods and control portion sizes.

  Use a 9-inch plate. Fill half of the plate with nonstarchy vegetables. Examples include lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli, tomatoes and green beans. Divide the other half of the plate into two smaller, equal sections. You might hear these smaller sections called quarters. In one quarter of the plate, place a lean protein. Examples include fish, beans, eggs, and lean meat and poultry. On the other quarter, place healthy carbohydrates such as fruits and whole grains.

• Be mindful of portion sizes. Learn what portion size is right for each type of food. Everyday objects can help you remember. For example, one serving of meat or poultry is about the size of a deck of cards. A serving of cheese is about the size of six grapes. And a serving of cooked pasta or rice is about the size of a fist. You also can use measuring cups or a scale to help make sure you get the right portion sizes.

• Balance your meals and medicines. If you take diabetes medicine, it's important to balance what you eat and drink with your medicine. Too little food in proportion to your diabetes medicine — especially insulin — can lead to dangerously low blood sugar. This is called hypoglycemia. Too much food may cause your blood sugar level to climb too high. This is called hyperglycemia. Talk to your diabetes health care team about how to best coordinate meal and medicine schedules.

• Limit sugary drinks. Sugar-sweetened drinks tend to be high in calories and low in nutrition. They also cause blood sugar to rise quickly. So it's best to limit these types of drinks if you have diabetes. The exception is if you have a low blood sugar level. Sugary drinks can be used to quickly raise blood sugar that is too low. These drinks include regular soda, juice and sports drinks.