Diabetic Food List: Best and Worst Choices
From webmd.com
March 6, 2010
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You're ready to head off to the grocery store and looking for your list. If you've got diabetes, though, you need more than a traditional shopping list. You need a guide that will let you quickly determine whether a food is a good choice or a bad choice. Making the best choices will help you maintain good health and control your blood glucose levels, keeping them as close to normal as possible. WebMD has compiled a list of best and worst food choices for diabetes that you can use either in the super market or in your own kitchen when you want something to eat.
The categories for the food choice list are taken from the Diabetes Food Pyramid. They include six food groups. The Diabetes Food Pyramid starts with breads, grains, and other starches at the base and rises to fats, oils, and sweets at the top. Here's the full list of categories from bottom up:
Breads, grains, and other starches
Vegetables
Fruits
Meat, meat substitutes, and other protein
Dairy
Fats, oils, and sweets
Your goal for shopping and preparing meals is to choose more food from the base of the pyramid and less as you move toward the top.
What follows are some of the "best" and "worst" choices that can be made from each group. In addition, you'll find tips for making best choices for beverages. Keep in mind, though, if a food falls in the "worst" group, that doesn't mean you should never eat it. If you see something you really like on the "worst" list, you can think of it as an occasional treat. But in general, it will be easier to manage your diabetes if you choose most of your foods from the "best" lists.
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Comments (14 comments)
Add your commentI agree. The food pyramid is not good to follow as a diabetic. Carbs should be on the top of the pyramid rather than the bottom. I've greatly diminished my carbohydrate intake based on the results from my blood tests (before the test strips were limited to 50 over a 90 day period, I was testing quite extensively to see what each food did to my pancreas). The first two weeks cutting carbs were the worst as the little microbes in the intestines were dying from lack of carbs. I theorize I was feeding them and raising my blood sugar unnecessarily. Now I feel lighter and look better all because carbs are no longer the mainstay of my diet…I've found I can eat way less than I ever thought and still be healthy! I'm talking waaaaaay less.
Word of warning, however, all the microbes dying in the gut may produce a small period of depression for the host.
Very good article. Learn something new every day.
@KD, I follow the plate method too. It works for diabetics, and when they talk about breads and grains, they should say it's WHOLE grains! Get as much fiber as you can when you eat those tarches. Have your food work for you, not you for your food.
OMG! I am so confused at this point I wanna blow up the darn pyramid! I like the segmented plate idea.Tell me if this is wrong. the plate is divided in half then one of those halfs is quartered so you have 1/2 plate on one side and two quarters on the other. The halve is for veggies and fruit. the upper quarter for carbs and the lower quarter for meat. Tell me what you all think?
This is all new to me, but was surprised to see breads at the bottom of the pyramid. I know bread is fine in moderation, but I think the pyramid should be revised.
The food pyramid is TERRIBLE!! If we actually ate the way the pyramid told us to we'd all be FAT. The problem with today's eating is that people aren't eating enough fat and protein and that is what is causing health problems. You need to eat a balanced 30/30/30/10 and then you'll be good. Veggies are best, then protein, and so forth. If my husband followed the food pyramid he'd be in a world of hurt.
The food pyramid is not correct for people with diabetes and for most people. I would not follow it at all. the base should be vegetables, the protein. Vegetables are complex carbohydrates but much more effective than simple carbs/ sugars and starches. Put the white:
pasta, rice, potatoes and flour, way up the pyramid.
This pyramid represents the worse choice for diabetes as the most preferred choice. As much as I enjoy carbs, I recognize that too many will drive my blood sugar up consistently. Whole carbs (brown rice, whole wheat bread) help, but they are still carbs. I would go vegetables, meats, fruits, carbs, dairy and fats, olis and sweets. Let's stay healthy!
I so agree with all of you. Low on carbs, more veggies, then meat and on up. "They" who make these lists are probably not diabetics struggling to keep blood sugars low.
To see what's going on, just examine the emails you receive from this website; they're chock full of ads for insulin!
That's right, the food pyramids are screwed up. If they were right for diabetics, they'd start with vegetables and fruits sharing a level at the base, meats and dairy sharing a level above that, grains and carbs on the third level, and fats and sweets at the top. But you can't tell them that they won't listen to us.
This adds more to my confusion.
How can someone with diabetes control their glucose numbers by choosing more food from the base of this pyramid? The only way to control numbers is by eating very low carb. Protein, good fat, veges grown above ground, nuts. It is no wonder with advise like that from the Diabetes Food Pyramid diabetics are not seeing positive results and having to go from oral meds with many side effects to insulin.
The food pyramid (both the USDA and diabetic one) are wrong-headed and actually bad for diabetes sufferers.