A healthy type 2 diabetes diet includes healthy carbs like fruits, veggies, and whole grains; low-fat dairy; heart-healthy fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines; and good fats like nuts, avocados, and olive oil. But feeling your best when you have diabetes isn’t just about choosing the right foods, it’s also about limiting or avoiding foods that can spike your blood sugar and increase your risk of complications.“It’s all about moderation and making careful food choices for overall balanced blood sugar control,” says Amy Kimberlain, RD, CDE, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a wellness dietitian at Baptist Health South Florida. “You want to eat a balanced, healthful diet, and avoid refined carbohydrates, which raise blood sugar. You also want to avoid the saturated fat found in fatty meats, full-fat dairy, and fried foods, as people with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of getting heart disease.”A healthy diet for diabetes will also help you manage your weight or lose weight if you’re overweight, which is important, because losing just 10 to 15 pounds may help you prevent and manage high blood sugar, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA).Research shows that losing some weight can also help improve insulin sensitivity, meaning you’re less resistant and better able to respond to insulin, Kimberlain explains. A small study in Nutrition & Diabetes showed sustained enhanced insulin sensitivity in successful female weight-loss maintainers compared with those who had no history of weight loss.And a study from 2020 of 100 obese people who had lost weight found that they had improved measures of cholesterol, triglycerides, blood glucose, and insulin sensitivity.To avoid weight gain and keep your blood sugar under control when you have type 2 diabetes, limit or avoid the following 10 foods.
