Healthy eating for blood sugar control - Harvard Health (2024)

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Healthy eating for blood sugar control - Harvard Health? ›

Make sure you choose your carbohydrates wisely — ideally, from vegetables, whole grains, and fruits. Try to avoid highly refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta, and rice, as well as candy, sugary soft drinks, and sweets.

Choose fish, poultry, beans, and nuts; limit red meat and cheese; avoid bacon, cold cuts, and other processed meats. Eat a variety of whole grains (like whole-wheat bread, whole-grain pasta, and brown rice). Limit refined grains (like white rice and white bread).

Certain types of foods are especially effective at controlling blood glucose. O'Meara recommends a diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats.

The Harvard diet encourages you to alternate between water, tea and coffee to pair with your meals, especially with little to no sugar. Additionally, they suggest reducing milk and dairy consumption to one to two servings a day and juice to one small glass per day. You should avoid sugary drinks altogether if possible.

There is a general consensus that the elements of a whole-foods plant-based diet—legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts, with limited or no intake of refined foods and animal products—are highly beneficial for preventing and treating type 2 diabetes.

Fiber, such as no-sugar varieties of oatmeal, whole-grain bread, and whole-wheat/bran muffins. Lean protein, such as eggs, fish, beans, or nuts. Healthy fats, such as olive oil, avocado, grass-fed butter and dairy, coconut, and nuts.

The four diets—the Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI-2015), Alternative Mediterranean Diet (AMED), Healthful Plant-based Diet Index (HPDI), and Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)—all encourage the consumption of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts, but also account for different lifestyle choices and cultures.

1. Legumes. Studies have shown that protein-rich legumes can help reduce your blood sugar response to meals you eat later in the day. There's also evidence that following a low-GI diet rich in legumes may reduce blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes and improve blood sugar control.

Water is the best all-round drink. If your family likes flavoured waters, make your own by adding a squeeze of lemon or lime, or strawberries.

What diet does Oprah use? ›

She averages about 1,700 well-balanced calories daily, and her diet is about 20 percent protein, 30 percent fat (and rich in healthy fats), and 50 percent carbohydrates (good ones like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables).

"One pattern that has become a bit popular is the so-called 5:2 diet," says Dr. Frank Hu, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. With this system, you eat normally for five days of the week, but restrict food intake to just 500 to 600 calories on the two fasting days.

The Harvard Diet Plan was developed by nutrition scientist Dr Walter Willett, and can be described as more of a 'guide' than a diet, encouraging users to increase their consumption of fresh foods high in nutrients, as well as actively avoid such nasties as sugary drinks and processed meat.

Examples include whole grains, nuts, legumes, some fruits, non-starchy vegetables, and lean proteins. For people with diabetes, foods and beverages that the body absorbs slowly are often preferable because they do not cause spikes and dips in blood sugar. Health professionals may refer to these as low GI foods.

Some of the best foods to reduce your risk of diabetes include fatty fish, leafy green vegetables, unsweetened oatmeal, avocados, nuts, and berries.

A Mediterranean diet, which is low in saturated fat and high in vegetables and fruit, reliably lowers A1c numbers. Maybe downsize your weight loss goal. Not everyone with type 2 diabetes is overweight. But if you are, you may not need to drop as much as you think to make a difference in your A1c level.