Eat a Healthy, Balanced Diet
People with type 1 diabetes have to pay a little more attention to their meals
and snacks than people who don't have diabetes. They need to eat a balanced, healthy
diet and pay closer attention to what they eat and when they eat it.
They also have to balance the food they eat with the amount of insulin they take
and their activity level. That's because eating some foods will cause blood sugar
levels to go up more than others, whereas insulin and exercise will make blood sugar
go down. How much the blood sugar level goes up after eating depends on the type of
nutrients the food contains.
The three main types of nutrients found in foods are carbohydrates
(or carbs), proteins, and fats, which all provide energy in the form of calories.
Foods containing carbs cause blood sugar levels to go up the most. Foods that contain
mostly protein and/or fat don't affect blood sugar levels as much. Our bodies need
all of these nutrients — in different amounts — to function normally.
As part of your diabetes treatment, you and the diabetes health care team will
create a written diabetes meal plan that will include foods with all of the essential
nutrients. Meal plans typically consist of breakfast, lunch, and dinner with scheduled
between-meal snacks.
The diabetes meal plan won't tell you specific foods to eat, but it will guide
you in selecting choices from the basic food groups and help you eat nutritious, balanced
meals. Each meal and snack in the plan contains a certain amount of carbs and works
with the types and amount of insulin you take.
Your meal plan is made just for you, based on your age, activity level, schedule,
and food likes and dislikes. It also should be flexible so you know how to handle
diabetes in special situations like at parties and on holidays. Following your meal
plan should make it easier to keep your blood sugar levels within a healthy range.
In addition to giving you some ideas about what to eat, the plan also might recommend
limiting foods that contain lots of fat or calories and that don't contain vitamins
and minerals. Everyone who eats a healthy diet should limit these foods anyway, because
eating too much of them can lead to too much weight gain or long-term health problems
like heart disease.