Diabetes Information

Diabetes Prevention

Diet & Nutrition

Diabetes PreventionAlmost nine out of ten people who are newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight. When you consider the seriousness of diabetes, it is just one more good reason to pay more attention to your diet, nutrition, and weight. Since the foods you eat have a direct impact on your health, diet and nutrition play a very important role in preventing type 2 diabetes. We have all heard the advice to eat a balanced diet of nutritious foods if we want to stay healthy, maintain a healthy weight, and prevent many diseases such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. What we often don't hear is that type 2 diabetes is affecting millions of men and women as they reach middle age, primarily because they are overweight.

Losing Weight Can Help Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

Whether the pounds have slowly increased over the years or you have always struggled with your weight, it is never too late to make positive changes that will improve your health and help prevent or delay diabetes. Diet and exercise together are the best ways to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. As for our food choices, we sometimes eat foods that we know are unhealthy, other times we think we are making healthy choices and then find out we're not. Sometimes we are eating the right foods, but need to limit our portion sizes and count calories. Eating a healthy and nutritious diet will help you reach and maintain a healthy weight and hopefully keep you from developing diabetes. That should be a good enough incentive to get you motivated.

Diet and Nutrition Tips


  • Dairy products - choose non-fat or 1 percent dairy items for milk, yogurt and cheese
  • Fruits and vegetables - eat about five servings a day and include a variety of fruits and vegetables, choose from a rainbow of colors for a good mix of nutrition
  • Whole grains - choose whole grain products such as brown rice, whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, whole grain cereal, oatmeal
  • Meat - choose lean cuts of beef and pork, remove the skin from chicken and turkey, include fish in your meals a couple times each week
  • Dried beans - include kidney beans, pinto beans, lentils and others into your meals
  • Fats and oils - avoid saturated fats and trans fats, when cooking choose liquid oils over solid fats that are high in saturated fats and trans fats, substitute with Pam cooking spray, use olive oil or canola oil when cooking, if you're trying to lose weight remember fats are high in calories and should be used sparingly
  • Fried foods - try to avoid fried foods and instead bake, broil, grill, roast, or steam vegetables and meat
  • Snack foods and desserts - sorry, but these have to be limited since they are high in calories and often contain saturated fats and trans fats, including chips, cookies, cakes, regular ice-cream
  • Drinks - choose water and calorie-free diet sodas instead of sugar-sweetened drinks, limit alcohol as it is very high in calories

Small Diet Changes With Big Benefits

A healthy diet and good nutrition involves a life style change in the foods you eat, not just a temporary reduction in calories or jumping from fad diet to fad diet. If it seems overwhelming to change your whole diet all at once, try making small changes one at a time, they will add up over time. Even simple choices can have big benefits, such as switching from whole milk to skim milk, regular sodas to diet sodas, or sweetened water to plain water. Try eating fruit for dessert instead of a bowl of ice cream. If you want a midday snack, try grapes or carrots instead of cookies or chips. Remember to watch portion sizes too, because eating too much of healthy foods can also cause weight gain.

Registered Dietitians and Diabetes Prevention

If you want help making healthy food choices, you should make an appointment with a registered dietitian. Registered dietitians (RDs) specialize in knowing how the body uses food and many understand diabetes and its dietary causes and effects. A registered dietitian can teach you how the food you eat affects your blood glucose level, how many calories you should eat each day, how to eat healthy, and how to limit the amount of fats in your meals. A dietitian will be able to answer your questions about diet and nutrition, teach you how to make eating more fun and interesting, and help you create healthy meals that includes your favorite foods.

Preventing Type 2 Diabetes Thru Diet and Nutrition

Eating healthy and maintaining a healthy weight helps prevent type 2 diabetes. Learning about nutrition and making healthy food choices will help you live a healthy life and hopefully avoid diseases such as diabetes. Eating a healthy diet does not mean you have to give up all the unhealthy foods you enjoy, but it is about choosing nutritious foods, eating all foods in moderation, and limiting the amount of sugary or high fat foods in your diet. If you want a healthier life and if you want to prevent type 2 diabetes, it is time to start eating healthier and if needed, to lose weight. Your body will thank you for the help with better health!

Information about diabetes prevention with exercise and weight loss continues on the next page.