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• Eating well
• Balancing your diet
• Planning your meals
• Traffic light labelling
• GDA labelling
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• Fasting and diabetes
• Alcohol and diabetes
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Eating well

10 steps to eating well

1. Eat three regular meals a day. Avoid skipping meals and spread your breakfast, lunch and evening meal over the day. This will not only help control your appetite but also help in controlling your blood glucose levels.

2. At each meal include starchy carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta, chapattis, potatoes, yam, noodles, rice and cereals. The amount of carbohydrate you eat is important to control your blood glucose levels. All varieties are fine but try to include those that are more slowly absorbed (have a lower glycaemic index) as these won’t affect your blood glucose levels as much. Better choices include:
• Pasta
• Basmati or easy cook rice
• Grainy breads such as granary, pumpernickel and rye
• New potatoes, sweet potato and yam
• Porridge oats, All Bran and natural muesli.

The high fibre varieties of starchy foods will also help to maintain the health of your digestive system and prevent problems such as constipation.

3. Cut down on the fat you eat, particularly saturated fats as this type of fat is linked to heart disease. Choose unsaturated fats or oils, especially monounsaturated fat (eg olive oil and rapeseed oil) as these types of fats are better for your heart. All fats contain calories. Fat is the greatest source of calories so eating less fat and fatty foods will help you to lose weight. Here are some tips to cutting the fat:
• Use less saturated fat by having less butter, margarine, cheese and fatty meats.
• Choose lower fat dairy foods such as skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, low fat or diet yogurts, reduced fat cheese and lower fat spreads.
• Grill steam or oven bake instead of frying or cooking with oil or other fats.
• Watch out for creamy sauces and dressings and swap for tomato based sauces instead.

4. Eat more fruit and vegetables. Aim for at least five servings in total a day to provide you with vitamins and fibre as well as to help you balance your overall diet. A portion is for example
• a whole banana or apple
• a slice of melon
• two plums
• a handful of grapes
• a cereal bowl of salad
• three heaped tablespoons of vegetables.

5. Include more beans and lentils such as kidney beans, butter beans, chickpeas, red and green lentils, as these can help to control your blood glucose levels and blood fats. Try adding them to stews, casseroles and  soups, or to a salad.

6. Aim for at least two portions of oily fish a week. Oily fish contains a type of polyunsaturated fat called omega 3 which helps protect against heart disease. Eat oily fish such as mackerel, sardines, salmon and pilchards.

7. Limit sugar and sugary foods. This does not mean you need to eat a sugar-free diet. Sugar can be used in foods and in baking as part of a healthy diet. However, use sugar-free, no added sugar or diet squashes and fizzy drinks, as sugary drinks cause blood glucose levels to rise quickly.

8. Reduce salt in your diet to 6g or less a day – more than this can raise your blood pressure, which can lead to stroke and heart disease. Limit the amount of processed foods you eat and try flavouring foods with herbs and spices instead of salt.

9. Drink alcohol in moderation only – that’s a maximum of two units of alcohol per day for a woman and three units per day for a man. For example, a pub measure (25ml) of spirit or half a pint of normal strength beer is about one unit. Over the years the alcohol content of most drinks has gone up. A drink can now contain more units that you think – a pint of premium lager can contain as much as 3 units, and a small glass of wine (175ml) around 2 units. Remember alcohol contains empty calories so think about cutting back further if you are trying to lose weight. Never drink on an empty stomach, as alcohol can make hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose levels) more likely to occur when taking certain diabetes medication. Never drink and drive.

10. Don’t be tempted by diabetic foods or drinks. They offer no benefit to people with diabetes. They:
• Are expensive
• Contain just as much fat and calories as the ordinary versions
• Can have a laxative effect
• Will still affect your blood glucose levels.