1. Eat three meals a day
Avoid skipping meals and spread your breakfast, lunch and evening meal over the day.
This will help control your appetite and your blood glucose levels.
2. At each meal include starchy carbohydrate foods
These include foods such as:
- gluten-free breads and pasta
- naturally gluten-free cereal products such as rice (all types, eg basmati, wild, jasmine, brown, white, long grain and arborio)
- rice noodles
- gluten-free grains such as polenta (cornmeal), buckwheat, millet and quinoa
- starchy vegetables such as potatoes, yams, cassava and plantains
- gluten-free breakfast cereals such as rice and corn varieties and buckwheat flakes.
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:
- gluten-free pasta
- basmati or easy cook rice
- gluten-free multigrain or grainy bread
- new potatoes, sweet potato and yam
- pure, uncontaminated porridge oats (if able to tolerate oats).
The amount of carbohydrate you eat is important to control your blood glucose levels (for more information on this refer to our information on Eating well with Type 1 diabetes) and the amount of carbohydrate that your body needs varies depending on your age, weight and activity levels.
Look out for the high fibre varieties of starchy foods, which help to maintain the health of your digestive system and prevent problems such as constipation. Try gluten-free wholegrain cereals such as brown rice breakfast cereals, buckwheat flakes and uncontaminated oat products (if able to tolerate oats) with added dried fruits, nuts and seeds. Several gluten-free pastas and breads now have added fibre.
3. Cut down on the fat you eat
Cut down on the fat you eat, particularly saturated fats, as a low fat diet benefits health.
Butter, margarine, lard, cooking oils, ghee, and reduced and low fat spreads are all gluten-free, but high in calories.
Choose unsaturated fats or oils instead, especially monounsaturated fat (eg olive oil and rapeseed oil) as these types of fat are better for your heart.
Fat is the greatest source of calories, so eating less fat and fatty foods will help you to lose weight if you need to. Here are some tips to help you with cutting down:
- 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 yoghurts (avoid those with added fibre), 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 gluten-free tomato based sauces instead.
4. Eat more fruit and vegetables
All fresh, frozen, canned and dried pure fruits and vegetables are naturally gluten-free.
Aim for at least five servings in total a day to provide you with vitamins, minerals and fibre to help you balance your overall diet.
One portion is, for example, a banana or apple, a slice of melon, two plums, a handful of grapes, a tablespoon of dried fruit, a small glass of fruit juice or fruit smoothie, three heaped tablespoons of vegetables or a cereal bowl of salad.
5. Include more beans and lentils
Examples include kidney beans, butter beans, chickpeas or red or green lentils, all of which are naturally gluten-free. They have less of an effect on your blood glucose levels and may help to control your 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 which are all gluten-free.
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.
Fruit juice, squash (but not barley water or barley squash) and most fizzy drinks are gluten-free (Coeliac UK recommends using their annual Food and Drink Directory to check cloudy varieties).
Using sugar-free, no added sugar or diet squashes and fizzy drinks instead of sugary drinks can be an easy way to reduce the sugar in your diet.
Sugary drinks are best used as a treatment for hypos.
8. Reduce salt in your diet to 6g or less a day
More than 6g of salt a day can raise your blood pressure, which can lead to stroke and heart disease.
Limit the amount of processed foods you eat (as these are usually high in salt) and try flavouring foods with herbs and spices instead of salt.
Tomato and garlic puree, individual herbs and spices, vinegars, mixed herbs and spices, ground pepper, mint sauces and Worcestershire sauce are all gluten-free.
9. Drink alcohol in moderation only
That’s a maximum of 2 units of alcohol per day for a woman and 3 units per day for a man.
Wine, spirits, cider, sherry, port, liqueurs and glutenfree beers (made from gluten-free cereals) are suitable.
Ordinary beer, lager, ales and stouts contain gluten and should be avoided.
A single pub measure (25ml) of spirit is about 1 unit or half a pint of lager, ale, bitter or cider has 1 to 1.5 units.
Over the years the alcohol content of most drinks has gone up. A drink can now contain more units than you think – a small glass of wine (175 ml) could contain as much as 2 units.
Remember, alcohol can add extra 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 and/or insulin.
10. Avoid ‘diabetic’ food and drinks
'Diabetic' food and drinks 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 and will still affect your blood glucose levels.
Reviewed March 2010
Next review September 2011