Your diabetic team at your surgery should be giving you some pointers. The main things to remember are
- Eat little and often. Light meals and small snacks evenly spaced better than heavy meals or skipped meals. Always make time for a light breakfast
- Choose natural, high-fibre & wholefoods over heavily processed or starchy foods as these take longer to digest, and raise blood sugars more slowly, putting less strain on your body to produce insulin
- Avoid sugary foods, including alcohol. On nutrition panels, any food with more than 20g sugar per 100g is a 'high sugar food'. Also be wary of any ingredients including 'honey', 'corn syrup', 'cane sugar' or ending in 'ose'... lactose, dextrose, fructose, sucrose... as they are all types of sugar.
- Aim to have some protein (vegetable or animal) and fat at each meal/snack
- If you eat a sweet food, do so as part of a meal rather than a standalone snack. This puts less strain on your body
A typical daily menu then
Breakfast - a wholegrain cereal or porridge oats with a little milk and a glass of natural orange juice. Or some scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast
Snack - some unsalted almonds
Lunch - A wholemeal sandwich with a savoury filling, or some chunky lentil/vegetable soup with a wholemeal roll, or a salad with a few new potatoes or a bean salad on the side
Snack - A plain yoghurt with some chopped fruit
Supper - Some low sugar/salt baked beans and a small jacket potato. or Some grilled fish/chicken with brown rice and steamed vegetables. or Some wholemeal pasta with a tomato/meat/bean sauce or Spanish omelette (frittata) made with new potatoes and spinach. Follow with a little cooked fruit and fromage frais
Late snack - Some hummus with raw vegetable crudites