Diet and Exercise for People with Type 2 Diabetes

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Author:

Kira Almeida, MS, RD, CDE

Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, Columbia University

Judith Hey-Hadavi, MD

Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, Columbia University

Catherine Tuck, MD

Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, Columbia University

Medically Reviewed On: November 05, 2003

Diet and exercise is a common prescription for a healthy life. For people with Type 2 diabetes, it is especially important to follow a healthy diet and get lots of exercise. Often this is enough to get blood sugar levels under good control, especially early in the illness.

For a person with Type 2 diabetes, a healthy diet has to include three elements. These are foods:

Low in saturated fat
Balanced or low in carbohydrates
Low in calories, if you are overweight
The following is a description of each of these essential elements in detail along with some tips on how to exercise and lose weight.


Eating Foods That are Low in Saturated Fat
Saturated fats are animal fats. They are found in meats, in dairy products like milk, cheese and ice cream, and in some kinds of cooking oils, such as lard. We have known for a long time that when you eat a lot of saturated fats your cholesterol and triglycerides tend to go up. When your cholesterol is high, you are at a higher risk of developing hardening of the arteries and getting heart attacks and strokes. When you have diabetes, you are especially prone to developing heart attacks and strokes, so you should do everything you can do to lower your risk of heart disease, and following a low saturated fat diet is very important. Also, if you tend to have high triglycerides (fats in the blood), then following a low-fat diet will help bring your triglycerides back down.

Not all fats are the same, though. Saturated fats are bad for you, but monounsaturated fats, in moderation, seem to be good for you. Monounsaturated fats include olive oil, canola oil, and nut oils. If you cut out the saturated fats in your diet and replace them with monounsaturated fats, you can avoid filling up on carbohydrates. As you will learn below, carbohydrates are hard on your blood-sugar levels. Talk to your doctor or your nutritionist about how to integrate foods with monounsaturated fats into your diet.

Eating Foods That are Balanced or Low in Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are sugars and starches. Examples of carbohydrates are: pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, yellow vegetables, sugars, fruit, fruit juice, baked goods, and regular sodas. You can tell how much carbohydrate is in a food by reading the label. When you eat any kind of carbohydrate, your stomach and intestine turn them into simple sugars. In other words, all carbohydrates are eventually turned into sugar.


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