The American Diabetes Association notes that an effective diabetic diet plan will improve blood glucose, reduce the risk of high blood pressure and cholesterol, and help maintain a proper weight. Taking medicine can definitely help control diabetes, but you can help your body through what you eat.
Your eating pattern is an important factor in your blood glucose levels. When you eat your food and how much you eat at once are two huge factors that can affect your glucose levels, but the type of foods you eat can seriously alter your blood sugar. Have you ever noticed that you feel sick or your blood sugar shoots up after eating one thing in particular?
Even if it doesn’t seem like it, some foods are actually bad for you in one way or another. Most diabetics know that avoiding sugary foods is an obvious diet change, but the diabetic diet is actually more restricting than that.
If you’re trying to create an eating pattern that is good for your body, we have over 50 foods that you should keep off your shopping list. Whether you’ve just been diagnosed or it’s been several years, avoiding these foods is one of the first steps toward taking control of your diabetes. Cutting these foods out altogether is a great way to lower blood sugar and create a healthier lifestyle.
Disclaimer: The information in this content is for general informational purposes only, not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor before making any changes to your lifestyle.
#1: Pretzels
Pretzels have a healthy image, but they’re bad for you. A quick look at the ingredients reveals white flour, fats, and salt. Some pretzels that you can buy at the store are fat free, but others have been cooked in unhealthy oils. The white flour found in pretzels is also dangerous for diabetics since it is a simple carbohydrate that can increase the amount of glucose in your blood.
Pretzels really don't have much nutritional value, if any. The giant soft pretzels that you can buy at sport events or the mall are even worse for you. They contain even more sugar, fat, and salt than the small crunchy ones do, especially if you get them coated in butter, cinnamon and sugar, or other fun toppings or dips.
#2: Processed Lunch Meat
Processed lunch meat may not seem that bad, but it’s loaded with sodium. Some lunch meats have as much as 650 milligrams of sodium in one serving. They are also full of nitrates and nitrites that are also not good for you, even if you don't have diabetes.
Sure, it’s fat-free, but it can easily exacerbate blood pressure issues and harm your body. Plus, fat-free foods usually make up for the lack of flavor by adding in a ton of unnecessary sugars, making it overall even worse for you than simply cooking your own chicken breast and slicing it for sandwiches.
#3: Microwave Popcorn
We specifically want to talk about avoiding microwave popcorn, and even movie popcorn, compared to homemade popcorn or pre-popped and bagged popcorn from the store because of the trans fats found already packaged inside with the kernels. There aren’t just kernels in those packages you put in the microwave, there are also vegetable oils that are not good for you or your diabetes. Movie popcorns contain a lot of these types of fats in them as well.
There are several brands of pre-popped and bagged popcorn that you can buy at the store that were prepared in better ingredients like avocado oil, coconut oil, or olive oil that don't contain trans fats. However, if you really like the warm, fresh popcorn, investing in an air-fryer at home could be a real game changer because you don’t need any oil! Cooking popcorn this way is also a great way to get plenty of healthy fiber, and you can mix fun seasonings of your own creation at home! Just go easy on the salt, fat, and sugar that you add to it.
#4: Pie
While pie is usually filled with some type of fruit or vegetable like apples, cherries, pumpkins, or strawberries, they are also filled with tons of added sugar as well as tons of vegetable shortening, which we have already mentioned are horrible to eat especially when you have diabetes. The crust is usually white flour with butter and/or shortening to give it the right texture to form into a pie and become nice and flakey after being cooked.
The fillings of pies are usually loaded with sugar, not only from the natural sugars that are cooked down and released when baking the fruit, but also all of the sugar you add to the filling to make it that much more tasty. And again, like with most other foods, the kind you buy pre-made at the store is even worse for you because you can’t control the amount of bad things in them! And remember, these types of sweets should be avoided, even if you make the “better” substitutions such as using honey or maple syrup instead of white sugar, whole wheat flour instead of white flour, or coconut oil instead of shortening.
#5: Fried Chicken
After the devastating blow of not being able to eat doughnuts, you can rest assured that there are better alternatives to the classic fried chicken. Baked and breaded chicken can still have that same satisfying texture and taste as fried chicken, with way less fat and other bad stuff. If you use healthier batter mixes like with whole wheat flour or almond flour, or even corn flakes or oats, that can tackle the problem of white flour in the breading as well.
Baking chicken on a tray in the oven uses only a fraction of the oil needed to fry chicken, which saves you calories and unwanted trans fats. So, like with the french fries, you can’t order fried chicken out anymore because most are cooked in the traditional unhealthy ways, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out forever because you can still make your own healthier version at home!
#6: Frozen Meals
Frozen meals are the epitome of convenience, but they’re high in sodium and fat. This can make them an unhealthy choice for anyone, but especially for people with diabetes. They pack these meals full of salt and fat, and even sugar, to make them taste good, but at a very high cost to your health.
If you have no choice but to purchase a few on-the-go meals, try to keep the content of carbohydrates, sodium, calories, fiber, and fat in mind while choosing your frozen entrée. There are better, healthier options you can get, and no, we don't mean Lean Cuisine. Look for frozen meals made with more whole food ingredients, read the ingredients list, and look at the nutrition labels. These steps could just save your life.
#7: Margarine
Decades ago when everyone was told that butter was bad for you, margarine started gaining in popularity. It was deemed as the healthier alternative because of its low fat consistency, but the problem is that the types of fats in margarine, even though there might be less than in whole fat butter, are way worse for you. They are the gross hydrogenated oils and sometimes even trans fats which are so bad for you, especially when you have diabetes.
Margarine can also have a lot of hidden sugars and salt that you didn’t know you were consuming either. In this case, it is healthier to eat the real thing: butter. However, it is also known that butter is not good to eat if you have diabetes either. Instead of using margarine or butter to cook, it is better to cook in coconut, avocado, or olive oil. As for your bread, you can’t use these classic spreads, but try to mix up your morning toast a bit by adding peanut butter or avocado instead of butter.
#8: Chocolate Covered Peanuts
You need to watch your intake of peanuts and other nuts in general when you have diabetes because of all of the fats in them. Yes, they are usually the “good” fats, but they are still fats and should only be eaten in a very conservative moderation in any healthy diet, especially if you have diabetes. It’s too easy to just sit there and eat way too many while watching television.
If this is the case with normal nuts, chocolate covered peanuts are even worse for you because of all of the added sugars and fats that are needed to make them taste good. Any good chocolate has fat in it to give the creamy texture, and even more fat is needed to help it have that smooth coating over raisins and peanuts, adding to the overall fat of this snack. So make sure that you haven’t labeled this snack as “healthy” just because it isn’t a candy bar.
#9: Chips
Just like fries, chips are something that you should definitely avoid while eating out because of their high fat content. With its high fat content, it includes a ton of the unhealthy fats due to the type of oil that they are cooked in. This goes for bagged chips and even the restaurant’s own homemade recipe. Just because they are made in-shop doesn’t necessarily mean that they used healthier ingredients to make them.
The healthier option for chips is to get the baked kind, and the healthiest option for chips is to make them yourself at home in the oven or the airfryer. Baking or airfrying them yourself is healthier because you then can also control the amount of oil, salt, and sugar that goes into the seasoning. You’re probably thinking “sugar on chips?!” and yes, flavors like barbeque have a ton of sugar as well as salt due to the flavor. Watch out!
#10: Jams and Jellies
Jams, preserves, and jelly are fruits that have been packed with sugar. Every now and then, it’s alright to eat a tiny portion of regular jelly. When fruits are heated, they naturally caramelize and create more sugar, but in addition to that, jams and jellies very oven have added sugars that make it way too sweet for your blood.
However, many brands make sugar-free jams that people with diabetes can eat relatively safely. If you really want to go the extra mile, you could even just add a couple berries to your bread and mash them into the bread to make your own fiber-rich and low-sugar jam!
