Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi

Manage Diabetes with a Healthy Lifestyle

We've included a sample 1-day menu for a healthy diabetes diet, which focuses on balancing carbohydrates throughout the day. You can also use this handy portion guide to help you determine the correct portion sizes. Also, try this lighter version of a holiday favorite, sweet potato casserole, to help keep calories in check.

If you have diabetes, it’s important to know you can live a healthy, active lifestyle when you practice good health habits. Eating a healthy carbohydrate-controlled diet along with regular exercise can help you manage this disease, and can even help reverse it. November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and here are some tips to help you be as healthy as possible.

Diabetes occurs when the body is unable to properly use insulin to digest food. Insulin is produced by the pancreas and serves to help transfer sugar and carbohydrates into usable energy. When this happens, the cells cannot get the energy they need and there is an overabundance of sugar in the blood leading to serious health consequences. According to the Mississippi Department of Health, more than 12% of the adult population in our state has type 2 diabetes, which is the most common type of the disease. It is most often associated with lifestyle habits like obesity, lack of exercise and poor diet. Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, more commonly affects children and young adults.

To control your blood sugar, it’s important to eat a healthy carbohydrate-controlled diet, exercise regularly and follow your Network Provider’s advice on managing your blood sugar. Working with a dietitian or diabetes educator can also help you develop a nutrition plan that’s right for you.

Eating Healthy With Diabetes

Eating a healthy diet designed for managing diabetes is essential for your health. But you don’t have to deprive yourself of everything you enjoy! Moderation is key when you know what you can eat, how much of it you can eat and how often you can eat it. Once you’ve taken the guesswork out of eating, you can truly enjoy a healthy eating plan. The American Diabetes Association offers some helpful tips on healthful food choices.

Carbohydrates and Diabetes

Carbohydrates are key when it comes to a healthy diabetes meal plan. That’s because carbohydrates raise blood sugar. And if you have diabetes, it’s important to keep blood sugar from rising too much, too quickly or dropping too low. Keeping track of your carbohydrates and knowing how much you can have can help you keep your blood sugar in check. The key to managing your blood sugar is spreading out your carbohydrate intake throughout the day.

There are five types of food that will increase blood sugar. These include:

  • Grains
  • Fruit
  • Dairy
  • Sweets
  • Starchy vegetables

For a diabetic diet, these foods should be spread out throughout the day and limited at each meal using portion control. A general rule of thumb for carbohydrate counting is you need about 3-4 carbohydrate foods per meal and 1-2 per snack. Each carbohydrate food is considered an exchange. One carbohydrate exchange is equivalent to 15 grams of carbohydrates. A good way to think of this is using money. If you have 16 dollars to spend on food for an entire day, how will you use it? You want to use it wisely and know how to make it benefit you the most. So you’ll want to spread it out and make it last. Therefore, you could spend 4 for breakfast, 1 for a mid-morning snack, 4 for lunch, 1 for mid-afternoon snack, 3 for dinner, and 2 for a bedtime snack. Here is a helpful carbohydrate exchange chart to help you determine your food choices.

Exercise

Regular exercise is important to a healthy lifestyle, especially if you have diabetes. It can help you achieve or maintain a healthy weight, lower your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. Aim for at least 30 minutes on most days participating in a moderately-intense activity, like walking. If this is too much, start with a few days a week and always follow your Network Provider’s advice on exercise.

Follow Your Network Provider’s Advice

Stay connected with your Network Provider through your annual Healthy You! wellness visit. This benefit provides age and gender–specific health screenings, including blood sugar, at no out-of-pocket cost. Download our Healthy You! Wellness Guide to learn more.

To learn more about diabetes prevention and management, you can visit the American Diabetes Association’s website. Web MD also offers valuable information related to diabetes.

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