1.) Eat 5 servings of vegetables a day. Later on, I'll mention when you should be eating. A good trick during that is to use vegetables for your snacks. They'll be filling and they are completely guilt free. Green vegetables are your friend and starchy vegetables like potatoes are still okay but should be consumed in moderation. 2.) Limit fruit servings to 2 a day. Although a better source of sugar (because they take a longer time for your body to break down and don't result in sugar spikes), while trying to get your glucose levels back in check, you don't want to over do it. 3.) Diets with a lot of fiber will help you feel fuller and also tell to have more benefits in terms of regulation. When picking foods with fiber, try to stick to whole grains and avoid processed grains like bleached flour. 4.) Avoid trans fat and saturated fats. These are more likely to help you pack on pounds and are harder to break down with exercise. 5.) Some diabetics obsess over sugar but whereas you should keep an eye on your sugar intake, the Diabetes Association now tells people to watch their carb intakes (since carb is a sugar and most diabetic diets are found to have a high consumption of empty carbs). Your daily carb intake should be between 120 and 170 and you should limit added sugar to no more than 24 grams per day 6.) Because being overweight is a common trait of people with diabetes, high cholesterol is also a common problem. When choosing foods, choose items with lower cholesterol. One way to do this is to eat leaner means like turkey and fish and limit red meats to 2-3 times a week. 7.) Green Vegetables tend to be a dieter's and diabetics best friend. They are high in things that are good for you such as fibers and have few carbs. With this in mind, when planning out your meals, about half of your plate should be greens. If you are achieving this with a salad just be mindful of what you are using for dressing and the amount you are using. 8.) In terms of maintaining your diet, figure out which foods you love the most and find alternatives that meet the above standards. It'll help keep your diet on track and limit unhealthy cravings. For instance, if you really enjoy milk, which even the low fat version is still high in carbs and sugar, try alternatives like Hood's Carb Countdown which has only half the carbs and sugars of most 2% milk. If your weakness is desserts, try finding diabetic friendly cake mixes and mousse. These will be easier to make on your own because you'll be able to control more of what you are putting in. 9.) Eat at regular intervals. I recommend breakfast, a snack, a light lunch, snack and then dinner. Eating at regular intervals helps your diet because it leaves your metabolism at a steady rate and it helps in terms of diabetes because it evens out your blood sugar levels. If you go too long between meals it can lead to blood sugar spikes. 10.) This last is less of a food suggestion and more of a way to keep track of your diet and to help turn the changes that you are making into a more permanent eating style so that your diet will be more affective and you'll have an easier time keeping the weight off. You should try a food logging website in the earlier stages of your diet. I recommend calorie counter. It not also tracks all of your intakes for the day, but it will also grade the foods that you enter and tell you why they received the grade. You'll be surprised which foods you think are healthy are actually not a dieter's friend. A lot of websites do this but Calorie Counter is the most customizable one that I've found and it will even let you set your profile to show diabetes so that the grades your foods are getting reflect that. After a while, you'll find yourself making healthier choices on your own and picking more appropriate portion sizes. Source
