Not all diet changes will work for everyone, which is why it is crucial to seek medical advice before making any sudden changes to your diet. Here are food tips to keep in mind if you are diabetic.

Things to eat

According to the Cardiovascular Diabetes Education centre, "working with a dietitian can 'help craft a nutritional approach and eating plan that is tailored to your lifestyle and nutritional goals (e.g. reducing your waist circumference and cancer risk and improving your blood pressure and cholesterol profile.)"

You can start by including the following foods in your diet: 

• Include rainbow vegetables and fruit. Eating vegetables that are high in fibre and low in calories can be beneficial to your diet. Ideally, you should be consuming five different vegetables and fruit in your diet. Always remember to control your portion size, especially when it comes to fruit. 
• Eat lean protein. Meat tends to come with saturated fats which can affect our heart. Switching to leaner meat options and reducing your red meat intake can be healthier. Make sure that you prepare these by either grilling or roasting them without adding oil to your food. 
• Whole grains. Choosing whole grains such as brown rice, brown pasta, oatmeal and quinoa are a healthy solution compared to their refined counterparts that have the nutrition you need stripped away. Always keep to the correct portion size to avoid spiking your blood sugar levels.

• Sticking to healthy liquids. When it comes to what you can drink, make sure to avoid processed liquids. Drinking the recommended amount of water and juice made from fresh fruit, without added sweeteners can be beneficial. Juicing fruit can ensure that all the nutrients and fibre are maintained, but make sure to control your level of consumption to avoid spiking your sugar levels.

Things to avoid

There are things that you should avoid that could have a long-term effect on your health, especially if you are not maintaining balancing healthy eating and exercise. Foods to avoid are:

• Processed foods. Avoid processed grains such as white rice or flour, white bread, white potatoes, and white pasta. Processed foods tend to be stripped of their nutrients and also come with added sugar which can be bad for anyone with diabetes.
• Preparing your vegetables incorrectly. Things such as canned vegetables tend to come with a lot of added sodium. How you prepare your vegetables can make or break a healthy diet. Eating vegetables that have a lot of butter, cheese, sauces added to it can impact your overall health. Stick to fresh and seasonal vegetables that are prepared by either steaming or baking them to lock in the nutrients.
• Saturated and trans fats. These are unhealthy fats that come from processed foods that can end up leaving a person with diabetes worse off. Fast foods and processed snacks like chips and certain sweets tend to have high amounts of saturated and trans fats that can impact your diet.
• Unhealthy drinks. Drinks that have added or processed sugars are also something that needs to be avoided. Avoid drinking things such as sweetened cool drinks, dessert wines, beer, sweetened teas, and energy drinks.