The 10 golden rules of a good diet against diabetes

Whether or not you take medication, diet is the mainstay of your treatment if you have diabetes. What can you eat? Are certain foods prohibited? How to best balance your blood sugar?

1. Eat 3 meals a day, at regular times

“It is very important to respect regular schedules to stabilize your blood sugar, and even more so if you take a treatment with a risk of hypoglycemia (sulfonamides) or insulin”, explains Sibylle Naud, dietician-nutritionist.

2. Never skip breakfast

It is an essential meal that should account for 25% of the calorie intake for the day . It consists of a cereal product (oats, bran, wholemeal bread, country bread), a drink, a dairy product. "We recommend eating the bread with a little butter, because the fat slows down the absorption of carbohydrates and therefore a rapid rise in blood sugar", underlines Dr. Emmanuel Disse, diabetologist.

If the bread is white, it is better to avoid jam, but you can vary the pleasures: ham, cheese, dairy, egg... as a source of protein. “Someone taking anti-diabetic medication should have breakfast, otherwise they risk having hypoglycaemia at the end of the morning. And having to take sugar repeatedly,” warns Dr. Disse.

3. Reduce saturated fat intake to lose weight

“Some 80% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight ,” observes Dr. Disse. However, a loss of 5% of body weight – which represents 5 kg when one makes 100 for example – will be much more effective in terms of glucose balance than a first-line treatment such as metformin .

In reality, this advice has a double objective  : to improve insulin sensitivity and therefore glycemic control thanks to weight loss, and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease because excess saturated fat is harmful for the heart and the muscles. arteries. "It's not a diet, but a change in eating habits that lose about 1 kg per month," insists Dr. Disse.

How? 'Or' What ? Reserve butter for breakfast, eat 30 g of cheese a day and a yoghurt at another meal. Limit cream, cold meats, fatty meats (pork chops, lamb chops, sausages) and prefer chicken, turkey, rindless white ham, beef, lean veal and all fish.

4. Compose your menu well

The contents of the plate should be distributed with 10-15% of proteins responsible for satiety, 35-40% of lipids , especially unsaturated fats, and 50-55% of carbohydrates , of which "2/3 of complex sugars and a third of rapidly assimilated sugars, says Sibylle Naud. Thus, it is not necessary to eat fruits and vegetables at will because they contain sugars of rapid assimilation. »

The meal consists of a starter with raw vegetables, a main course with meat or fish, a vegetable rich in fiber to slow down the absorption of sugars (leek, green beans, etc.), a portion of starchy foods , fruit, plain dairy or cheese, and a piece of bread.

5. Eat starches at every meal

Starchy foods help keep blood sugar levels stable and keep you from feeling hungry. They limit possible hypoglycaemia situations in the event of treatment with sulfonamides or insulin.

Prefer wholemeal flours, which are richer in fiber than white flours, but without being exclusive: “If they are not organic, wholemeal flours are richer in pesticide residues. It is therefore better to diversify the starchy foods  : mix basmati and Camargue rice, white and wholemeal pasta...”, adds Sibylle Naud.

6. Integrate sugars during a meal

There is no food ban, but in order not to unbalance blood sugar levels during the day, you have to eat sugars, including fruits, at the right time. "That is to say during a meal," warns Dr. Disse, who reserves sweet desserts, pastries, ice cream for festive meals, about once a week.

All fruits and vegetables are allowed. “It's not about creating frustrations, food is not a punishment, it's a way of treating yourself. »

7. Decipher the labels of sugar-free products

Even without added sugars, fruit juices in particular contain a lot of sugars. Sibylle Naud advises against them on a daily basis. “Some 100% fruit juices are as sweet as sodas. It is a contribution in sugars without nutritional quality and without fibers”. Better to prefer fruit.

8. Don't change everything all at once

“You have to try to identify the main errors and negotiate what can be changed,” says Dr. Florence Labrousse-Lherminé. This is the reason why dietary advice must be individualized, after dietary investigation.

“Breakfast is essential when you want to lose weight. But some don't. It is useless to persist. What can we win first? Would a glass of milk, yogurt, or fruit be okay? A few months later, we try to add a slice of bread. This change can be enough to lose weight, ” says the specialist.

9. Eat fewer junk foods

“The main goal when you have diabetes is to reduce refined sugars and saturated fats. However, there are still too many in industrial dishes” , observes Sibylle Naud.

10. Do not split meals

“The idea was brought up to lose weight because splitting meals into five meals a day improves satiety. But, in terms of blood sugar, it's an aberration. Blood sugar will rise and never go back down to a basal level. Once you are diabetic, you should not split your diet,” explains Dr. Disse.