What Do I Eat with Diabetes?
“What do I eat?” As a diabetes educator and dietitian, I am asked this question every day! Mindful eating isn’t about eating a specific food or limiting yourself to a set number of calories, carbs, or other nutrients. It is about becoming curious and aware so you can make conscious decisions about what to eat with diabetes.
I have diabetes. What can I eat?
Fortunately, with mindful eating, you can eat anything you want. But that probably sounds scary if you’ve struggled with your eating in the past!
Never fear! We don’t give your rules about what to eat, but in Chapter 9 of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat with Diabetes, we answer the challenging question, What do I eat with diabetes? by teaching you to ask more questions.
Specifically, here are the three questions to consider when deciding what to eat:
What do I want?
Much of the time when you’re hungry, a specific food, flavor, or texture will come to mind. As you get used to listening to your body’s signals, you’ll begin to recognize what type of food or taste matches your particular desire at the time. Asking yourself, “What do I want?” is an important initial step to determining what to eat. (I know this question can feel a little scary; keep reading! I’ll talk more about that below.)
What do I need?
The next question is “What do I need?” Food decisions are neither good nor bad, but clearly, some foods offer more nutritional benefits than others. When you have diabetes, the impact of different foods on your blood glucose Is an important consideration. As you think about what food to choose, ask yourself, “What does my body need?”
What do I have?
The final question is “What do I have?” This step can be summarized by planning and preparation. Having a variety of foods available is essential if you’re going to learn to use hunger to guide your eating. If you feel hungry and the only food available is from a vending machine, you’re options are likely to be limited, making it harder to choose a snack that is a great balance of nutritious and delicious.Take charge of your diabetes by keeping meals and snacks on hand that are a good fit for what you want and what you need.
But what if I won’t make healthy choices?
One of my patients, Mike, found these three questions really helpful at first. However, on a follow-up visit, he told me he’d been struggling with cravings.
As Mike and I explored the issue, we could see he had slipped back into a Restrictive Eating Cycle. (Review chapter 1 of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat with Diabetes.)
He said he was afraid to ask the question, What do I want? because he thought he wouldn’t make healthy choices.
However, when he only asked, What do I need?, he began to feel deprived, resulting in strong cravings. His cravings increased his fear that he wouldn’t make healthy choices. The more he tried to avoid the question, What do I want?, the stronger his cravings became!
Fear-based thoughts like “I won’t make healthy choices” strengthens cravings, reinforces faulty thinking, and allows doubt to grow. (If you’re struggling with cravings or fear about considering what you want to eat, read “Let Go of Fear-Based Thoughts” in chapter 9 of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat with Diabetes.)
To help Mike understand why his restrictive approach was counter-productive, we compared restrictive eating to mindful eating.
Restrictive eating is about trying to stay “in control,” whereas mindful eating is about being “in charge.” (For more comparisons, see lists in chapter 3.) Another way to say this is restrictive eating is about being good, whereas mindful eating is about feeling good.
By considering what he wanted to eat in addition to what he needed to eat, Mike was able to cultivate curiosity and awareness instead of fear and restriction. As a result, he was able to take the power back from the food and his cravings diminished!
In my next post, I’ll share something else that helped Mike: Gratitude.
This article was updated from a previously published version.
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