And eating low-fat dairy products can reduce your risk of low bone mass in the future. If you live with diabetes, it's important that you partner with your health care provider and dietitian to create an eating plan that works for you.

Use healthy foods, portion control and a schedule to manage your blood sugar level. If you don't follow your prescribed diet, you run the risk of blood sugar levels that change often and more-serious complications.

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Products and services. Diabetes diet: Create your healthy-eating plan A diabetes diet is a healthy-eating plan that helps control blood sugar. By Mayo Clinic Staff. Related information Slide show: Healthy meals start with planning - Related information Slide show: Healthy meals start with planning Slide show: 10 great health foods - Related information Slide show: 10 great health foods.

Thank you for subscribing! Sorry something went wrong with your subscription Please, try again in a couple of minutes Retry. Show references Evert AB, et al. Nutrition therapy for adults with diabetes or prediabetes: A consensus report.

Diabetes Care. Eating right doesn't have to be boring. American Diabetes Association. Accessed Feb. What is the diabetes plate method?

Carb choices. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Traditional American cuisine: 1, calories. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Bone health for life: Health information basics for you and your family. NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center. Preventing type 2 diabetes.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Department of Health and Human Services and U. Department of Agriculture. Diabetes diet, eating, and physical activity.

Facilitating behavior change and well-being to improve health outcomes: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes — Products and Services The Mayo Clinic Diet Online A Book: The Essential Diabetes Book.

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ART Home Diabetes diet Create your healthy eating plan. Show the heart some love! Give Today. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three diet groups for six months. The fasting group could eat anything they wanted, but only between the hours of noon and 8 pm.

A control group did not change their diet at all. All groups received education on healthy food choices and monitored their blood glucose closely during the study. The results were published on October 27, , in JAMA Network Open.

After six months, participants in the fasting group lost an average of 3. In comparison, people in the calorie-restriction group did not lose a significant amount of weight compared to the control group.

Both groups had similarly healthy decreases in their average blood glucose levels. Both also had reductions in waist circumference. No serious side effects, including time outside of a safe blood glucose range, were seen in either treatment group.

People in the fasting group reported that their diet was easier to adhere to than calorie restriction. Some medications used to treat type 2 diabetes need adjustment for time-restricted eating.

Therefore, people considering intermittent fasting should speak with a doctor before changing their eating pattern. References: Effect of Time-Restricted Eating on Weight Loss in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Pavlou V, Cienfuegos S, Lin S, Ezpeleta M, Ready K, Corapi S, Wu J, Lopez J, Gabel K, Tussing-Humphreys L, Oddo VM, Alexandria SJ, Sanchez J, Unterman T, Chow LS, Vidmar AP, Varady KA.

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It depends on factors like your age, health status diabetic, pregnant, healthy, etc. Generally speaking, there are three ideal blood glucose levels for a healthy adult:. There are several ways you can measure blood glucose levels. Some can be done at home, while others are performed in a lab or with the help of a technician.

Hemoglobin A1c HbA1c : Gives you a rough estimate of your average blood glucose levels over the past months. It shows the amount of sugar stored in your red blood cells.

OGTT Oral Glucose Tolerance Test : Done in a lab where you ingest a small amount of sugar and we observe how it affects your blood sugar levels.

Fasting Blood Sugar: Measured after fasting for at least 8 hours. Postprandial Blood Glucose: Measured two hours after a meal. The first two tests are performed in a lab, while the other two can be done at home with a glucometer. Now that you understand glucose and how your blood sugar works, let's take a look at how this impacts your weight loss efforts.

The ABCs of dieting tell you to in order to lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories. It's about being in a caloric deficit , which means burning more calories than you consume. While this is theoretically correct, it doesn't take into account that your body is a complex structure full of hormonal and metabolic processes.

A smarter approach is to count calories while keeping an eye on your metabolic health. Your metabolic health is determined by five indicators: blood sugar levels, blood pressure, triglycerides , cholesterol, and waist circumference. Your goal should be healthy weight loss by staying at an optimal blood sugar level.

This will keep you metabolically healthy, less likely to develop chronic diseases, and you'll lose weight. To do this, you must understand how hormones, such as insulin, affect your blood sugar levels and, ultimately, your weight loss ability.

Insulin is one of the most important hormones in your body. Its primary role is moving blood sugar into your cells, mainly muscles and liver, to be burned for energy.

You could say insulin is almost like a glucose burner. Eating meals that contain carbohydrates stimulates insulin production in an attempt to control your blood glucose levels.

Right after a meal, your insulin spikes, and the amount of insulin depends on your blood sugar levels. Unhealthy eating habits, like eating too much sugar or processed foods, can make your body less sensitive to insulin because of your constantly high blood sugar levels. This can eventually become insulin resistance , a sign of poor metabolic health where your cells no longer listen to insulin and refuse to let glucose in.

Insulin resistance is often a precursor of diabetes if left untreated. This is why controlling your blood glucose levels is so important in preventing insulin resistance and diabetes. But how does this tie into your weight loss goals?

Well, insulin promotes weight gain. Unfortunately, insulin burns glucose to a limit. Generally speaking, insulin is an anabolic hormone that favors weight gain and likes to build things up. Insulin might be good at burning glucose, but once it becomes too much for your cells to take, it starts converting glucose into "stored glucose" or glycogen.

Once your liver and muscles can't take any more glycogen, insulin starts converting the excess glucose to stored fat instead. In other words, insulin only burns glucose as long as your blood sugar level isn't too high. High insulin levels promote fat buildup and storage, which is something you don't want if you're trying to lose weight.

Even worse, the high insulin levels signal your body not to burn fat cells for energy. It's almost as if insulin turns off fat burning. This means we need to control our insulin levels if we want to burn fat instead of adding to our fat stores. Being a hormone that comes from your pancreas, it's hard to control your insulin release.

You can, however, control what you eat. Controlling your food intake helps control your glucose levels and, in turn, your insulin levels. Since glucose levels play such a vital role in your weight loss or gain, it's important to control them. Your blood sugar needs to be at a certain level that promotes weight loss and keeps your body metabolically healthy.

The optimal blood sugar level for weight loss differs from one person to another. There are several factors to take into consideration, including diet, physical activity, health status, and more.

This blood sugar level is optimal for burning fat and makes you less liable to insulin resistance, diabetes, heart disease, and an assortment of conditions. Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, can have deleterious effects on your body, from irregular heartbeats to fainting and even hypoglycemic coma.

Low blood glucose levels can make you uncontrollably hungry, leading to unhealthy diet choices and subsequent weight gain. This will trigger your body to burn stored fat. To monitor your blood glucose levels, you can do a blood sugar test with a glucometer a few hours after meals.

This indicates how your body handles carbs, your insulin sensitivity, and whether you're in the optimal range for losing weight. Another handy tool is a CGM continuous glucose monitor. A CGM is a small wearable device that tracks glucose around the clock. It instantly tells you your blood sugar level at any time of the day, and some devices even alert you if it gets too high or too low.

While CGMs are typically prescribed to diabetics , non-diabetics can use them to monitor their glucose levels for weight loss. You can see how much your glucose rises with each meal and estimate your insulin spikes.

Generally, you don't want your blood sugar to rise by more than 30 points post-meal, especially if you're trying to lose weight. Using a CGM, you can see the changes before and after a meal and tweak your diet accordingly. The continuous, real-time glucose data provided by CGMs can help you experiment with different foods and see how your body reacts.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a disorder that is known for disrupting the way your body uses glucose sugar ; it also causes other problems with the way your body stores and processes other forms of energy, including fat.

All the cells in your body need sugar to work normally. Sugar gets into the cells with the help of a hormone called insulin.

In type 2 diabetes, the body stops responding to normal or even high levels of insulin, and over time, the pancreas an organ in the abdomen does not make enough insulin to keep up with what the body needs.

Being overweight, especially having extra fat stored in the liver and abdomen, increases the body's demand for insulin.

This causes sugar to build up in the blood, which can lead to problems if untreated. People with type 2 diabetes require regular monitoring and ongoing treatment to maintain goal blood sugar levels.

Treatment includes lifestyle adjustments, self-care measures, and medications; combined, these approaches can help reduce the risk of complications. Learning to manage diabetes is a process that continues over a lifetime.

This topic review discusses the role of diet in the management of type 2 diabetes. Separate topic reviews about other aspects of type 2 diabetes are also available.

See "Patient education: Type 2 diabetes: Overview Beyond the Basics " and "Patient education: Type 2 diabetes: Treatment Beyond the Basics " and "Patient education: Type 2 diabetes: Insulin treatment Beyond the Basics " and "Patient education: Glucose monitoring in diabetes Beyond the Basics " and "Patient education: Hypoglycemia low blood glucose in people with diabetes Beyond the Basics " and "Patient education: Exercise and medical care for people with type 2 diabetes Beyond the Basics " and "Patient education: Preventing complications from diabetes Beyond the Basics ".

You may have heard of the "ABCs of diabetes. Keeping your blood sugar at or near your goal level helps decrease the risk of complications that can affect the eyes, kidneys, and nerves.

Keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol levels under control helps reduce your risk of cardiovascular heart disease, which is a common complication of type 2 diabetes.

See "Patient education: High blood pressure, diet, and weight Beyond the Basics " and "Patient education: High cholesterol and lipids Beyond the Basics ". Many factors affect how well a person's diabetes is controlled.

You can reduce your risk of complications by following your health care provider's guidance around diet, exercise, blood sugar monitoring, and medication regimens. Dietary changes are typically focused on eating nutritious foods and getting to and maintaining a healthy weight.

If you take insulin, you may also need to be consistent about what you eat and when. Having to pay careful attention to your diet can be challenging. It can help to work with a dietitian to create a plan that is tailored to your specific situation including what diabetes medications you take , lifestyle, and personal preferences.

If you are overweight or have obesity, losing weight can improve blood sugar control and lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Losing weight — Your health care provider can help you set goals for losing weight. For a person who is overweight or has obesity, a typical goal is to lose 5 to 10 percent of their body weight.

For a person who weighs pounds, this would mean losing 12 to 24 pounds. Losing even more weight can sometimes reduce the blood sugars to the normal range. But even losing a little bit of weight can help improve your health; in fact, cutting back on the number of calories you eat each day can lower your blood sugar levels even before you actually lose weight.

The initial approach to weight loss usually involves eating fewer calories and exercising regularly. There are other strategies that may be appropriate for people who are having trouble losing weight, including medications and surgery.

More information about losing weight is available separately. See "Patient education: Losing weight Beyond the Basics ". Recommended calorie intake — The number of calories you need to maintain your current weight depends upon your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level.

Below are some general guidelines:. To lose 1 to 2 pounds per week which is considered a safe rate of weight loss , you can subtract to calories from the total number of calories needed to maintain weight.

As an example, a sedentary man with obesity who weighs pounds would need to eat 10 calories per pound, which totals calories, per day to maintain his weight.

To lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, he should reduce his intake to to calories per day. As you lose weight, you will need to adjust your daily recommended calorie intake accordingly. Avoiding weight gain — Some treatments for type 2 diabetes, such as intensive insulin therapy and certain oral medications, can contribute to weight gain.

The following tips can help you avoid unwanted weight gain:. If you gain more than 2 to 3 pounds in a week, try decreasing the number of calories you eat or increasing the amount of physical activity you do. Do not wait until you have gained a larger amount of weight, as this will make it harder to lose.

Exercise — Getting regular physical activity is very important for good health. Exercise makes the body more sensitive to insulin the hormone that allows cells in the body to take up sugar for energy , which helps lower blood sugar levels. Exercise can also help lower high blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels.

Other important benefits of exercise may include maintaining a healthy body weight, losing weight if needed , sleeping better, and improving memory and mood. Exercise for people with type 2 diabetes is discussed in more detail separately.

See "Patient education: Exercise and medical care for people with type 2 diabetes Beyond the Basics ", section on 'Exercise and type 2 diabetes'. Carbohydrates are the main energy source in the diet and include starches, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and sugars.

Most meats and fats do not contain any carbohydrates. Carbohydrates directly affect your blood sugar level, whereas proteins and fat have little impact. Eating a consistent amount of carbohydrates at each meal can help to control your blood sugar levels, especially if you take certain oral diabetes medications or long-acting insulin.

There are different ways to make sure you eat a consistent amount of carbohydrates throughout the day, including carbohydrate counting and exchange planning. Carbohydrate counting — A dietitian can help you figure out the number of carbohydrates you need each day based on your eating habits, weight, nutritional goals, and activity level.

The way carbohydrates are divided up for each meal or snack will depend on your personal preferences, the timing and spacing of your meals, and which diabetes medications you take table 1.

However, even if you do not take insulin, carb counting can help you keep your blood sugar levels from getting too low or too high. The number of carbohydrates in a particular food can be determined by reading the nutrition label, consulting a reference book, website, or smartphone app, or using the exchange system see 'Exchange planning' below.

If you are eating out, restaurants usually have this information available upon request. See 'Where to get more information' below. For example, some prepackaged snacks contain two or more servings.

To calculate the carbohydrate content of the entire package, multiply the number of servings by the number of carbohydrates per serving. This is because fiber slows the body's absorption of carbohydrates, so less insulin is required to manage blood sugar levels. Exchange planning — With exchange planning, all foods are categorized as either a carbohydrate, meat or meat substitute, or fat.

You can also easily determine the carbohydrate content of your meals and snacks using the exchange system. The table shows a sample daily meal plan based on this system table 2.

A dietitian can give you a more complete list of foods to use for meal planning purposes. The exchange lists also identify foods that are good sources of fiber which can help keep blood sugar levels from getting too high and foods with a lot of sodium which should be limited.

A dietitian can help you determine how many servings of each group to eat at each meal and snack table 2 and the typical carbohydrate content of each meal and snack. Meal timing — Consistently eating at the same times every day is important for some people, especially those who take long-acting insulin or oral medications that decrease blood sugar levels sulfonylureas or meglitinides.

If a meal is skipped or delayed while on these regimens, you are at risk for developing low blood glucose. If you use "intensive" insulin therapy ie, if you give yourself multiple daily injections or use an insulin pump or take certain other types of oral diabetes medications eg, metformin , you may have more flexibility around meal timing.

With these regimens, skipping or delaying a meal will not usually increase your risk of low blood sugar. While foods that are high in fat eg, pizza are OK to eat occasionally, you will need to monitor your blood sugar levels more closely.

High-fat, high-protein meals are broken down more slowly than low-fat, lower-protein meals. When using rapid-acting insulin before a meal, your blood sugar level may become low shortly after eating a high-fat meal and then rise hours later.

If you eat meals that contain more protein or fat than usual, you may need to make meal-time insulin dose adjustments to manage this delayed rise in blood sugar. Intensive insulin therapy — If you take multiple injections of insulin per day or use an insulin pump, you can adjust your pre-meal insulin based on the number of carbohydrates you plan to eat and your pre-meal blood sugar, similar to patients with type 1 diabetes.

See "Patient education: Type 1 diabetes and diet Beyond the Basics ", section on 'Intensive insulin therapy'. There is not a single optimal diet or meal plan for people with diabetes. The best diet for you depends many different things, including your health concerns, weight-loss goals, and personal preferences.

General recommendations — To help manage the ABCs A 1C, B lood pressure, and C holesterol and promote good health, experts recommend that all people with diabetes aim to maintain a healthy weight by decreasing calorie intake and increasing physical activity and monitor their carbohydrate intake.

The following guidelines for a healthy diet are similar to the recommendations for adults without diabetes see "Patient education: Diet and health Beyond the Basics " :. People with diabetes are advised to avoid sugar-sweetened beverages including fruit juice.

The ideal amount of carbohydrate intake is uncertain. However, it's important for people with diabetes to monitor carbohydrate intake in order to manage their blood sugar levels and adjust insulin dosing as needed.

See 'Carbohydrate counting' above. Eating a healthy diet that contains a lot of the foods you like will make it easier to stick to your plan. However, you should talk to your health care provider before starting any diet that involves extreme restriction such as a very low carb or "keto" diet.

Depending on your situation, some diets may not be recommended. Saturated fats eg, in meats, cheese, ice cream can be replaced with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids eg, in fish, olive oil, nuts. Trans fatty acid consumption should be kept as low as possible.

Trans fats are banned from processed foods in the United States. Although very small amounts of trans fats are naturally present in meats, poultry and dairy products, the amount is too small for concern. As diabetes increases your risk of heart disease and stroke, eating a diet low in saturated and trans fats and cholesterol can help to reduce your cholesterol levels and decrease these risks.

In general, it's a good idea to get protein from lean meats, fish eggs, beans, soy, and nuts, and to limit the amount of red meat you eat.

See "Patient education: High-fiber diet Beyond the Basics ". See "Patient education: Low-sodium diet Beyond the Basics ". If you consume sugar-sweetened beverages regularly, a beverage containing artificial sweeteners such as diet soda can be a good short-term replacement strategy.

However, the best approach is to avoid both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages, and try to drink more water.

This is no longer recommended, although it's important to limit sugar intake.

They both contain the same active ingredient semaglutide. However, Wegovy contains higher doses of it and is designed for weight loss. Ozempic has lower doses of semaglutide and was developed specifically for type 2 diabetes patients. One other difference is that Ozempic is typically covered by health insurance, while Wegovy is often not covered.

Ozempic can help people lose weight, which can reduce the risk for many other serious health conditions, such as heart problems. Semaglutide treatments can also be used as an alternative to bariatric surgery for some patients who are obese.

The degree of weight loss achieved with surgery is usually much greater and lasts longer than with medications. Experts still recommend that people avoid using Ozempic unless they have type 2 diabetes.

Instead, talk to your health care provider about starting Wegovy for weight loss. Read more from UC Davis Health: What is primary care? Learn why you should partner with a provider for your health. The FDA warns people of the dangers of using "generic" Ozempic and Wegovy.

It says there are no approved generic versions of these drug. However, an off-brand version of the drug has been seen at compounding pharmacies across the U. The FDA received reports of adverse events after patients used "generic" versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy.

There are reports of a drug shortage involving Ozempic and Wegovy, as of July When people use Ozempic off-label for weight loss, type 2 diabetes patients who rely on Ozempic may struggle to find this medication.

Learn about other weight loss medications that are available. menu icon Menu. Cultivating Health. Enter search words search icon Search × Enter search words Subscribe to Cultivating Health Subscribe to our blog and receive notifications of new stories by email.

Please retry. What is Ozempic? How does Ozempic work? Does Ozempic work for weight loss purposes? Learn about weight loss medications, like Wegovy, and whether they're right for you What's the difference between Ozempic and Wegovy?

Are there benefits to taking Ozempic for weight loss? Learn why you should partner with a provider for your health Is there an off-brand version of Ozempic? Not to mention the negative effects calorie restriction can have on mental health.

Looking at weight loss more holistically is important. Understanding more about your unique metabolism can empower you to make positive changes that suit you. Lifestyle factors are also extremely important in determining how you metabolise food.

This includes your food sources, food combinations and timing of meals. Carrying excess weight, poor sleep , sedentary behaviour, alcohol overconsumption and environmental disruptors also contribute to dysregulating adaptive hormonal responses. This may lead to chronic low-grade inflammation.

All of which can contribute to weight gain. Insulin is the key messenger in glucose regulation. It is secreted from the pancreas in response to high blood sugar levels. When your glucose levels rise, your insulin levels do the same.

If they are consistently high, the cells become less insulin sensitive, leading to insulin resistance. When there is an excess of glucose, the liver and muscles store it for later use. Once the storage is at capacity, the remaining glucose gets converted into fat, contributing to weight gain.

This fat is delivered to the tissues in the form of triglycerides. Blood triglyceride levels are an indicator of metabolic health. Whilst the storage in the liver and muscles is finite, the storage capacity for fat is almost insatiable.

During sleep or when you skip a meal, the lack of glucose intake decreases insulin levels. This signals the body to use up the glycogen stores. When depleted, the body then burns fat as fuel.

This prevents fatty acids from being used as energy. Therefore, low insulin levels are needed to burn fat and result in weight loss. Another associated hormone is leptin. Leptin is associated with appetite and satiety.

It is made and released by fat cells. It manages how many calories are consumed to regulate energy requirements. The more fat cells you have and the more insulin that is made, the more leptin resistant you become. This means despite having sufficient fat, you still feel hungry, which perpetuates the cycle.

Managing your blood glucose levels can have a positive effect on insulin, as insulin mirrors glucose. When the amount of insulin is normal, cells can burn fat more effectively.

This can lead to sustained weight loss if managed long-term. It's important to aim for low glucose variability steady levels and tight control within the target range. Using a continuous glucose monitor CGM can reveal your glucose responses to food to help with weight management long-term.

The more you can understand your unique metabolism, the more you can make healthy choices that suit you. Unlike traditional means like calorie tracking, measuring glucose can be impactful for witnessing the physiological effects of food and lifestyle choices. However, using a CGM can help you manage your carbohydrate intake in ways other than restriction which is best to avoid.

Experimenting with carbohydrates in certain combinations, portions and times of the day can vary your glucose response. For example, a higher carb meal in the evening may produce a greater glucose and insulin spike compared to the morning.

The order you eat your foods can also change your glucose response. When carbohydrates are eaten first, your glucose spikes may be higher than if you ate your carbohydrates last. Same meal composition, different timing, different physiological response.

It's important to note that everyone's metabolism is different. A study on a group of non-diabetic people found differences in glucose responses between individuals for the same meals. Evidence also shows that the same person can have a different glucose response to the same carbohydrate load.

In conclusion, stabilising your glucose and insulin in conjunction with healthy lifestyle changes can be a really positive step towards optimal metabolic health. CGMs can be a fantastic tool to help with this. At Vively , we try to understand the drivers of chronic disease, including obesity and hyper-insulinaemia.

Using CGM devices to unlock personalised insights can be a game changer for sustainable wellness. Sign up here. Dr Michelle Woolhouse is an integrative GP, with over 20 years experience treating chronic conditions through lifestyle medicine. Discover how controlling your glucose levels can aid in ageing gracefully.