Diabetes is a malfunction in the way your body metabolizes the food you eat. That's why attention to your food intake will help to manage your diabetes.
How healthy eating helps
A healthy eating plan helps keep your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, in your target range. Understanding what and how much to eat can be a challenge. Riverside offers a variety of classes to help you take good care of yourself and your diabetes by learning:
- What to eat
- How much to eat
- When to eat
- New guidelines for a diabetes diet
Your diabetes diet
Don't worry. You won't be condemned to a boring and bland diet. You'll eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains — foods that are high in nutrition and low in fat and calories — and fewer animal products and sweets.
To keep your blood sugar on an even keel, you'll learn to eat the same amount of food with the same proportion of carbohydrates, proteins and fats at the same time every day. Making wise food choices can help you:
- Feel good every day
- Lose weight if you need to
- Lower your risk for heart disease, stroke, and other problems caused by diabetes
- Healthful eating helps keep your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, in your target range
- Learn 20 ways to revive your healthy eating plan
Learning to make wise food choices and losing even a small amount of weight can be daunting challenges. Riverside Health System is here to help you.
- Your doctor is likely to recommend one of our educational classes designed to help you learn to make wise food choices.
- The Riverside program, Dietcise, offers nutrition classes with a registered dietician and includes exercise classes that teach a variety of exercise techniques from basic walking for fitness to strength training. Many class graduates continue to take the exercise classes and continue to weigh in with the dietician each week.
- Our Riverside nutritionists have put together advice to help you eat healthier in our Nutrition Workbook.
- See all the ways that Riverside can support your diabetes management.