food groups and portion sizes. The Mayo Clinic Diet is a well-balanced, healthful diet that incorporates nutrient-rich foods and reduces or eliminates excess fat, sugar, and calorie intake from less nutritious food.
The Mayo Clinic Diet is not specifically for people with diabetes. Therefore, you won’t find instructions for carbohydrate counting. However, US News and World Report experts, considered its approach to be better than other diets to manage and prevent diabetes.
Vegan
The vegan diet excludes eggs, dairy, and all other animal products. Because it is more of an eating pattern than a diet, there are no guidelines regarding calories or recommendations for carbohydrate levels. It can also be challenging when it comes to shopping, cooking and eating meals out. To get the most benefit from this healthy way of eating you should consider a consultation with a registered dietitian nutritionist before attempting to follow a vegan diet.
There is evidence that a vegan lifestyle can improve blood sugar levels and help reduce the amount of medication needed to manage diabetes. Veganism also tied for third place in Best Diabetes Diet.
Volumetrics
The Volumetrics Diet categorizes foods based on their calories and nutritional content. The four categories range from very low-density foods such as fruits, nonstarchy vegetables, nonfat milk and broth-based soup to high-density foods like crackers, chips, chocolate candies and cookies. The goal is that most of your food choices will come from low and medium-density foods and keep high-density foods to a minimum.
Because the Volumetrics Diet offers a variety of food choices, your chances of sticking with it are higher. There is evidence that suggests the Volumetrics Diet can lower fasting insulin levels and may have a positive effect on diabetes prevention and management.
Weight Watchers
The Weight Watcher program assigns every food and beverage a point value, based on its nutritional content. Unhealthy choices have a higher point value. Healthy food choices have a lower point value. Overall the Weight Watcher plan—known as the SmartPoints food plan guides members toward an overall eating pattern that is lower in calories, saturated fat, and sugar, and higher in protein.
The Weight Watcher program provides personalization and flexibility, offering “Weight Watchers for Diabetes” and “Weight Watchers for Prediabetes” programs.
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The Choice is Yours!
There is no “silver bullet” or magic to anyone eating plan or diet for people with diabetes. The best meal plan for diabetes is one that fits your health goals, personal and cultural food preferences, access to healthful choices, and your readiness, willingness, and ability to change behavior.
Before making significant changes in your diet, you should consult your healthcare provider. Your healthcare provider or registered dietitian nutritionist can help you determine your best choice.
Constance Brown-Riggs, MSED, RD, CDE, CDN is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, owner of CBR Nutrition Enterprises, national speaker and author of The African American Guide to Living Well with Diabetes. Her new book Diabetes Guide to Enjoying Foods of the World is a convenient guide to help people with diabetes enjoy all the flavors of the world while still following a healthy meal plan.