The Ultimate Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan (Easy Diabetes Education)

Getting a diabetes diagnosis can often leave you confused and frustrated. Many newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients are simply told that they have diabetes and are not given any guidance on what foods to eat and what foods to avoid by their doctors. Diabetics are commonly asked to wait for several months until they get their first appointment with a nutritionist or a dietitian. Many type 2 diabetics end up eating the wrong types of foods that are worsening their diabetes.

In this blog post, I will explain what is type 2 diabetes, what causes type 2 diabetes, what blood glucose readings are considered diabetic, share the list of the best foods for type 2 diabetics and the worst foods for diabetics, share an example of a Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan and answer the frequently asked questions that most diabetics have when they are first diagnosed with diabetes.

By the way, I’m a nutritionist and a health coach, and I believe it is really important to share the correct science-based information about diabetes management. This Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan is going to change the way you see diabetes.

I will share some really interesting facts about diabetes, that you were probably not aware of. The biggest focus of this article is to show you what is the best way of eating for someone who wants to prevent this condition or is already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and wants to be able to control their blood sugars with their diet. Before we get into What is the best diet plan for type 2 diabetes, we first have to look at what is diabetes and what causes it.

Table of Contents

Blood Glucose of a Type 2 Diabetic vs Healthy Person

Our bodies need to maintain constant blood sugar levels of around 100mg/dL throughout the day. Normal blood sugars can range between 80 and 110mg/dL which is equivalent to 4.4 to 6.1 mmol/l.

According to Diabetes UK, the blood sugars of type 2 diabetics would be:

7.0 mmol/l or more, which is equivalent to 126 mg/dl or more when fasting.
And 11.1 mmol/l or more which is equivalent to 200 mg/dl or more after meals.

So, let’s come back to the normal ranges,

Normal blood glucose levels.

Why do our bodies try so hard to keep the blood sugars at this level?

Well, If you have too little glucose, you get Hypoglycemia, which mostly occurs in type 2 diabetics when their blood glucose levels drop below normal. This can result in dizziness and confusion. Untreated, severe low blood glucose can result in seizures, loss of consciousness, or even death.

And then on the other side of the scale, we have high blood glucose levels called Hyperglycemia. In excessive amounts, glucose is toxic to the body. In type 2 diabetics, chronically elevated glucose can lead to various diabetes complications including:

Cardiovascular disease
Nerve damage (neuropathy)
Kidney damage (nephropathy)
Eye damage (retinopathy)
Foot damage
Skin conditions
Hearing impairment
Alzheimer’s disease

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which your body loses the ability to control blood sugars.

Why And How Do We Get Diabetes?

So, first, we have to look at what factors can influence our blood glucose levels? Food, drink, being ill, alcohol, tiredness, physical activity, and stress can all impact blood glucose levels. But the biggest and the most important regulator of our blood glucose is our diet. The foods we eat on a daily basis have the biggest effects on our blood sugars.

And to be more specific, the amount of carbohydrates that we eat a day is the biggest regulator of our blood glucose levels. We can get energy from carbohydrates, protein, fat, and alcohol.

In the presence of all of them, let’s say you ate a meal that consists of carbs, protein, fat, and alcohol, let’s say you had a burger with fries, here’s your carbs protein, and fat, and you had a can of beer.

Your body will metabolise these in a specific order. The most toxic, the ones that your body doesn’t want to keep for a long time, will have to be used first. So, the alcohol will be used first, because it is toxic to your body. Your body doesn’t have what to do with it, it wants to get rid of it as soon as possible to reduce the damage.

We burn carbs first.

Then, we have carbs. Remember the damage that elevated glucose can create in diabetics? Even in healthy people, carbohydrates are the least useful nutrient in the body that we only use for energy. And excessive amounts of glucose are toxic. Your body wants to get rid of the glucose as soon as possible.

When you eat sugar, and by sugar, I mean all carbs, all carbs in your body get converted into a simple sugar called glucose. You eat bread, it turns into sugar, you eat rice, it turns into sugar. When you eat sugar, it puts your body in an emergency situation where your body has to dispose of it first.

Your body stores the excessive amounts of glucose you get from the foods you eat for later use in a form of glycogen in your muscles and your liver, and then the rest gets converted into body fat and stored in the adipose tissue.

But of course, if you eat high carb meals and snack between those meals, you never have time to burn your stored body fat. You live on a constant glucose supply by eating high carbohydrate meals and snacking between them.

Then, you have protein and fat left. These both have many different uses in the body. Your body can use protein and fat for structure, repair, production of energy, even production of glucose. You don’t even need to get external glucose through eating dietary carbohydrates because your body can make its own glucose through the process called gluconeogenesis.

Many dietitians would tell you that carbohydrates are one of the essential macronutrients. Well, if you look at the real science-based nutritional requirements, not the nutritional requirements created by our food industry, what you see, is that we have 90 essential nutrients. Meaning our bodies can’t make them and we must get them through our diets and supplements.

Essential Nutrient Table – Carbohydrates are not essential. 90 essential nutrients.

You see there are essential minerals, vitamins, amino acids – that you get by eating protein, and there are fatty acids – that you get by eating fat. I don’t see any carbohydrates in here? Why? Because they are not essential. We can make the little amount of glucose that our bodies need to maintain those normal blood sugars, by eating enough protein and fat.

It is very important to know this for managing your diabetes. Your doctor or diabetes educator might tell you to base your diet on carbohydrates because it’s our main fuel source. What they don’t tell you, is that these are the same foods that have caused you type 2 diabetes.

You see, type 2 diabetes is a condition where you are intolerant to carbohydrates. When you have type 2 diabetes and you keep eating carbohydrates, the issue gets bigger and bigger.

If you would be lactose intolerant, would you keep eating dairy? I’m not sure why type 2 diabetics are told to keep consuming carbohydrates when it is obvious that it is harming them?

The evidence for carbohydrates not being essential is observing what happens when you follow a very low carbohydrate ketogenic diet that consists of 20-50g of carbohydrates a day, or when you go fully 0 carbs. If carbohydrates were that essential, we would see some deficiencies and health issues when we don’t eat enough carbohydrates. However, when we stop eating carbohydrates, nothing bad happens. Your health improves drastically.

Sadly, a regular dietitian will often say something like: you have to eat low GI carbs, complex carbs are great for diabetics. But if you look closer, if you eat quinoa for lunch, it’s a complex carb source, you still end up getting 70 grams of carbs. What does that look like in terms of glucose?

90-100% of carbohydrates that you eat get broken down into glucose (sugar). And it doesn’t matter, will it be released slowly or fast, at the end you will still have 70g of sugar flooding your body.

Is diabetes all about blood glucose, or is there something more to it? Most doctors and dietitians tend to focus on blood glucose alone when talking about type 2 diabetes. However, diabetics also have high levels of insulin. And insulin gets elevated years before glucose starts to rise.

How Does Our Diet Affect Insulin?

When we eat high carbohydrate foods, we have the biggest release of insulin. Insulin is responsible for blood sugar control. Also, insulin is released each time when you eat. Meaning, the more times you eat, the more insulin you will have in your body.

How Our Diet Affects Insulin and Glucose.

The problem with focusing on GI (glycaemic index of food) is that it ignores the effects on insulin. Some low GI foods have a huge effect on insulin levels. High insulin is just as bad, if not worse than high glucose.

Both, elevated glucose and elevated insulin are the root cause of most common chronic health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, post ovarian cystic syndrome, and Alzheimer’s disease. We can’t ignore the effects of our diets on insulin.

Elevated Glucose and Insulin are the Root Cause of Chronic Diseases.

How Much Glucose Do We Actually Need?

The amount of glucose we need to maintain our normal blood glucose is equivalent to around 1 teaspoon. Why do most people get around 20 times more? And then we are told to get most of our daily calories from a macronutrient that is not even required by our bodies? Carbohydrates are supplementary, not essential.

And why type 2 diabetics are told to follow a diet plan that consists of high amounts of carbohydrates? Some of my patients were even told by their doctors and diabetes educators – you can have a piece of cheesecake once a day, and go for a walk, it’s totally fine!

That is so wrong. I have no words… We have these people working in health care, who are clueless about health. A doctor or a dietitian telling a type 2 diabetic to have some cheesecake is overwhelmingly wrong.

Type 2 diabetics as well as healthy individuals are told to have 200-300g of carbs a day. Imagine what’s happening with your blood sugars if you eat this much carbs. That is 300g of sugar. My Ultimate Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan is the exact opposite, as it focuses on clean eating, intermittent fasting, and low carbohydrate high fat ketogenic diet, as it’s been proven to work the best for reversing diabetes.

High Carbohydrate diet – 200-300g of Carbs a Day.

With this way of eating, I’m not surprised that 35% of adults in the UK, which is around 1 in 3 have prediabetes and 6%, which is 1 in 16, have type 2 diabetes. And these are only the official figures. Around 70% of people are insulin resistant. Insulin resistance is the beginning of type 2 diabetes. My Free Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan is made to help people who are at risk of getting type 2 diabetes to prevent it and reverse it for those who have it.

How Does Type 2 Diabetes Start?

Whenever you eat high carb meals, you release the hormone called insulin. It comes in to take the glucose from the blood and put it into storage. Insulin is the hormone that prevents your blood sugar levels from going above normal ranges. But the more you eat these high carb meals, the more your body can’t cope with it anymore.

Until you get a condition called insulin resistance, which is basically a mechanism your body uses to prevent the toxic sugar from invading your body. You have 5-7 times more insulin with insulin resistance, trying to cope with the toxic amount of sugar you get from each of your meals. Learn more about Insulin Resistance in my other blog post.

Insulin Resistance vs Insulin Sensitivity.

But you need carbs for energy, right? It’s the only source of fuel we can run on. Well, there’s something you need to know. There are two types of fuels our bodies can run on. We can use either Glucose or Ketone Bodies. Glucose is a way dirtier type of fuel that gives you less energy and more free radicals. Ketones are a superior type of fuel that gives you more energy and fewer free radicals.

85% of your body can run on ketones. The rest, 15% of your body can run only on glucose, and our bodies can create that glucose.

The body can run on 85% of fuel from Ketones and 15% Glucose.

And, keep in mind that a low carb keto diet involves eating a lot of non-starchy vegetables. You can still get around 50g of carbohydrates a day, which is equivalent to around 5-10% of your daily calories.

What Causes Type 2 Diabetes?

No one talks about it, but the number one cause of type 2 diabetes is a high carbohydrate diet. What’s the relationship between the two? The low carb high fat ketogenic diet has been shown to put type 2 diabetes into remission. Your blood sugars and insulin go to normal levels within weeks or months from starting a low carb keto diet.

Just think about it… You remove the root cause of type 2 diabetes, which is high carb foods, and you put type two diabetes into remission. Your numbers indicate a non-diabetic state. And if you introduce high carb foods again, what happens? Your body goes into a diabetic state again. That’s a direct cause and effect.

Many doctors and dietitians would tell you to keep eating carbs, that will raise your blood glucose too high, then take your medication to lower the blood sugar, keep raising it and lowering it with medication. And this will get out of control over time and you will be at a very high risk of getting the earlier mentioned diabetes complications. Keep in mind that the regular treatments don’t remove the root cause of type 2 diabetes. It only masks the symptoms.

What Would Be Bad Dietary Advice Given To Type 2 Diabetics?

If you check websites such as the Mayo Clinic, a well-known reputable website. What they advise you to eat is:

Breakfast:

Diabetic Breakfast – Mayo Clinic

– Ok, tons of sugar, very little to no nutrients. Let’s move on.

Lunch:

Diabetic Lunch – Mayo Clinic

– Also, high amounts of sugar, very little nutrients. What’s next?

Dinner:

Diabetic Dinner – Mayo Clinic

– Why would you have a dinner roll here?? And, a snack?

Snack:

Diabetic Snack – Mayo Clinic

– Are they making fun? Why are they recommending all of this junk food to type 2 diabetics? I could go on and on explaining the harmful effects of vegetable oils but this blog post is getting too long. It’s a topic for another time.

My point here is that it’s totally non-science-based dietary advice and you should stay away from these types of recommendations. Even if it’s a doctor or a dietitian telling you to eat bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes, keep in mind that they missed out on something really important here. Find another doctor or another dietitian, because these ones don’t know what they’re saying.

What a Type 2 Diabetic Should Actually Eat? Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan.

Type 2 Diabetic Meal Example – Low Carb. Type 2 Diabetic Diet Plan.

What you should actually eat if you want to put your diabetes into remission is the opposite of what the dietary guidelines recommend. You need to reduce your carbs as much as possible and increase your dietary fat intake.

Why fat, not protein? Both carbs and protein can raise your blood sugars and insulin quite a lot. From all macronutrients, fat has the least effects on our blood sugars and insulin. Fat is almost neutral.

Most of your plate has to be filled up with non-starchy vegetables. Most of your diet by volume has to be non-starchy veggies. By calories, most of your diet should be based on fat. Remember, non-starchy veggies have very little calories and they are quite light, while fat has 9kcal per 1g.

Also, add the right amount of healthy protein, such as high-quality grass-fed organic meat, wild fish, or organic eggs, together with some healthy fat. It’s quite straight forward.

The Best Foods For Type 2 Diabetics.

Leafy green veggies
Bell peppers
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Zucchini
Aubergine
Organic grass-fed meat
Organic eggs
Wild fish
Nuts
Seeds
Berries
Kefir
Olives
Extra virgin olive oil
Extra virgin coconut oil
Grass-fed ghee and butter
Avocados

The Worst Foods For Type 2 Diabetics

Sweets
Sodas
Fruit juice
Dried fruits
Pasta
Rice
Pizza
Bread
Fries
Potatoes
Vegetable oils
Fruits
Lentils
Quinoa

Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan Example

This Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan covers 7 days. Each day for breakfast you have an option to either eat a low carb breakfast or do intermittent fasting. If you choose to fast, I would recommend sticking with 14-16 hours of fasting first and having enough water while fasting. If you would like to learn more about intermittent fasting, watch my Intermittent Fasting guide video on YouTube.

Type 2 Diabetes Diet Plan MONDAY

Breakfast: A bulletproof keto coffee with a piece of dark 85% cacao chocolate or fasting.

Lunch: Keto lettuce burger: Beef burger steak with cheese, pickles, red onions, tomato, and mustard wrapped in a big salad leaf. Salad with pecan nuts or walnuts, plum tomatoes, goat’s cheese, and olive oil on the side.

Dinner: Beef burger steak with asparagus cooked in butter. Tomatoes on the side. A chia pudding for dessert (1 tablespoon of chia seeds, unsweetened kefir of yoghurt (full fat), and 10-15 drops of liquid stevia).