One trick to eating healthier is keeping diabetic-friendly choices available at all times. You can fight the urge to hit the fast-food drive-through and instead whip up a convenient and healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack if you keep the right foods handy. The best foods for diabetes are most often whole foods that are not processed, such as fruits and vegetables. Including these extra-healthy power foods in your diet will help you meet your nutritional needs as well as lower your risk of diabetes complications such as heart disease. Of course, the foods on this list shouldn't be the only foods you eat, but incorporating some or all into your diabetes meal plan will help improve your overall health.Some healthy foods to always have on hand in your pantry include:
- Olive oil or canola oil for healthy, unsaturated fats
- Egg substitute for the high-quality egg white protein without the fat and cholesterol
- Frozen fruits and vegetables for healthy choices at every meal
- Herbs and spices, fresh or dried, to replace salt with intense flavors
- Whole-grain, high-fiber tortillas for sandwich-like lunches without the full amount of carbohydrates in bread
- Canned tuna (in water) to have healthy seafood available anytime - aim to eat seafood twice each week
- Almonds, walnuts, or peanuts for healthy fats
- Black beans (or your favorite beans) for healthy carbohydrate, protein, and soluble fiber Buy no-added-salt varieties of canned beans
- Low-fat dairy products, including 1 percent or skim milk, and no-fat regular or Greek yogurt. Remember that milk products include carbohydrates
- Tea, for relaxation and powerful phytonutrients
- Fresh fruits: Berries, cherries, oranges, tangerines, peaches, grapefruit, grapes, kiwi, plums, prunes, raisins, watermelon, peaches, melons, apples, figs, nectarine, mango, dates, apricot, banana, papaya.
- Fresh vegetables: Spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, cucumber, Romaine lettuce, mushrooms, radishes, snow peas, sugar snap peas, cabbage, carrots, green or wax beans, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, asparagus, garlic, tomatoes, small sweet potatoes, small russet potatoes, edamame (soy beans), beets, celery, kale, peppers (all kinds),onions (all kinds), pea pods, Turnips, Zucchini squash, Summer squash.
- Low-fat salad dressings.
