Rolle Medical Partnership
Exmouth Health Centre
ADVICE FOR CONTROLLING YOUR
BLOOD SUGAR
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A Guide to Choosing Food for a Healthy Lifestyle
to Control Your Blood Sugar
The advice on food to choose is given by dividing foods into 3 groups:
FOODS TO EAT IN
MODERATION
FOODS TO AVOID
These foods are low in
sugar, low in fat or high
in fibre and should form
the basis of your diet.
It is not a good idea to
eat these foods everyday,
but eating a few once or
twice a week will not
prevent you from having
a healthy diet.
These foods have either a
high sugar or high fat
content, or are low in
fibre. They should be
eaten very occasionally.
FRUIT &
VEGETABLES
BREAD, CEREALS,
POTATOES
FOODS FOR EVERYDAY
USE
FOODS FOR
EVERYDAY USE
FOODS TO EAT IN
MODERATION
FOODS TO AVOID
Wholemeal and granary
bread. Wholemeal flour.
Wholemeal breakfast
cereals, eg Branflakes,
Weetabix, Shredded Wheat,
Porridge. Pasta and rice.
Chapattis. Potatoes – try
jacket, boiled or mashed.
Plain biscuits, eg
Crispbread, Rich Tea,
Wholewheat crackers,
Morning Coffee & Marie.
White breads. Naan bread.
Refined breakfast cereals,
eg Cornflakes, Rice
Krispies. White flour.
Digestive biscuits, oatcakes,
cream crackers. Thick cut
chips or roast potatoes
cooked in rapeseed, olive or
sunflower oil, reduced fat
oven chips. Crisps.
Croissants. Sugar or honeycoated breakfast cereals.
Chocolate and cream filled
biscuits.
All fresh and frozen
vegetables, salad. Try
baked beans and pulses, eg
lentils, kidney beans, etc.
Try fresh or stewed fruit,
fruit tinned in natural juice.
Coleslaw with low fat
dressings. Dried fruit, a
small glass of unsweetened
fruit juice eg ¼ pt per day.
Potatoes cooked in lard or
dripping. Coleslaw, potato
salad in mayonnaise. Fruit
tinned in syrup.
TRY AND HAVE 5 HELPINGS OF FRUIT & VEGETABLES DAILY.
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FISH
FOODS FOR
EVERYDAY USE
FOODS TO EAT IN
MODERATION
FOODS TO AVOID
ALL TYPES OF FISH eg
salmon, tuna, mackerel,
sardines. If tinned, choose
variety in brine or tomato
sauce. You can use grilled
fish fingers, fish in
skimmed milk sauce.
Baked fish in breadcrumbs,
shellfish, fish paste and
pâté.
Fish in batter. Taramasalata.
FATS & OILS
TRY AND INCLUDE OILY FISH TWICE A WEEK.
Soft margarines high in
polyunsaturates and low in
saturates eg Flora, Vitalite
and Olivio.
Check supermarket brands
with your dietician.
Low fat salad cream. Salad
dressing made from a
polyunsaturated oil or olive
oil. Fat-free dressing. Oils
including olive, sunflower,
safflower, corn, blended
vegetable and soya oil.
Butter, hard margarines, eg
Stork, Krona. Suet,
dripping, lard, vegetable
white cooking fat.
Mayonnaise, salad cream.
Palm oil.
Low fat spreads: St Ivel
Gold, Olivite, Flora Light.
DAIRY PRODUCTS
MEAT
It is important to reduce the total amount of fat in your diet, so use
margarines/spreads/oils sparingly.
Lean pork, ham, gammon,
lamb, beef, lean mince,
chicken and turkey (skin
removed), eg 4oz per
cooked meal, 2oz per snack
meal.
Liver, kidney, tongue,
bacon, corned beef,
luncheon meat, chopped
ham and pork, low fat
sausages and burgers.
Visible fat on meat,
sausages, belly pork,
streaky bacon, meat pies,
pasties, sausage rolls, black
pudding, salami, haslet,
pâté and potted meat.
Eggs, boiled or poached.
Skimmed and semiskimmed milks. Very low
fat soft cheese, cottage and
curd cheese. Fromage frais
low in fat and sugar. Low
fat and low sugar ‘diet’
yoghurts.
Scrambled eggs.
Evaporated milk. Medium
fat cheeses, eg Edam,
Gouda, Camembert, Brie.
Processed cheese or
reduced fat cheeses, eg
Shape, Tendale. Plain icecream. Low fat Crème
frais, single and double
cream.
Fried eggs. Hard cheeses,
eg Cheddar, Stilton, cream
cheese. Full cream milk,
condensed milk. Clotted
cream (any type). Yoghurt
made with full cream milk.
Milk substitutes, eg
Coffeemate and coffee
complement. Fancy icecream made with cream.
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FOODS TO AVOID
Coconut and coconut
cream.
Low sugar custard. Low
sugar whips and mousses
and milk puddings made
with water, skimmed or
semi-skimmed milk and
sweetened with artificial
sweetener (eg 5oz portions).
Low sugar jelly. Tinned
low fat and low sugar milk
puddings, eg Heinz Weight
Watchers and Ambrosia
Lite.
Home-made cakes and
puddings made with
wholemeal flour, skimmed
or semi-skimmed milk,
reduced sugar and
polyunsaturated margarine.
Yorkshire pudding.
Dumplings.
Tinned whole milk
puddings. Ordinary jelly,
cakes, puddings, pastries
and biscuits.
Artificial sweeteners, eg
Sweetex, Hermesetas,
Natrene, Nutrasweet,
Canderel, Hermesetas Gold
and supermarket
sweeteners. Low sugar and
high fruit content jams, eg 2
tsp per day.
Ordinary jam and
marmalade spread thinly on
bread, eg 1 tsp per day.
Sugar. Chocolate and
chocolate spreads. Boiled
sweets, peppermints, toffee,
fudge, butterscotch, etc.
Treacle and syrup. Honey,
lemon curd. Mincemeat.
Marzipan. Sorbitol based
sweeteners.
Herbs and spices.
Unsweetened pickles, eg
beetroot, pickled onions,
pickled cabbage and
gherkins. Gravy granules.
Salt. Use a minimum
quantity in cooking, do not
add to food at the table.
Brown and tomato sauce,
soya sauce. Pickles and
chutney with a high sugar
content.
Sweet and sour sauces.
HOMEMADE DISHES
NUTS
All nuts, including peanut
butter.
SWEETS AND
PRESERVES
FOODS TO EAT IN
MODERATION
MISCELLANEOUS
FOODS FOR
EVERYDAY USE
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DRINKS
FOODS FOR
EVERYDAY USE
FOODS TO EAT IN
MODERATION
FOODS TO AVOID
Tea, coffee, soda and
mineral waters. No added
sugar and low calorie
squashes and fizzy drinks.
Low calorie chocolate
drinks, eg Highlights,
Options and cocoa powder.
Packet soups. Oxo, Bovril,
Marmite. Alcoholic drinks.
Cream soups. Ordinary
squash and fizzy drinks.
Liqueurs. Low fat bedtime
drinks.
Drink alcohol in moderation only.
Keep to sensible drinking limits
2 units per day for women,
3 units per day for men.
ALCOHOL
1 unit is equal to:
½ pint ordinary strength
beer/lager.
1 glass wine.
1 measure spirits.
Remember: Never drink on an empty stomach as alcohol can make
hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose levels) more likely to occur.
Use ‘diet/low calorie’ mixers.
Before you come to see the Diabetic Nurse, keep a food diary for 2 days.
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