If you’re living with prediabetes, Type I or Type II diabetes, or any of a number of other conditions, it’s important to understand the meals to avoid with diabetes in order to protect your health. This can also include conditions such as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and others that depend on lower glycemic foods.

The Importance of Knowing Meals to Avoid with Diabetes

When you have one of these conditions, getting to know meals to avoid with diabetes is key to adhering to the dietary restrictions that determine whether or not you will be able to thrive.

Adhering to dietary changes can play a direct role in the outcome of your disease. If you don’t learn meals to avoid with diabetes and don’t adhere well to your doctor’s dietary recommendations, serious complications can occur.

These complications can include worsening symptoms of hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, neuropathy, and for people who have prediabetes, it can propel you into full Type II. This is why you should know about meals to avoid with diabetes and then go ahead and avoid them.

Making Changes to What You Eat

Making major dietary changes – whether you’re preparing your own food or on some luxurious Mexico vacation rentals with chef services – should be done with the assistance and supervision of a doctor or registered dietician. Among the recommendations often made includes the reduction of carbohydrate consumption and to lean primarily on foods with a lower glycemic load.

A glycemic load isn’t the same thing as the glycemic index, but they are connected.  The glycemic index measures how quickly a carbohydrate is broken down into a sugar through the digestive system.

A glycemic load takes the glycemic index into consideration, but it also figures the quantity of a carbohydrate in grams in a given dish. To calculate a meal’s glycemic load, its glycemic index is multiplied by its carbohydrate content (in grams) and then divided by 100.  Foods with a glycemic load are considered high and are therefore meals to avoided with diabetes.

Examples of Meals to Avoid with Diabetes

The following are foods with high glycemic loads and are therefore meals to avoid with diabetes.

• Macaroni and cheese – With a typical recipe (or prepared box) tallying in at a glycemic load of 32, this is a definite no-no for people who need foods with a low glycemic load. This is particularly true when considering how much we usually eat when we’re served this dish.
• Sushi rolls – This often surprises people. Yes, fish is great for your health and isn’t one of the meals to avoid with diabetes on its own, it’s the rice that makes the difference. White rice has a massive glycemic load of 43 and in neat little rolls, it adds up quickly. Go for sashimi instead of sushi rolls when you head out.
• Pizza – Unfortunately, with a glycemic load of 22, even thin crust pizza should be avoided most of the time. That said, since it rides the line, you can sometimes squeak in a slice as a treat, provided you don’t go for half the pie and it’s not something you do on a regular basis.