Cheating on Your Diabetes Diet: How to Splurge Safely

From everydayhealth.com

Following a diabetes-friendly eating plan can feel overwhelming, particularly when you’re first diagnosed. But whether you’re tweaking the way you eat for a couple weeks or you've been on a plan for 20 years, it's natural to crave foods you’re not supposed to be having. A diabetes diagnosis doesn’t mean you must forever cut yourself off from all restaurant meals, your favorite snacks, or the occasional dessert. 

“People with diabetes don’t need to avoid their favorite foods,” says Grace DeRocha, RD, CDCES, who is based in Detroit. “Focus on being more intentional with your food choices, not restricted.”

Instead of labeling splurge meals and snacks as cheating, DeRocha says to flip the script: Focus on how to make fun foods fit into your plan in a balanced, positive way. Here’s how to get started.

What Happens When You Splurge

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Foods that have historically been considered splurges tend to be higher in carbohydrates and fat, such as pizza, desserts, burgers and fries, and snacks like potato chips. 

“When someone with diabetes eats a large meal that’s high in carbohydrates, blood sugar levels typically rise as those carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and absorbed into the bloodstream,” says Amy Kimberlain, RDN, CDCES, founder of Amy’s Nutrition Kitchen in Miami. 

When you have diabetes, your body doesn’t produce enough insulin or can’t use it efficiently, allowing blood sugar to rise higher or stay elevated longer, Kimberlain explains. This can mean that you stay out of the blood sugar range recommended by your physician.

These very high blood sugar levels can have unwelcome effects on both your short- and long-term health. If you feel lethargic or mentally slower after a big meal, it’s not just the amount of food in your belly: Symptoms like brain fog and food coma may be a result of your glucose levels skyrocketing. Wild glucose swings may also have an especially bad effect on your long-term diabetes health and management, leading to chronic inflammation and blood vessel damage.

“This is why portion size, meal composition, and timing — along with medications or insulin when prescribed — all play a role in helping manage blood sugar after meals,” Kimberlain says. The following strategies can help you do just that.

Pair Carbs With Protein and Fibre

If you’re thinking about having a carb-heavy meal or snack, DeRocha recommends pairing higher carb foods with foods that also contain protein or fiber. So if you want a slice of pizza, eat it with a side salad instead of garlic knots. For pasta, cook a whole-grain variety with lean protein (such as chicken or shrimp) and fiber-filled veggies. Even eating dessert after a balanced meal is more blood-sugar friendly than eating it on an empty stomach.

“Fiber and protein slow down the digestive process,” says DeRocha, which can help lessen a blood sugar spike and help keep you within a normal blood sugar range. Plus, this strategy can mean you’re adding more food to a higher carb meal — rather than taking away from it — which can be a positive mental shift, she says. 

Pay Attention to Portion Sizes

Smaller portions of any food — including more indulgent ones — contain fewer carbohydrates, which helps lower its impact on your blood sugar, says Kimberlain. Keep carbs in check by ordering a kid-sized ice cream cone, boxing up half your pasta entreé to take home, or ordering a side of pancakes with a veggie-filled omelet rather than a full stack. 

Kimberlain also recommends looking at carbohydrate portions across an entire meal. For example, if you’re craving dessert, skip the bread you may normally serve with a piece of lean protein and a side of vegetables. 

Consider Cheat Meal Timing

It’s not just what you eat — when you consume guilty-pleasure foods has a big impact on your blood sugar levels, too. 

“Some people find it helpful to enjoy these types of meals earlier in the day when they’re more likely to be active afterward,” says Kimberlain. 

If you’re heading to an office party where you know you’ll indulge in the spread, consider building a 10- to 15-minute walk into your schedule afterward. 

“Walking after eating has been shown in multiple studies to slow postmeal blood sugar,” says DeRocha. Physical activity triggers muscles to use up some of the glucose in your bloodstream, helping to reduce a blood sugar spike.

Check Your Blood Sugar Levels

It’s important to check your blood sugar levels regularly no matter what you’re eating, particularly if you have type 1 diabetes, since insulin needs can change quickly based on food, activity, and other factors. A continuous glucose monitor can track blood sugar levels 24 hours a day via a small sensor inserted under the skin that transmits real-time data to a smartphone or wearable device.

Even if you don’t wear a monitor, your doctor may recommend a schedule for checking your blood sugar. A regular schedule might include checking when you wake up, before a meal, two hours after a meal, and at bedtime.

Staying in tune to how your body reacts to food can help you figure out how and when to enjoy indulgent foods in the way that works best for you, says Kimberlain. 

“Keep in mind that what works for you might not work for someone else,” she says. “Nutrition in diabetes management is so individualized.”

Don’t Let One Splurge Ruin Your Diet

Don’t be too hard on yourself if you go off your plan with a snack or meal. However you define a cheat meal, higher-carb food choices don’t need to automatically come with guilt or shame.

“I often remind people that diabetes management isn’t about perfection — it’s about patterns over time,” says Kimberlain. “Everyone has meals that are a little more indulgent or don’t go exactly as planned, and those moments don’t mean you’ve failed or ruined anything.” 

Embrace your failures and low points: The splurges you couldn’t resist can help inform your future habits. “I encourage people to approach those situations with curiosity,” says Kimberlain, who recommends asking yourself the following questions the next time this comes up:

• What did I enjoy? 
• How did my blood sugar respond? 
• Is there anything I’d do differently next time? 

Kimberlain notes that learning from your own behavioral patterns makes healthy eating more sustainable. By prioritizing realism over restriction, you're more likely to achieve long-term success.

Be Cautious With Insulin

If you’ve been prescribed rapid mealtime insulin, it makes cheat meals a bit more complicated. Using insulin before every meal shouldn’t eliminate your flexibility, but it does mean you’ll want to think ahead. Higher-carb meals often require more precise timing and dosing, leaving less room for error when it comes to keeping blood sugar levels steady.

Kimberlain says that people who take insulin should always follow the dietary plan recommended by your doctor. The more carbs you eat at any one meal, the more insulin you’ll need to take, which only increases the risk of low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia). It’s easy to give yourself too much insulin or too little, or even to give yourself the right amount but get the timing wrong.

If you take mealtime insulin, DeRocha recommends counting your carbohydrates as accurately as possible, talking to your doctor about your insulin-to-carb ratio for accurate dosing, and taking fast-acting insulin 15 minutes before your meal (so it can start working in a timely manner).

You should also be especially careful of other factors that can affect your sensitivity to insulin in the hours before and after your meal, such as alcohol, sleep patterns, and exercise.

The Takeaway

• It’s natural to want to splurge and eat carb-heavy and fatty foods from time to time. If you’re living with diabetes, moderation may be the best strategy and may even help with long-term dietary success, since it prioritizes realism over restriction. 
• Rich high-carb foods like pizza, burgers, fries, and desserts can cause significant blood sugar spikes and physical lethargy, and they also contribute to your long-term health risks.
• To splurge safely, pair carbohydrates with protein or fiber to slow digestion, choose smaller portions, and exercise after eating to help your body more efficiently process glucose.
• People who use mealtime insulin should plan their splurges ahead so they’re able to monitor and manage their blood sugar levels after the meal.
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• https://www.everydayhealth.com/diabetes/cheating-on-diabetes-diet-how-to-splurge-safely/