If you have diabetes, are overweight or obese, and are planning to have a baby, you should try to lose any excess weight before you become pregnant. Learn more about planning for pregnancy if you have diabetes.

Two common ways to help you plan how much to eat if you have diabetes are the plate method and carbohydrate counting, also called carb counting. The plate method helps you control your portion sizes.

The plate method shows the amount of each food group you should eat. This method works best for lunch and dinner. Use a 9-inch plate. Put nonstarchy vegetables on half of the plate; a meat or other protein on one-fourth of the plate; and a grain or other starch on the last one-fourth.

Starches include starchy vegetables such as corn and peas. You also may eat a small bowl of fruit or a piece of fruit, and drink a small glass of milk as included in your meal plan. Carbohydrate counting involves keeping track of the amount of carbohydrates you eat and drink each day.

Because carbohydrates turn into glucose in your body, they affect your blood glucose level more than other foods do. Carb counting can help you manage your blood glucose level.

If you take insulin , counting carbohydrates can help you know how much insulin to take. Carbohydrate counting is a meal planning tool for people with diabetes who take insulin, but not all people with diabetes need to count carbohydrates. Your health care team can help you create a personal eating plan that will best meet your needs.

The amount of carbohydrates in foods is measured in grams. Most carbohydrates come from starches, fruits, milk, and sweets. Try to limit carbohydrates with added sugars or those with refined grains, such as white bread and white rice.

Instead, eat carbohydrates from fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and low-fat or nonfat milk. In addition to using the plate method and carb counting, you may want to visit a registered dietitian RD for medical nutrition therapy. Medical nutrition therapy is a service provided by an RD to create personal eating plans based on your needs and likes.

For people with diabetes, medical nutrition therapy has been shown to improve diabetes management. Medicare pays for medical nutrition therapy for people with diabetes If you have insurance other than Medicare, ask if it covers medical nutrition therapy for diabetes.

No clear proof exists that taking dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, or spices can help manage diabetes.

Talk with your health care provider before you take any dietary supplement since some can cause side effects or affect how your medicines work. Physical activity is an important part of managing your blood glucose level and staying healthy. Being active has many health benefits. If you are overweight, combining physical activity with a reduced-calorie eating plan can lead to even more benefits.

These benefits included improved cholesterol levels, less sleep apnea , and being able to move around more easily. Even small amounts of physical activity can help.

Experts suggest that you aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity 5 days of the week. If you want to lose weight or maintain weight loss, you may need to do 60 minutes or more of physical activity 5 days of the week.

Be sure to drink water before, during, and after exercise to stay well hydrated. The following are some other tips for safe physical activity when you have diabetes.

Talk with your health care team before you start a new physical activity routine, especially if you have other health problems. Your health care team will tell you a target range for your blood glucose level and suggest how you can be active safely. Your health care team also can help you decide the best time of day for you to do physical activity based on your daily schedule, meal plan, and diabetes medicines.

Because physical activity lowers your blood glucose, you should protect yourself against low blood glucose levels, also called hypoglycemia.

You are most likely to have hypoglycemia if you take insulin or certain other diabetes medicines, such as a sulfonylurea. Hypoglycemia also can occur after a long intense workout or if you have skipped a meal before being active.

Hypoglycemia can happen during or up to 24 hours after physical activity. Planning is key to preventing hypoglycemia. For instance, if you take insulin, your health care provider might suggest you take less insulin or eat a small snack with carbohydrates before, during, or after physical activity, especially intense activity.

You may need to check your blood glucose level before, during, and right after you are physically active. People with diabetes may have problems with their feet because of poor blood flow and nerve damage that can result from high blood glucose levels. To help prevent foot problems, you should wear comfortable, supportive shoes and take care of your feet before, during, and after physical activity.

Most kinds of physical activity can help you take care of your diabetes. Certain activities may be unsafe for some people, such as those with low vision or nerve damage to their feet.

Ask your health care team what physical activities are safe for you. Many people choose walking with friends or family members for their activity. Doing different types of physical activity each week will give you the most health benefits.

Mixing it up also helps reduce boredom and lower your chance of getting hurt. Try these options for physical activity. If you have been inactive or you are trying a new activity, start slowly, with 5 to 10 minutes a day. Then add a little more time each week.

Increase daily activity by spending less time in front of a TV or other screen. Try these simple ways to add physical activities in your life each day:. If you are sitting for a long time, such as working at a desk or watching TV, do some light activity for 3 minutes or more every half hour.

Aerobic exercise is activity that makes your heart beat faster and makes you breathe harder. You should aim for doing aerobic exercise for 30 minutes a day most days of the week. You do not have to do all the activity at one time. You can split up these minutes into a few times throughout the day.

Talk with your health care team about how to warm up and cool down before and after you exercise. Strength training is a light or moderate physical activity that builds muscle and helps keep your bones healthy. Strength training is important for both men and women.

Burning more calories can help you lose and keep off extra weight. You can do strength training with hand weights, elastic bands, or weight machines. Try to do strength training two to three times a week. Start with a light weight.

Slowly increase the size of your weights as your muscles become stronger. Stretching exercises are light or moderate physical activity. When you stretch, you increase your flexibility, lower your stress, and help prevent sore muscles.

You can choose from many types of stretching exercises. Yoga is a type of stretching that focuses on your breathing and helps you relax.

Work with a registered dietitian to design a meal plan for your child. A registered dietitian is an expert in food and nutrition. Everyone has individual needs. Work with your health care provider, registered dietitian, or diabetes educator to develop a meal plan that works for you. When shopping, read food labels to make better food choices.

A good way to make sure you get all the nutrients you need during meals is to use the plate method. This is a visual food guide that helps you choose the best types and right amounts of food to eat.

It encourages larger portions of non-starchy vegetables half the plate and moderate portions of protein one quarter of the plate and starch one quarter of the plate. Eating a wide variety of foods helps you stay healthy.

Try to include foods from all the food groups at each meal. Choose fresh or frozen vegetables without added sauces, fats, or salt. Non-starchy vegetables include dark green and deep yellow vegetables, such as cucumber, spinach, broccoli, romaine lettuce, cabbage, chard, and bell peppers.

Starchy vegetables include corn, green peas, lima beans, carrots, yams and taro. Note that potato should be considered a pure starch, like white bread or white rice, instead of a vegetable. Choose fresh, frozen, canned without added sugar or syrup , or unsweetened dried fruits.

Try apples, bananas, berries, cherries, fruit cocktail, grapes, melon, oranges, peaches, pears, papaya, pineapple, and raisins. Grains have starch, a type of carbohydrate. Carbohydrates raise your blood sugar level.

For healthy eating, make sure half of the grains you eat each day are whole grains. Whole grains have lots of fiber. Fiber in the diet keeps your blood sugar level from rising too fast. Protein foods include meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, beans and peas, nuts, seeds, and processed soy foods.

Eat fish and poultry more often. Remove the skin from chicken and turkey. Select lean cuts of beef, veal, pork, or wild game. Trim all visible fat from meat. Bake, roast, broil, grill, or boil instead of frying. When frying proteins, use healthy oils such as olive oil.

Choose low-fat dairy products. Be aware that milk, yogurt, and other dairy foods have natural sugar, even when they do not contain added sugar.

Take this into account when planning meals to stay in your blood sugar target range. Some non-fat dairy products have a lot of added sugar.

Be sure to read the label. Oils are not considered a food group. But they have nutrients that help your body stay healthy. Oils are different from fats in that oils remain liquid at room temperature. Fats remain solid at room temperature.

Limit your intake of fatty foods, especially those high in saturated fat, such as hamburgers, deep-fried foods, bacon, and butter. Instead, choose foods that are high in polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats. These include fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.

Oils can raise your blood sugar, but not as fast as starch. Oils are also high in calories. Try to use no more than the recommended daily limit of 7 teaspoons 35 milliliters. If you choose to drink alcohol, limit the amount and have it with a meal. Check with your health care provider about how alcohol will affect your blood sugar and to determine a safe amount for you.

In the beginning, meal planning may be overwhelming. But it will become easier as your knowledge grows about foods and their effects on your blood sugar.

If you're having problems with meal planning, talk with your diabetes care team. They are there to help you. American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee. Facilitating Behavior Change and Well-being to Improve Health Outcomes: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes Diabetes Care.

PMID: pubmed. Prevention or Delay of Type 2 Diabetes and Associated Comorbidities: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes Evert AB, Dennison M, Gardner CD, et al. Nutrition therapy for adults with diabetes or prediabetes: a consensus report.

Riddle MC, Ahmann AJ. Therapeutics of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In: Melmed S, Auchus RJ, Goldfine AB, Koenig RJ, Rosen CJ, eds. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology.