Medical nutrition therapy: an individualized approach to treating diabetes

Making healthy food choices can be challenging for individuals with diabetes. However, nutrition education and counseling can help people understand how food affects their blood glucose level. Education also helps them to understand how the diet for diabetes has changed to include more carbohydrate-based foods than in the past. We now know that no single diet works to treat all people with diabetes; instead, diets should be individualized to meet the unique needs of each person. A variety of meal-planning approaches can be used to fit the lifestyle, food preferences, and learning needs of different individuals. Health professionals and dietitians need to strive to encourage people with diabetes to use tailored meal plans as an effective part of their diabetes self-management plan.