According to the American Diabetes Association, eating a well-balanced meal if you have diabetes is very important to take better care of yourself. Some tips they have on their website to make healthy food choices include:

• Eating lots of vegetables and fruits. Try picking from the rainbow of colors available to increase variety.
• Eating non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, carrots, broccoli or green beans with meals.
• Choosing whole grain foods over processed grain products such as brown rice or whole wheat spaghetti.
• Including dried beans (like kidney or pinto beans) and lentils into your meals.
• Including fish in your meals 2-3 times a week.
• Choosing lean meats and removing the skin from chicken and turkey.
• Choosing non-fat dairy such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese.
• Choosing water and calorie-free "diet" drinks instead of regular soda, fruit punch, sweet tea, and other sugar-sweetened drinks.
• Choosing liquid oils for cooking instead of solid fats that can be high in saturated and trans fats.
• Remembering that fats are high in calories. If you're trying to lose weight, watch your portion sizes of added fats.
• Cutting back on high calorie snack foods and desserts like chips, cookies, cakes, and full-fat ice cream.
• Watching your portion size. Eating too much of even healthful foods can lead to weight gain. Go to this article to size up your portions.

For more information about eating healthy if you have diabetes, visit the ADA website!