What is a healthy diabetes diet and is this the same for everyone?

The phrase "healthy diabetes diet" gets thrown around a lot. I hear medical professionals and others using this term as if you can just go pick it up in a store. Really, a healthy diet is a healthy diet, AND should be "healthy" for everyone.

From this perspective, then, there is no such thing as a diabetes diet. Whether I am a diabetic or not, if my diet does not contain normal and adequate amounts of all the essential nutrients for normal life it should be called "malnutrition".

As a type 2 diabetic who wants to lead a normal and very active life, I cannot be distracted by low carb preparations that will force me into a low energy state. No, I want lots of carbs BUT complex, high fiber carbohydrates that don't cause a blood sugar spike.

These complex carbohydrates are not usually what you find in fast food restaurants - the best diabetes diet (for me) is what is prepared at home. Still, it is amazing to see how packed the fast food places and restaurants are nowadays; especially on the weekends.

My experience tells me there are at least two ways to control your diabetes:

• pills and insulin - and if you have to use these as recommended by your doctor, that is not a problem, but DON'T accept it as the "state of the rest of your ever waning life". You can change that.
• the anti-diabetes diet and lifestyle approach - in conjunction with your doctor's recommended treatment, learn what a healthy diabetes diet should mean. Your diet should be "anti-diabetes" not "anti-diabetic" - which most popular diets are, since they don't remedy the diabetic syndrome.

The anti-diabetes diet (the healthy diabetes diet) and lifestyle is your best bet to help prevent and reverse the metabolic syndrome; which includes type 2 diabetes.