Question: How often should you eat fast food when you have diabetes?

Emilie Combet answered on 13 Mar 2014:

Managing a healthy diet is a very important part of diabetes management, whether it is type 1 or 2.
People with type 1 need to inject insulin to control their blood sugar – therefore, they need to keep track of the carbohydrate (simple and complex sugars) they eat in their food, and make smart choices regarding which foods will provide them with the right amount and type of sugar for energy.
For people with type 2 diabetes, it is important to lose weight while making sure that the blood glucose levels do not get out of the “safe range”.

Fast food is not a very good food choice to achieve either goal – it contains some “simple sugars” and a lot of calories. So ideally, it should be consumed as rarely as possible. And when having to order fast food (for example, on a trip out with friends) there are “healthier” choices which will help, like avoiding the deep-fried items, ordering the regular / small portion rather than the “large”, swapping fries for a side of vegetable or a fruit or a salad, swapping the soft drink for water or tea/coffee, for example. There are a lot of hidden calories in sauces and toppings too.