What People with Diabetes Need to Know About Protein
Protein – the macronutrient that is often misunderstood for many reasons.
Living with diabetes means you are paying a lot more attention to the nutrients in food and have learned that management goes beyond just counting carbs. A few questions are common when people with diabetes start to consider their protein needs.
Why is protein important for BG management?
- Slows down carbohydrate absorption
- Helps stabilize BG between meals
- Supports muscles which improves insulin sensitivity
- Helps stabilize appetite between meals
- Lowers the glycemic impact of a meal especially when eaten first.
What are some practical tips for maximizing the benefit of protein?
- Eat protein throughout the day.
- Consider your protein needs (1.2g – 1.6g/kg of body weight per day) – distribute that through the day evenly between meals and snacks
- 150# person (pound to kg conversion – pounds divided by 2.2 – 150/2.2 = 68kg) needs 82-109g protein per day depending on activity and lifestyle.
- Pair your carbohydrates with protein
- Start your meal with protein to allow insulin for carbohydrates to start to work before you eat them.
- Protein slowly digests and reduces spikes in BG post meal
- Choose whole food, lean and high-quality protein sources
- Eggs
- Fish
- Poultry
- Unsweetened Greek yogurt
- Tofu/beans/nuts/seeds
- Lean beef
- Choose quality fat with protein
- Aids with slowing BG rise as well
- Offers longer fullness factor post meal reducing cravings
- Helps keep glucose more stable with less spikes
- Use protein for smart snacks
- Helps reduce glucose swings and stabilizes between meals
- Optimize workouts with protein
- Helps to ensure muscle build and repair
- Reduces post workout low Blood glucose
- Stabilizes energy
- Watch the video below to learn about the power of protein
A Final Note
We can all benefit from the updates to the USDA guidelines for 2025 – 2030 with the emphasis on whole foods and ensuring adequate nutrition and healthy fats.
If you are wondering how to navigate some changes or how to ensure your intake of all the nutrients, including protein are helping you with your health goals, give us a call! We know diabetes as well as how to navigate healthy nutrition.
PHONE: (610) 642-6055
2 Responses
This seems like a lot of protein! It is hard for me to get that much, though know little bits can add up, but there is some disagreement among experts if that much is really needed, so I am a bit confused.
Hi Kathy,
individual recommendations are always going to vary, and focusing on sources and quality of proteins is a great way to get more in. As for different experts and sources having different recommendations this happens because different research projects have different goals. (Muscle building, glycemic control, weight management, renal function, appetite control etc) So the findings of different research is going to point to different “optimal” levels. This goes to show how important individualized medicine truly is.