If you have diabetes, you may feel as though you can never have some of your favorite foods again—that you have to cut out all carbohydrates (carbs), including sugar, and you can only eat non-starchy vegetables. But that’s not the case!

People with diabetes can eat the same foods as people without diabetes. With a few changes and swaps, you can still eat the foods you love. 

5 Ways You Can Enjoy Your Favorite Foods 

1. Fit in extra veggies where you can. Instead of a meal of regular pasta with sauce, try using half the regular pasta and half zucchini noodles to lower the carbs. Throwing some of your other favorite vegetables in your sauce will also up the amount of nutrients and fiber. You can also try pasta made of vegetables, like this Summer Vegetable Pasta recipe that uses cauliflower linguini. 
    
2. Bake instead of fry. For your favorite fried foods, like French fries and chicken tenders, try drizzling with a heart-healthy oil (olive, avocado, canola, etc.) and bake until crispy. You’ll still get that satisfying crunch, but with less saturated and trans fats that can lead to heart disease. 
    
3. Swap less healthy ingredients for their healthy alternatives. Let’s say you’re making brownies. To make them healthier, swap up to 1/3 of the white granulated sugar for your favorite artificial sweetener or sugar alternative and swap up to one half the of total amount of the white flour for whole wheat flour.
    
4. Reduce the portion size. If your craving for your favorite food can’t be satisfied with making changes to the recipe, you can eat it as-is! But you have to be mindful of the portion size. You’ll want to aim for a smaller amount of the food than you would normally have. And if it’s a sweet food you’re craving, it should be the only carb you eat during that meal.
    
5. Try alternatives to your typical ingredients! There are alternatives to your favorite foods, like pasta, pizza crust, rice, and more made with a healthier twist. For ideas, try these recipes we created using cauliflower pizza crust from CAULIPOWER^®: Avocado Egg Pizza, Nuts for Pine Nuts Pizza, and Pesto Peach Pizza.

This article brought to you by CAULIPOWER^®, a proud supporter of the American Diabetes Association^® and Diabetes Food Hub^®.