The Best and Worst "Drinks" for People With Diabetes
Liquid calories and nutrition can be good or bad for blood sugar and diabetes. Here’s how you can get the healthiest bang from your beverages.
Drinks for people with type 2 diabetes
It can be hard to pick the right diabetic drinks, but it's just as important to pick the right foods. Does coffee help or hurt insulin resistance?
Does diet drink with no calories change your blood sugar? Some new studies may make things even more unclear.
We looked at the studies and then asked three of the best registered dietitians who are also certified diabetes educators what they tell their clients about seven drinks that people with diabetes can drink every day.
Here’s what to know before you sip.
Drink more: Water
Could drinking a bunch of water help you keep your blood sugar in check?
This is what a study in the journal Diabetes Care found: people who drank 16 ounces (two cups) of water or less every day were about 30% more likely to have high blood sugar than people who drank more than that every day.
Vasopressin is a hormone that helps the body keep the right amount of water in the cells. Vasopressin levels rise when a person is thirsty, which makes the liver make more blood sugar.
How much: Six to nine 8-ounce glasses of water a day are what experts say women should drink, and a little more for guys. You can get some of this important fluid from veggies, fruits, and other drinks, but not all of it.
This is what Constance Brown-Riggs, RD, a qualified diabetes educator in Massapequa, NY, says: "If you're not used to drinking water, have a glass before each meal." She is also the author of The African American Guide to Living Well with Diabetes.
"After a few weeks, drink one more glass with each meal." There's no need to push it further if you're already meeting your water goals.
Drink more: Milk
Do not think that Moo Juice is only for kids. It is also one of the best drinks for people with diabetes. It gives your body the calcium, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin D it needs to do many important things.
"Milk with little or no fat is a great drink for people with diabetes," says Brown-Riggs.A study from the Journal of the American Heart Association found that drinking more milk can also help 7% lower the risk of strokes. This is important for many people with diabetes.
As a bonus, the experts also found that cheese had the same effect.If you can't handle lactose or are allergic to dairy, eating a lot of dark green veggies can help you get the calcium and other minerals you need.
How much: Two to three servings of dairy products a day, such as fat-free or low-fat milk, are what experts say you should consume. You should remember that milk does have carbs, so add 12 grams of carbs to every 8-ounce glass.
RD Angela Ginn says, "Drink milk with a meal so your body can handle the natural rise in blood sugar that happens when we eat carbs." Ginn is a certified diabetes instructor and nutrition education coordinator at the Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, MD.
Drink more: Tea
Green and black tea, in particular, are popular health drinks for people with diabetes because they are low in calories, taste great, and have a lot of vitamins.
Other studies found that drinking more than three cups of tea a day might make you less likely to get diabetes. Tea may also lower your chance of having a heart attack or stroke.
These drinks aren't good for diabetics, but bottled iced teas with extra sugar are okay.
What amount: Three to four cups of tea is fine for most people. Just make sure the caffeine doesn't keep you up at night. If you choose decaf, more is fine.
Keep an eye on what you add: Stay away from sugar, cream, and milk with a lot of fat. Find out what goes on inside your body when you drink tea every day.
Drink carefully: Coffee
Some studies show that people who drink coffee may be less likely to get type 2 diabetes.
(A chemical in coffee called chlorogenic acid seems to make it take longer for glucose to enter the bloodstream.) But some studies show that coffee may make people with diabetes' blood sugar rise or make their bodies work harder to process it.
In the end, it depends on how your blood sugar reacts to coffee.
Most people with diabetes may be having trouble with what they put in their coffee. Some foods that can make your blood sugar and weight go up are sugar, sweetened creamers, high-fat milk, and half-and-half.
Aim for two to three cups a day, according to experts. If you're having trouble keeping your blood sugar in check, you might want to try giving up coffee to see if that helps.
Ginn says, "Everyone's blood sugar response to foods is different and unique."Check out these 7 signs that you might be drinking too much coffee if your coffee habit is making you feel bad.
Drink carefully: Diet soda
Should people who are worried about diabetes drink fizzy drinks with no calories, or could they do more harm than good?
Researchers looked at more than 2,000 people and found that people who drank diet soda every day had a higher chance of getting diabetes. This led them to think that diet soda itself might be a risk factor.
It might be even worse for diabetics who drink sodas with no calories.
Australian researchers looked at 600 people with diabetes and found that those who drank more than four cans of diet soda a week had twice the risk of getting proliferative diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that can happen because of diabetes.
Could you use it as a temporary fix while you wean yourself off of real soda?
Even though some experts are worried, the American Diabetes Association still says that people who are watching their blood sugar should drink diet soda instead of regular soda.
How much: If you're used to drinking soda, it's probably fine to have one zero-calorie drink a day instead of a sugary one, but study shows that it's better to stop drinking soda altogether. Also, make sure you drink healthy drinks like tea and water.
Don't think of diet soda as a "magic eraser" that lets you eat all the chips, dips, sweets, fries, and burgers you want.
A study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that people who ate healthy foods like diet pop were less likely to get high blood sugar and high cholesterol than people who ate fried and sugary foods.
Drink less: Soda and sugary fruit drinks
There are 10 teaspoons of sugar in every 12-ounce can or bottle of sweet drinks. These drinks can raise your blood sugar and make you more likely to gain weight, have a stroke, or get heart disease.
One sugary drink a day can add 150 empty calories and 40 to 50 grams of carbs that raise blood sugar. All of these things can make you gain belly fat, make inflammation and insulin resistance worse, and raise your risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Soda and fruit drinks with a lot of sugar are some of the worst drinks for people with diabetes.
Ginn says, "If you have diabetes, giving up soda and other sugary drinks is one of the best ways to handle your blood sugar, lose weight, and make your health better."
"Changing to drinks that are better for you can help you lose a lot of weight and calories." It's one of the first things I try to do when I start working with someone who just found out they have diabetes.
How much: Ideally, none at all. If you think of soda as a rich treat that you might enjoy once in a while, that's how it is.
One way to cut back on soda is to drink a smaller size for a week or two, or mix half normal soda with half diet soda or club soda to lower the number of calories and carbs you eat.
Aim for sugar-free drinks. Water and club soda, including fruit-flavored ones with no calories, are great. Diet soda is a choice for diabetics, but don't drink more than one a day.
Drink less: Fruit juice
You learned to love orange juice because your mom made it every day for breakfast. The packages have pictures of colorful fruit that look good. However, are juices good for diabetics' blood sugar and weight?
A regular juice habit is linked to a higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes, according to a study in Diabetes Care. A real piece of fruit is better for you in terms of protein.
A 4-ounce glass of 100% orange juice has 56 calories, 12 grams of carbs, and no fiber. A small fresh orange, on the other hand, has 45 calories, 11 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of fiber, which helps control blood sugar.
Dawn Menning, RD, a certified diabetes instructor in Los Angeles, CA, says that people with diabetes can enjoy a glass of 100% fruit juice every once in a while.
She says, "They should just know how much juice they are drinking and plan their meals around that amount of carbs."
How much: If you like juice, eat some fruit or switch to a veggie juice with low salt. It has fewer calories and carbs than fruit juice.
Try a 4-ounce amount of juice with a meal if you really want juice. First, check your blood sugar. Then, eat the same thing every day for three or four days.