Dr. Prabhat AryaMBBS, MD (Internal Medicine) · DMC Reg. No. DMC-83759drprabhatarya.com

Reviewed by Dr. Arya on 29 September 2026

Diet chart for diabetes

Food is half of sugar control. You do not need special food: ordinary Indian home food, in the right amounts and the right order, works.

½ Vegetables and salad ¼ Dal, paneer, curd, egg, fish, chicken ¼ Roti, rice or millet
  1. Fill half the plate with vegetables and salad, a quarter with dal, paneer, egg or chicken, and only a quarter with roti or rice.
  2. Eat at fixed times. Do not skip meals, especially if you take insulin or tablets such as glimepiride or gliclazide.
  3. Start the meal with salad and sabzi, keep roti or rice for last. It softens the sugar rise after food.

Eat more

  • Green and leafy vegetables: lauki, tori, bhindi, palak, methi, cabbage, cauliflower, beans, karela
  • Salad before meals: cucumber, tomato, onion, carrot, radish
  • Dal, chana, rajma, lobia, sprouts, soya, paneer, curd, eggs, fish, chicken
  • Whole fruit, one at a time, twice a day: guava, apple, orange, pear, papaya, jamun
  • A small handful of nuts: almonds, walnuts, peanuts
  • Water, chaas, lemon water without sugar, tea or coffee without sugar

Eat less, and measure

  • Roti: two small ones per meal. Mix besan, bajra, jowar or ragi into the atta
  • Rice: one small katori, not a heaped plate; eat it with dal and sabzi, never on its own
  • Potato, arbi, shakarkandi, corn: count them as roti or rice, not as sabzi
  • Mango, banana, chikoo, grapes, litchi: a small portion, not with a meal
  • Cooking oil and ghee together: 4 to 5 teaspoons per person for the whole day
  • Salt: less than one teaspoon a day in all, counting pickle and papad

Avoid

  • Sugar, gur, honey, shakkar: all of them raise sugar the same way
  • Sweets and mithai, including "sugar-free" mithai
  • Cold drinks, packaged juice, fresh fruit juice, sweet lassi
  • Maida: white bread, biscuits, rusk, naan, bhature, noodles
  • Fried snacks: samosa, pakora, namkeen, chips
  • Alcohol: it can drop the sugar dangerously low hours later

A sample day

Vegetarian first; the swap is for those who eat eggs, fish or chicken.

On waking
Water. Tea or coffee without sugar. 4 or 5 soaked almonds or 2 walnut halves
Breakfast
Two besan or moong chilla with vegetables and a katori of curd, or one bowl of vegetable poha or upma with peanutsSwap: Two-egg omelette with vegetables and one multigrain roti
Mid-morning
One fruit: guava, apple or orange
Lunch
Salad first. A big katori of sabzi, a katori of dal or rajma, two small rotis or one roti with a small katori of rice, raitaSwap: Chicken or fish curry in place of dal
Evening
Tea without sugar with roasted chana, makhana or a bowl of sprouts chaat, or one fruitSwap: A boiled egg
Dinner, by 8 pm
Sabzi, paneer or dal, one or two rotis (bajra or jowar is good). Lighter than lunchSwap: Grilled fish or chicken with sabzi
Bedtime
Only if your doctor has told you: a small glass of milk without sugar

Common myths

Gur, honey and brown sugar are safe.
They raise sugar just like white sugar.
Fruit is banned.
Whole fruit in small portions is good. Juice is the problem.
Rice must be stopped completely.
A small katori with dal and sabzi is fine for most people.
Karela or methi water can replace tablets.
They cannot. Never stop a medicine without asking your doctor.

Dr. Arya’s note for you

If you feel shaky, sweaty or confused (low sugar): at once take 3 teaspoons of sugar in water or half a glass of juice, then eat a meal. Tell Dr. Arya. This is the one time sugar is the medicine.

This is general advice for adults. If you also have kidney disease, heart failure, are pregnant, or plan to keep a vrat or roza, your diet may need changing: ask Dr. Arya first.