Mediterranean diet for type 2 diabetes: what to know

Meals are built around plant foods, with fish, eggs, yoghurt or poultry used in suitable portions. Beans and lentils add fibre and protein, which may help meals feel filling and can slow the rise in glucose after eating. Whole fruit can fit more easily than juice because it retains fibre. This pattern is flexible: familiar UAE foods can be combined with vegetables, legumes and whole grains without needing imported ingredients.

Changing food does not replace prescribed diabetes treatment. Glucose response differs between people, especially when insulin or medicines that can lower glucose are used.

Begin with one meal: fill much of the plate with non-starchy vegetables, add a protein food, and choose a modest serving of beans or a whole grain. Use olive oil in place of butter or heavily processed sauces, and choose water more often than sweetened drinks. Keep a record of meals and glucose readings if your clinician has asked you to monitor them. A dietitian or diabetes clinician can adapt portions for kidney disease, weight goals, cultural foods and medicines.

Contact your diabetes team if readings repeatedly change after the diet change, or if you have symptoms such as sweating, shaking, confusion or unusual weakness that may indicate hypoglycaemia. Seek urgent help for severe confusion, inability to stay awake, breathing difficulty, chest pain or stroke symptoms. Diabetes can affect the kidneys, nerves and circulation, so new swelling, a foot wound, numbness or a skin infection also deserves prompt assessment.

Ask which foods and portions suit your medicines, whether you should change glucose checks, and how to recognise and treat low glucose. If you have kidney disease, ask how much protein, salt and certain high-potassium foods are appropriate. You can also ask for referral to a dietitian who understands your usual meals.