How to Talk With Your Care Team About the Updated Dietary Guidelines for Diabetes
If you’re thinking about making changes to your eating patterns based on the updated Dietary Guidelines—like focusing more on whole foods, eating fewer refined carbohydrates, or increasing protein—you may be wondering:
“Do I need to talk to my care team about this, or can I just try it?”
For women living with diabetes, the answer is usually: start a conversation before making any changes. Not because you need permission to eat—but because changes in how you eat can affect medications, blood glucose patterns, and overall health.
Here’s how to approach that conversation in a way that’s collaborative, productive, and centered on your goals.
Why These Guidelines Need To Reflect Your Health
The Dietary Guidelines are written for the general population. They are not diabetes-specific.
If you take insulin or certain diabetes medications, changing carbohydrate intake, meal timing, or protein and fat balance can:
- Increase the risk of above- or below-targetblood glucose levels
- Change how much medication you need
- Shift post-meal glucose patterns
Talking with your care team helps ensure that any changes you make support not only your health goals but your safety.
Preparing for the Conversation
You don’t need to bring perfect food logs or weeks of data. But a little preparation goes a long way.
Consider bringing:
- A few days of blood glucose or CGM data
- Notes on what you’re thinking of changing (for example: fewer refined carbs at breakfast)
- Your top 1 or 2 goals (fewer lows, more energy, better time in range, feeling less overwhelmed)
Framing the conversation around goals—not rules—sets the tone for collaboration.
Questions You Can Ask Your Care Team
These questions can help guide a productive discussion:
- “Given my medications, what carbohydrate range makes sense for me?”
- “How should I change my monitoring habits, like checking my blood glucose, during the adjustment period?”
- “If I increase protein or change meal timing, do we need to adjust my medication plan or insulin dosing schedule?”
- “Are my kidney labs and heart health biomarkers okay for a higher-protein approach?”
- “What signs should I watch for that this plan isn’t working for me?”
- “Can we focus on a few small, measurable changes rather than a full overhaul?”
- “Is there anyone else on my care team I should talk to or any other information I need to help me make these decisions?”
If helpful, bring the guidelines or this article with you.
Prioritize Asking for the Support You Deserve
If the conversation feels rushed or overly generic, it’s okay to ask for more help.
You might say:
- “Can you refer me to a diabetes care and education specialist, a registered dietitian, or an advanced practice nurse who works with diabetes?”
- “Would using a CGM, even short-term, help us personalize this?”
- “I do best with plans that feel realistic and non-judgmental—can we approach this step by step?”
Support is not a sign of failure. It’s a tool.
A Note on Language and Trust
If a provider uses language that feels shaming, dismissive, or overly rigid, that’s important information. You deserve care that respects your lived experience and centers your well-being.
Diabetes management works best when it’s built on trust, curiosity, and partnership.
The Takeaway
The new Dietary Guidelines can be a helpful starting point—but they work best when adapted to you.
Talking with your care team helps ensure that changes in how you eat:
- Can affect or influence your medication dosage
- Support your glucose goals
- Protect your long-term health
- Fit your real life
In Part 3, we’ll explore how to make these guidelines work in real life—across busy schedules, tight budgets, cultural traditions, hormones, and everything else women juggle every day.
Because real food should support real lives.
Reference:
U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov
