What Can I Eat If I Have Prediabetes? A Simple Guide for Over-40s
Being told you're at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes can be worrying enough. But then you start speaking to people, searching online and watching videos about what you can eat if you have prediabetes.
And what normally comes back?
❌ You can't eat bread.
❌ Pasta and potatoes are off the menu.
❌ You need to cut out all your favourite foods.
Suddenly, everything you've enjoyed eating for years seems to be off-limits!
It starts to look like you'll have to live on meat, eggs and salad for the rest of your life. And while certain diets may work for some people, when you've got a family, a busy job and a life to live, buying separate shopping or cooking different meals can become more of a hassle than it's worth.
Managing your blood sugar doesn't have to mean giving up your favourite foods.
You don't need to spend the rest of your days eating salads and boiled eggs. 🥗
In this article, I want to show you how making simple food swaps, adding things to meals and being a little more mindful about portions can help you enjoy your food while supporting your blood sugar and weight.
And, more importantly, without feeling like the family leper at dinner time! 😂
Food should be enjoyed, not scrutinised.
What Can I Eat If I Have Prediabetes? Stop Labelling Foods Good or Bad 🍕
There's this tendency to label certain foods as either 'good' or 'bad'. We even do this with how we've eaten.
When I'm working with a client and ask how they've been with their food during the week, I'll sometimes hear something like:
"I've eaten really badly this week. I had pizza, went out for dinner and ate some chocolate."
But does eating pizza or chocolate really mean you've eaten badly?
Let's put things into perspective.
There are 365 days in a year. If you didn't eat as well as you'd have liked for 60 of those days, that's still 305 days where you potentially followed your plan.
Now, this doesn't mean those 60 days don't matter. How much you eat and how often still count. But having the occasional meal out or enjoying something sweet doesn't automatically undo all your hard work.
One meal doesn't determine your health. Your habits over time have a much bigger influence.
Yes, some foods are more nutritious than others, but that doesn't mean you can never enjoy the less nutritious ones.
Think about it.
Do you eat bags of chocolate every day, or enjoy a little once or twice a week?
How often do you have a takeaway, eat out or cook at home?
There are plenty of people who still enjoy a burger, chocolate or the occasional cake while successfully losing weight and improving their health.
And I won't sit here (although I am sitting while writing this 😂) and tell you that you can never have something when I still enjoy a cake or two myself.
What you can do is become a little more aware of your eating habits.
Take a few days and write down:
What foods you regularly enjoy.
How much you typically eat.
How often you eat them.
Whether you're eating because you're hungry or simply out of habit.
This isn't about feeling guilty or judging yourself.
It's about understanding your habits so you can make changes that work for you.
For example, perhaps you've noticed you're eating biscuits every afternoon. You don't necessarily need to stop eating biscuits, but maybe you could reduce the amount or enjoy them less frequently.
Over time, these little changes can help you manage your weight and support healthier blood sugar levels.
And remember, even Diabetes UK explains that there isn't a particular food you must completely avoid when managing prediabetes. It's about choosing healthier foods more often and being sensible with portions.
Which brings me to one of my favourite approaches.
Simple Food Swaps That Help Manage Blood Sugar 🥑
I'm a huge fan of making swaps or reducing certain things in my diet rather than removing them completely.
Why?
Because it means you can still enjoy the foods you love without feeling like you're constantly restricting yourself.
And you don't need to overhaul your entire kitchen to do it!
Below are some basic food swaps you could try. I'm sure you've seen some of these before, and I'll also share a few things I do myself.
Instead of | Try |
White bread | Wholegrain bread |
Sugary cereal | Porridge with berries |
Sugary drinks | Water or sugar-free alternatives |
Large portion of white rice | A smaller portion with extra vegetables |
Sweetened yoghurt | Plain Greek yoghurt with fruit |
Regular baked beans | Reduced-sugar and salt varieties |
Salted nuts | Unsalted nuts |
These are fairly standard swaps.
But we can go a little further.
Look at the foods you're already buying 🛒
Something I often encourage people to do is compare the foods they already have at home.
For example:
Try reduced-sugar ketchup or sauces.
Compare different brands of biscuits and choose ones that better suit your goals.
Look for baked beans with less added sugar and salt.
Compare the labels on ready meals.
Try buying plain yoghurt and adding your own fruit.
You might be surprised at the differences between products.
It's mad, really. Two seemingly identical ready meals can have very different amounts of sugar, salt, fibre and calories.
The same goes for sauces, cereals and snacks.
Even something as simple as replacing your usual ketchup with a reduced-sugar version could help reduce your overall sugar intake, particularly if you use it regularly.
Now, that doesn't mean you can use half the bottle instead! 😉
The idea isn't to eat more because something is labelled healthier. It's to make a small improvement without giving up the things you enjoy.
And remember, lower sugar doesn't automatically mean healthier. It's worth checking the overall nutrition label, including things like calories, saturated fat, salt and fibre.
You don't need to become obsessed with reading every label in the supermarket.
Just compare a few of the products you buy regularly and see where you could make an easy improvement.
If you find a swap you enjoy, brilliant! Keep it.
If you hate it, try something else.
There's no point forcing yourself to eat something you dislike just because it's supposedly better for you.
These are options, not rules.
What if you don't like wholegrain foods?
Here's something else worth mentioning.
Some people simply don't enjoy wholemeal bread, brown rice or wholewheat pasta.
And that's fine.
You don't need to force yourself to eat something you dislike.
If you prefer white rice or pasta, you can still enjoy them. You could simply have a slightly smaller serving and add extra vegetables, beans or a source of protein to your meal.
Wholegrain options generally provide more fibre, so they're worth trying, but they aren't your only option.
This leads nicely into something I think is even more useful than swapping foods.
Adding to the foods you're already eating.
How to Enjoy Your Favourite Foods Without Giving Them Up 🍫
This is my favourite part. Putting everything together!
Like I've said earlier, food is meant to be enjoyed.
We celebrate with food, show love and affection through food and spend time with friends and family around food.
So why would we do ourselves a disservice by making every meal boring and unenjoyable just to lose a bit of belly fat or help lower our blood sugar?
Rather than looking at what you need to remove from your diet, start thinking about what you could add.
Foods that provide protein, fibre and healthy fats can help make meals more filling and nutritious. Depending on the meal, they can also help moderate the rise in blood sugar after eating.
Let's look at some practical examples.
🍫 Chocolate, nuts and a glass of water
Let's say you fancy some chocolate.
You don't need to tell yourself you can't have any.
Instead, enjoy a few pieces.
If you're also feeling hungry, you could have a small handful of unsalted nuts, around 20–30g, alongside it.
Nuts provide fibre, protein and healthy fats, which can help you feel more satisfied. Including these nutrients alongside food may also help moderate the blood sugar response.
You could also have a glass of water.
Water helps keep you hydrated and may give you a temporary feeling of fullness, particularly if you're thirsty.
Now, I'm not saying drinking water and eating nuts magically cancels out the chocolate. It doesn't.
And if you're already satisfied with a few pieces of chocolate, you don't need to add nuts just for the sake of it.
But if you're genuinely hungry, adding something more filling may help you feel satisfied rather than continuing to pick at chocolate throughout the evening.
Nuts are nutritious, but they're also fairly high in calories, so portions still matter if weight loss is one of your goals.
The point is that you can still enjoy chocolate while making choices that support your health.
You don't need to ban it completely.
🥣 Your favourite breakfast cereal
Perhaps you love a bowl of sugary cereal in the morning.
Rather than removing it completely, try having the suggested serving size and adding some nuts or seeds.
You could also add berries or have some plain Greek yoghurt alongside it.
You're adding fibre, protein and other nutrients to your breakfast, which may help keep you feeling fuller.
And you still get to enjoy your favourite cereal.
🍞 White toast
Love white toast?
Great, you can still eat it.
Try adding:
Avocado and eggs.
Peanut butter.
Reduced-sugar baked beans.
Scrambled eggs with mushrooms.
These additions bring more nutrients and can make your breakfast or lunch more satisfying.
🍕 Takeaway pizza
Ah, pizza!
Something that seems to end up on every list of foods we're told to avoid.
But you can still enjoy pizza.
Instead of eating several slices on their own, try having a serving of vegetables or a side salad alongside them.
You could even eat some of the vegetables first.
Research into meal order suggests that eating vegetables and protein before the main starch portion of a meal can sometimes reduce the rise in blood sugar afterwards.
You don't need to make this complicated.
Have your pizza, enjoy it, and think about what else you could add to the meal.
🍔 Burgers and chips
Here's another favourite.
Rather than removing burgers from your diet, why not make a few small changes?
Try having your burger in a wholemeal bun, adding some salad and making homemade potato wedges with the skins left on.
You could also serve some vegetables alongside it.
That way, you're still enjoying a burger and chips, but you've made a few improvements to the overall meal.
And if you're having a takeaway burger now and then, enjoy it!
🍝 Pasta for the family
Here's a situation I imagine many of you will recognise.
You've had a long day at work, you've got the family to feed and you're making pasta for dinner.
You don't want to prepare a completely different meal for yourself.
So don't!
Enjoy the same pasta as everyone else.
You could simply have a little less pasta and add more vegetables, chicken, fish or beans to your serving.
If you prefer white pasta, that's fine.
Making the meal more balanced is far more practical than cooking two separate dinners every night.
Small Additions Can Make a Difference 💡
Hopefully, you're starting to see where I'm going with this.
You don't need to replace everything you eat.
You don't need to spend a fortune on special foods.
And you certainly don't need to prepare completely different meals from the rest of your family.
Sometimes it's as simple as adding vegetables, choosing a slightly smaller serving or including some protein and fibre.
If you want some more ideas about managing cravings, I've written another article on why you might keep craving sweet foods after 40.
And remember, none of these changes needs to happen overnight.
Pick one or two things you feel comfortable changing and build from there.
Food Freedom, Not Food Fear 🎯
If there's one thing I want you to take away from this article, it's this:
Having prediabetes doesn't mean you need to give up all the foods you enjoy.
You don't need a perfect diet.
You need an eating pattern that helps manage your blood sugar, supports weight loss where needed and fits your actual life.
For some people, that might mean swapping a few everyday foods.
For others, it could mean reducing portions, adding more vegetables and protein or becoming more aware of how often they're eating certain things.
There's no single perfect way of eating for everyone.
And remember, the occasional pizza, burger or slice of cake doesn't mean you've failed.
Your health is influenced by what you do consistently, not just what you ate last Saturday evening.
Start small, make changes you enjoy and build habits you can maintain.
Because the best eating plan is one you can actually stick to.
And food should still be something you look forward to! 😊
🎁 Want Some Help Getting Started?
If you're over 40 and want to improve your blood sugar, lose weight and feel more in control of your food choices, I've created something to help.
My FREE 7-Day Blood Sugar Reset gives you simple, practical habits you can start using straight away.
No extreme diets. No complicated rules. And no giving up everything you love.
Just realistic changes that fit around your everyday life.
Your health doesn't need perfection. It needs consistency. 💪
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