Care for your body, mind, and soul as you navigate everyday life with type 2 diabetes.

Bezzy is powered by community. Come here for tips and insight from other members who understand type 2 diabetes firsthand.

Living with type 2 diabetes can be hard. Hear relatable stories from people who get it.

From medication side effects to symptom management, turn here for the practical support you need to help manage type 2 diabetes.

Food can be medicine! Find support for fueling your body and managing your symptoms.

K. Aleisha Fetters

Timing your meals and eating on a consistent schedule can help improve your blood sugar management. 

You know that when it comes to managing type 2 diabetes, what you eat has a dramatic effect on your health. But so does 

“Eating regular, balanced meals is critical on multiple levels,” explained 

, RDN, CDCES, a Los Angeles-based dietitian who specializes in the management of prediabetes and diabetes.

From helping keep your blood sugar stable to regulating your body’s internal clock, here’s why meal timing matters with type 2 diabetes — and how to create a schedule that works for you.

As you probably already know and have felt before, eating on a pretty consistent meal schedule helps keep your blood sugar stable and energy levels up throughout the day. 

Go too long between meals and you’ll feel a noticeable blood sugar dip, Sheth said.

Meanwhile, if you budget yourself one really big meal per day, by the end of it, you’re likely to encounter a very dramatic rise in blood glucose and then a complete lack of energy the rest of the day, she said. 

While glucose levels often hit their peak within about 

 of eating a meal, the amount of time it takes for levels to return to normal varies from person to person. It also depends on whether you’re using a blood sugar-lowering medication such as insulin, which can quicken the comedown.

Regular meals help regulate your internal clock

Regularly scheduled mealtimes are about more than blood sugar highs and lows. 

 to every cell throughout your body, influencing levels of inflammation, how quickly your body can replace old, dying cells with new, stronger ones, the health of your gut microbiome, and even your circadian clock. 

Or, better said, regular mealtimes might do all of this good stuff for your health because they support your circadian clock, explained 

, founder of District Endocrine, an endocrine practice in northern Virginia.

A vast network of 24-hour cycles that runs in the background of every cell in the human body, circadian rhythms drive constant fluctuations in hormone levels, metabolism, and everything you do and think. They even affect how your body responds to medications. 

Even your microbiota, the good bacteria that live in your gut and are 

 to be integral to immune health, have strong 

 they have to follow for optimal function.

 to add to the development and progression of chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. 

Rehman explained that when you eat may affect the genes involved in setting circadian rhythm and metabolism.

 suggests it’s related to something you already know well: insulin. Released each time you eat, insulin not only triggers the body to absorb blood glucose, but it also acts as a powerful timing signal throughout the body, the study authors explain.

The takeaway: The mealtime strategy that’s good for your blood sugar management is great for your total body health.

Your best meal-timing plan for type 2 diabetes

While it would be handy to give everyone a detailed schedule of when to eat, meal timing isn’t that simple. 

“Everyone is unique, and it’s important to identify what works best for each person in terms of meal timing and blood sugar management,” Sheth said. 

Here are some tried-and-true meal-timing guidelines to consider:

How should a person with diabetes start the day?

Eat a big breakfast. Eating a large meal in the morning and smaller meals for lunch and dinner may promote weight loss, lower glucose levels, and decrease daily insulin dose in people with type 2 diabetes and obesity, according to a 

For the best effects, make breakfast a pretty substantial meal rich in blood sugar-controlling protein, fiber, and fats. Blood sugar levels tend to spike in the morning along with cortisol levels, so a lower carb breakfast won’t exacerbate the shift, said registered dietitian 

How often should a person with diabetes eat? 

As a general rule, try to minimize any long gaps during the day without fuel, Sheth said, suggesting that 5–6 hours between meals is the max most people with diabetes should push it. 

Some, but not all, people may even need to eat every 3–4 hours for optimal blood sugar management, added Phelps. 

Keep in mind that how often you need to eat is going to be a determining factor in your ideal snacking strategy.

Sheth said she recommends her clients eat one to two snacks per day, but only if needed, depending on their lifestyle, activity levels, and how they feel. 

After all, while some people really benefit from the snacks in terms of blood sugar maintenance, energy levels, and overall satiety, she said, others do better, leaving things at three meals per day. 

In the end, the most important part of snacking might be the intention behind it. Are you snacking at 3 p.m. because you’re hungry and your blood sugar levels are getting low? Or just because you’re bored at work? 

Paying attention to blood sugar levels, such as with a continuous blood sugar monitor, can help examine what’s going on for you, Phelps said.

How late in the day should a person with diabetes eat?

, or going for long periods throughout the day without eating — especially when it comes to optimal health in people with diabetes. 

But the one thing most experts can agree on is that fasting at night (when your body is meant to be sleeping) is beneficial.

Try to go 10–12 hours each night without eating, Sheth said. For instance, if you eat breakfast at 8:30 a.m. every morning, that means capping your nighttime meals and snacks between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. each night.

When it comes to diabetes management, it’s not just about what you eat — when you eat matters, too. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, a little trial and error can help you find a meal schedule that works best for your health.

Remember to always talk with your endocrinologist before making any big changes to your 

. Changing your meal routine may require adjusting your medications and other aspects of your blood sugar management.

When it comes to diabetes management, it's not just about what you eat — when you eat matters, too.

Male-Cooking_Kitchen-Asian-1296x728-Header

Kathy W. Warwick, RDN, CDCES

Abbott SM, et al. (2020). Circadian disruption and human health: A bidirectional relationship. 

Crosby P, et al. (2019). Insulin/IGF-1 drives PERIOD synthesis to entrain circadian rhythms with feeding time. 

Endocrine Society. (2018). High-energy breakfast promotes weight loss, helps reduce total daily insulin dose for type 2 diabetes [Press release]. 

Erickson ML, et al. (2017). Exercise after you eat: Hitting the postprandial glucose target. 

Paoli A, et al. (2019). The influence of meal frequency and timing on health in humans: The role of fasting. 

Papakonstantinou E, et al. (2022). Effects of diet, lifestyle, chrononutrition and alternative dietary interventions on postprandial glycemia and insulin resistance. 

Parkar SG, et al. (2019). Potential role for the gut microbiota in modulating host circadian rhythms and metabolic health. 

Wehrens SMT, et al. (2017). Meal timing regulates the human circadian system. 

Zheng D, et al. (2020). Interaction between microbiota and immunity in health and disease. 

Meal Timing: Why When You Eat Matters for Type 2 Diabetes Management

Mila Clarke

We’re conscious of our chronic condition and the potential complications that come with it — and we shouldn’t be treated otherwise.

Ever since I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2016, I’ve noticed the stigma and shame that others project on those living with the condition.

Sometimes the stigmatizing comments come from your family, even if they mean well. Sometimes, in my case, judgment comes straight from strangers on the internet. Other times, it even happens in doctors’ or specialists’ offices.

Those comments can affect our mental health, who we tell about our diagnosis, and even how we manage our condition. 

I wanted to share a few of these misconceptions that I’m 

 sick of, and explain why they grind my gears.

I know that when someone asks if I’m allowed to eat something that it usually comes from a caring place, but it always annoys me. 

If I’m seen eating a piece of chocolate, or I post a burger on 

, I sometimes get comments like, “Hey! You can’t eat that.”

The truth is that people with type 2 diabetes are caring for their bodies and blood sugars all the time.

I use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) so that I know exactly where my numbers are. Whatever we’re eating, we’ve usually carefully accounted for it.

This misconception bothers me because no one asks to have type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is not a character flaw — but society treats it that way.

While poor lifestyle choices, obesity, and other factors can exacerbate insulin resistance, it doesn’t mean anyone should get blamed for their diagnosis.

I hear this one a lot. Because our chronic illness is often defined as something we caused, we can get labeled as “lazy,” or we don’t take care of our health.

The opposite is true. Diabetes is complicated and confusing.

While managing proper blood sugar levels, people with diabetes are also working against potential complications like heart attacks, strokes, hearing loss, or amputations.

Laziness is not a part of our vocabulary. We’re constantly making changes to better our health. If we don’t, we face some significant health consequences.

Technology isn’t for people with type 2 diabetes

Technology like insulin pumps or CGMs are hard to get access to when you’re living with type 2 diabetes.

Sometimes, insurance companies might not cover blood sugar supplies like a CGM or may deny you a pump even if you’re on insulin.

While cost and access can be barriers, people with type 2 diabetes can use technology to benefit us.

When I first got my CGM, I was thrilled that I didn’t have to stop whatever I was doing that day to prick my finger for a blood sugar reading. I also loved that I had data about patterns, time in range, and an estimated A1C.

All of these numbers helped me improve toward my goals, but the tech gave me greater insight to why I was doing better — and how to keep going.

Numbers are everything when it comes to diabetes. Having access to all the numbers we need can only benefit us.

Diets and supplements are a cure for type 2 diabetes

This one gets to me every single time. While diabetes can be managed, there’s no single ingredient (no, not even cinnamon), that can cure any kind of diabetes.

Every body is different, but focusing on whole, unprocessed foods, complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and healthy fats can help you better manage your blood sugar.

People with type 2 diabetes deserve so much better than stigma and shame.

What I’ve learned through my diagnosis and meeting other people with type 2 diabetes is that we’re all managing a complex disease from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep.

From when to take medication and how much, to reading nutrition labels and deciding what exercise might help us keep our blood sugars in range, we make hundreds of decisions a day.

It’s up to all of us to learn, have empathy, and understand what we can do to crush those stereotypes, so people with type 2 diabetes don’t keep experiencing them.

Female_Friends_Rearview_1296x728-header-2

Alana Biggers, M.D., MPH

5 Type 2 Diabetes Misconceptions That Get Under My Skin

Julie Onos

My experience reinforced that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to diet with diabetes. Intermittent fasting wasn’t right for my late-onset type 1 diabetes, but others may have different experiences.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, especially for health reasons, you’ve probably come across articles and blog posts touting the benefits of intermittent fasting.

It may also be known as intermittent energy restriction in the dietitian, nutritionist, and health coach circles. Regardless of which term you use, intermittent fasting is a method of voluntarily cycling between fasting (times during which you don’t eat) and nonfasting periods.

I started reading about it a few years ago because I heard it was helpful for those with type 2 diabetes.

Reported benefits include weight loss and a lower risk of future diabetes complications, such as organ damage. The thought process around this is that if you reduce your time periods of high blood sugar, then you may reduce the potential for damage caused by long-term unmanaged type 2 diabetes.

 of research suggested that intermittent fasting can reduce body weight, decrease fasting glucose, decrease fasting insulin, and reduce insulin resistance, along with other changes for people living with type 2 diabetes.

A study published in 2022 found that after people with type 2 diabetes participated in a 3-month intervention program focused on intermittent fasting, 

 of participants achieved diabetes remission, while only 2.8% achieved remission in the control group.

What really caught my eye was people who claimed to “reverse” their type 2 diabetes after following strict programs of intermittent fasting. I knew it wasn’t possible to reverse type 1 diabetes, but many people with type 2 said they had lost weight and were able to stop taking their diabetes medication.

I was skeptical since there’s never a shortage of new weight loss programs and methods advertised. Of course, some work, but they often require so many hours of meal prep, unique exercises, or expensive supplements and shakes that they’re either unattainable or unsustainable.

My first question was: How do you actually 

 intermittent fasting? I was willing to try something new, but I wasn’t willing to spend hundreds of dollars per week on a scam.

Before trying any type of fasting, one of my concerns was that I would end up in a hypoglycemic state, not just based on my reading but because this had been a personal challenge. 

 with late-onset Type 1 diabetes, I was struggling with both extreme highs and lows. The number of times I had blood sugars below 50 even seemed to stump my doctors.

A small study from 2016 indicated that in a group of 150 participants with type 2 diabetes, 

 (most of whom were using insulin) experienced hypoglycemia while fasting, while 3.3% reported hyperglycemic episodes during a fast. While none of these episodes required hospitalization, they reinforce the importance of awareness and discussion with your doctor when trying a new diet.

I decided not to try the fast diet because I like structure and routines. Having 2 days of the week be drastically different while also juggling my family and career sounded unsustainable.

I was committed to trying something new and didn’t want to set myself up for failure, so I decided to try the Leangains protocol (16/8 method).

While it required 16 hours of fasting a day, in my mind, 8 of those hours didn’t count because that would be wind-down and sleeping time when I wouldn’t have been eating anyway. Thus, I thought it would be the least likely to push me toward extremely low blood sugar levels. 

It wasn’t a good experience. I spent a lot of time watching the clock until I could eat again and then when I could, I tended to overeat to try to make up for the headaches and hunger I was experiencing.

I experienced multiple drops in blood sugar the first week and had to rescue with glucose tabs or fruit. I began adjusting from 16 hours to 14 hours, to 12 hours, before finally being too frustrated to continue with the plan.

By the end of the second week, I’d stopped. I had also gained 6 pounds in the 2 weeks of trying the 16/8 method — the opposite of what I wanted to happen. 

After that experience, I concluded intermittent fasting wasn’t right for my diabetes and felt it was too dangerous due to hypoglycemia.

I believe I didn’t end up in any dangerous situations because I increased my daily testing from three times a day to six times a day. While this worked for me, depending on how your insurance works or your financial situation, you may find the increased testing cost prohibitive. 

On the other hand, I did learn something from this. Since I was testing frequently, I learned a lot about how my own body responds to certain foods. Obviously, we can all look up what foods have a higher carb count, but there’s still personal nuance.

I learned my body responded differently to different types of rice and potatoes. I also learned my body responded differently to different fruits.

While I stopped eating according to the Leangains protocol, I retained this knowledge and incorporated new habits into my eating routines. The foods I learned caused my blood sugar to spike, I ate sparingly if at all. 

Trying a different approach to intermittent fasting

Fast-forward to this year. After being more sedentary than ever during the quarantine, I needed something to switch up my routine. I decided to try intermittent fasting one more time.

However, this time I looked at a different model: the 

. There isn’t much research specifically backing up this approach to intermittent fasting, but I thought that with some modifications, it might work for me.

Empowered by my previous experience and knowledge of how I responded to different foods and eating at various times of the day, I decided to modify the plan for myself right from the start.

Rather than eating a large meal at night, I had my largest meal as a midafternoon meal (this is the time period I seem naturally hungriest). Rather than fight against my own usual body rhythm, I decided to work with it so the plan would be more sustainable for me. 

The other part that made it more workable for me was that during the rest of the day, I could munch on small amounts of raw fruits and vegetables.

I returned to my previous strategy of testing my blood sugar six times a day and, with this method, I never experienced a hypoglycemic event.

I began to lose small amounts of weight, about a half-pound to a pound per week. After 3 months on this plan, my A1C also decreased. Seeing the lower A1C felt like a big win! 

Now I’ve reached the point where I don’t follow the plan exactly to the minute, but it has changed my overall eating habits such that it’s more natural for me to eat according to the Warrior Diet without having to think about it.

Since it feels natural and matches my own body rhythm, I’m not feeling deprived at all, and I’ve also noticed an increase in energy.

The most important thing anyone should know about intermittent fasting for diabetes is that there’s no one-size-fits-all plan.

Everyone’s body reacts differently, and depending on what meds you take the risk of hypoglycemia may be real and requires planning. (This is where talking with your doctor and a dietitian can be helpful.)

I recommend that anyone starting a fasting regimen be willing to test their blood sugar frequently and tweak the plan based on their body’s response. This will avoid extreme lows and highs in blood sugar and create a sustainable plan where you don’t feel deprived or have swings in blood sugar.

Reducing the long-term impacts of diabetes on your health is a worthy goal.

If you can find an eating plan that helps you maintain a healthy weight, lower your A1C, and reduce the medications you need while still feeling good, then intermittent fasting may be a good option for you.

My experience reinforced that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to diabetes management.

Getty Images/mapodile

Kim Rose-Francis RDN, CDCES, LD

Albosta M, et al. (2021). Intermittent fasting: is there a role in the treatment of diabetes? A review of the literature and guide for primary care physicians. 

Furmli S, et al. (2018). Therapeutic use of intermittent fasting for people with type 2 diabetes as an alternative to insulin. 

Harvie M, et al. (2013). The effect of intermittent energy and carbohydrate restriction v. daily energy restriction on weight loss and metabolic disease risk markers in overweight women. 

Noon MJ, et al. (2016). Fasting with diabetes: a prospective observational study. 

Yang X, et al. (2022). Effect of an intermittent calorie-restricted diet on type 2 diabetes remission: A randomized controlled trial. 

A community empowered by each other

Meet Mila!

Unlimited possible connections

Inspiring articles

Like what you see?