When it comes to diabetes and Mexican food, there’s so much confusion out there.
I’m a Latina dietitian, and I speak to clients every day who tell me that Mexican food is one of their biggest challenges with managing diabetes.
And I get it. But I also think the real issue isn’t Mexican food itself, but rather how the nutrition world talks about diabetes and Mexican food.
If you’ve ever been told to avoid tortillas or rice because you have diabetes or want to prevent diabetes, you’re not alone. But this is simply not true.
This type of misinformation about Mexican food and diabetes can make it harder for Mexicans and Mexican-Americans to know how to manage their diabetes.
That’s why I want to clear things up–Mexican food is not the problem when it comes to managing or preventing diabetes. In fact, Mexican food can be really beneficial for diabetes!
Here are 6 things I want you to know about Mexican food and diabetes, as a Latina Registered Dietitian.
1. Mexican food did not give you diabetes
Let me start here: Mexican food is not the reason you have diabetes. Even if you eat it every day, and even if you love tortillas.
I emphasize this because I hear my clients express this fear every day, that it was Mexican food that caused them to develop diabetes.
In fact, the causes of diabetes are complex. According to the Cleveland Clinic, some common factors include: genetics, excessive body fat, physical inactivity, long term use of certain medications, certain hormonal disorders, and chronic stress.
While diet does play a role in increasing risk for diabetes, notice how it’s not the only factor. Most people do not develop diabetes because they have just one risk factor. Instead, they typically have several risk factors (1).
Genetics is also a surprisingly important factor in developing diabetes. Having a sibling with type 2 diabetes can double your risk for developing it (2).
Mexican food can actually help prevent diabetes
While it’s important to know that diet is only one of many factors that can contribute to diabetes, of course a healthy diet can help reduce your risk.
And that also means that certain dietary patterns, like diets high in sugar sweetened beverages and red meats, can also increase your risk for diabetes or diabetes-related complications (3, 4).
But that still doesn’t mean that Mexican food is the cause. In fact, some studies are starting to see that a traditional Mexican diet can help prevent diabetes.
One study from 2022 found that following a traditional Mexican diet was associated with lower insulin concentrations, which is associated with a lower risk for type 2 diabetes (5).
Another study saw that participants who followed a traditional Mexican diet saw improved insulin sensitivity (how well your body responds to insulin) (6).
2. You can still enjoy tortillas, rice, and more.
It’s pretty common knowledge that diabetes has something to do with how your body responds to carbohydrates.
However, something I always find myself myth-busting is the idea that all carbs are off the menu forever when you’re managing diabetes.
Did you know a diabetes friendly diet often includes 30-45 grams of carbohydrates per meal? In fact, you need at least 130 grams of carbs in a day just to fuel your brain and other critical functions (7)!
Portions Matter
Of course, portions do matter when it comes to carbohydrates and diabetes.
As we saw above, a healthy diabetes-friendly meal has about 30-45 grams of carbohydrates. This is the equivalent of 3 corn tortillas, one large flour tortilla, or a ¾ cup serving of rice.
However, because most people have more than one carb-containing food on their plate at a time (think rice and beans, or oatmeal with fruit), the actual recommended portion sizes might be a little bit smaller.
Fiber Matters
In addition to portions, you also want to pay attention to what kind of carbohydrate you are choosing.
I like to recommend choosing carbs that come with fiber. This includes whole grains like corn tortillas, starchy vegetables like yuca or boniato (yes, even potato).
Fruit and beans are two more examples of carbohydrates that also have fiber, more on those in a minute.
The reason you want to choose carbs that have fiber is because the fiber can help reduce your blood sugar response to a meal, according to the CDC.
In fact, the process that corn goes through to become a tortilla (a process called nixtamalization), actually increases the resistant starch (a type of fiber) in the corn.
(Read more about the health benefits of nixtamalization here).
And if you’re like most of my clients, you may not want to switch to make the switch to brown rice. Most of my clients say they love rice but just don’t enjoy the taste of brown rice.
The good news is that if you eat your rice with beans, which is so common in Mexican food, you may not need to make the switch! Adding beans to your rice can actually help improve your blood sugar response to the rice (8).
Read more about the health benefits of rice and beans
3. All fruit is a healthy choice
This one might be my main pet peeve. All the time, I have clients come to me who say that someone told them they’re not allowed to eat mango, papaya, or pineapple, or oranges anymore.
They’ve been told they have to eat berries or green apples instead because these fruits are lower in sugar than some of the tropical fruits listed above.
This one bothers me because it means time and time again, my Mexican clients are being told to avoid their favorite Mexican foods for no actual reason.
Because even while these fruits do contain natural sugars, fruit also contains fiber and antioxidants, which can be really beneficial for diabetes (9).
For example, mango has a glycemic index (a measure of how much a food increases your blood sugar) of just 51 (10). This is considered a low glycemic index food, meaning it does not raise your blood sugar very much.
Mexican food is full of delicious, healthy fruits. And our food culture is really good at using them for healthy snacks, desserts, and more. Don’t let anyone tell you that a cup of fruit with some chamoy or tajín is a bad snack!
That’s why I created a full guide to all the Mexican fruits and their health benefits, read it here.
Instead, focus on portion
Instead of limiting yourself to just apples and berries, focus on the appropriate portion size of your favorite fruits.
According to the Johns Hopkins Patient Guide to Diabetes, a serving of ½ small mango or 1 cup cubed papaya is equivalent to one carbohydrate portion.
Try to get 2 fruit servings per day, ideally paired with a protein like nuts or yogurt.
4. Beans help manage diabetes
I spend a lot of time talking to other dietitians about what the nutrition world can learn from Mexican food.
One of the main points I make is about beans.
Dietitians love beans for the health benefits they provide their clients, but they have a hard time helping clients eat the recommended 1.5 cups per week.
Which is why I always say “look at how beans are included in Mexican food.” Several studies have shown that Hispanic Americans eat more beans than other groups (11).
And yet, I still talk to clients every week who have been told to stop eating beans because they have carbs in them.
In my opinion, beans play a role in helping explain why a traditional Mexican diet can help improve insulin resistance.
Pulses like beans can help control blood sugar, thanks to their fiber content. Which is why long term consumption of beans can help with diabetes management (12).
Additionally, beans can help lower cholesterol. Since you are more at risk for heart disease if you have diabetes, the heart health benefits of beans are especially important here (13).
And like we mentioned above, adding beans to a carb like rice actually improves your blood sugar response to the rice, as well.
In addition to being a good source of fiber, beans are also high in protein, which can also help with blood sugar control.
Making sense of bean portions
While beans are a great food to eat for diabetes, I will admit it can be a little confusing figuring out how portions work when it comes to beans. This is because beans could easily fit in the starches section of your plate, or the lean protein section of your diabetes-friendly plate.
If you are eating a vegetarian meal, then I do recommend counting beans as your protein portion. In this case a serving would be about ½ cup.
If you are also eating animal protein like eggs or chicken, then in that case I recommend counting beans as part of your carb portion. A serving would still be about ½ cup of beans in this case.
For clients who like to eat rice and beans together, I recommend you count the combined rice and beans as your carb portion. The total serving size of rice and beans can be between ⅔ cup and ¾ cup, depending on your nutrition needs and medical history.
5. Some traditional Mexican foods have blood sugar benefits
As we saw earlier, a traditional Mexican diet may help prevent diabetes. This is because it can include healthy whole grains like corn, and plenty of fruits, vegetables and legumes.
But there are also some foods that are blood sugar control superstars that are uniquely Mexican.
Here are some of the best Mexican foods for blood sugar control.
Nopales
I have already written a ton about the health benefits of cactus leaves (aka nopales) here.
Cacti, especially the prickly pear cactus, have long been a traditional remedy for diabetes in traditional Mexican medicine. And it’s just within the last few years that modern science is starting to see why.
In particular, nopales may have a blood-sugar lowering effect after eating them. One narrative review found several studies that showed that people who ate nopales saw lower blood sugar levels up to 180 minutes after eating them.
Another study found that adding nopales to a high carbohydrate breakfast helped reduce the blood sugar response to that breakfast (14).
The reason why nopales have an effect on blood sugar is most likely due to the high fiber content. In particular, the gel-like texture you see in the middle of nopal is due to the pectin.
Pectin is a type of soluble fiber which may help with blood sugar control.
And nopales are a super easy vegetable to incorporate into Mexican food! You can saute them with a spicy red salsa, grill them, or even toss pickled nopales with black beans for an easy salad.
Avocado
Never forget that avocado is a traditional Mexican ingredient. With how trendy and in demand avocados are, it’s easy to forget their place in our heritage diets.
They have been a staple in Mexican food for so long partly because of their unique health benefits.
Avocados are a fruit, but are low enough in carbs to be counted as a vegetable on your diabetes-friendly plate (15).
Avocados are high in fat, but mostly the heart-healthy unsaturated fat that can help improve your cholesterol (16).
And thanks to the high fiber and fat content in the avocado, avocados can be great for your blood sugar. One study found that Latinos who eat avocado regularly are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes (17).
In another study, people who ate an avocado every day for 12 weeks saw lower insulin levels (18).
And the great news is that avocado is one of the easiest vegetables to add to your plate! Since we usually serve avocado raw, you can simply add a few slices to your favorite Mexican dish as a quick way to add extra nutrients and blood sugar benefits.
Need more ideas?
You could always make spicy guacamole, or use mashed avocado on toast or as the base of your tostada.
Chaya
Also called “tree spinach”, chaya is a variety of wild leafy green (“quelite”) found in Southern Mexico.
Chaya has many medicinal uses in traditional Mexican medicine, including treatment of diabetes.
And Western science is starting to come around to these benefits, too.
Most of the research on chaya so far has looked at potential heart health benefits, such as how it may help lower triglycerides and decrease inflammation (19). This is also important for people with diabetes since diabetes increases your risk for heart disease.
However, one study found that adding chaya to tamal dough lowered the glycemic index of the tamal (20).
There’s still a lot of research to be done on chaya, but the results so far combined with the historical use of chaya in Mexican traditional medicine looks promising!
6. Mexican food can be part of your diabetes-friendly meal plan
Whether you prefer to follow the diabetes plate method or count carbs, Mexican food deserves a place in your diabetes-friendly meal plan.
Many people with diabetes choose to follow the plate method, which recommends ½ plate of non-starchy vegetables, ¼ plate of carbs, and ¼ plate of protein. Here’s how you can follow this plan while eating Mexican food:
Vegetable section:
Fill ½ your plate with non-starchy vegetables. Luckily, there are a ton of vegetables to choose from in Mexican food!
For some reason, many of my Mexican and Mexican-American clients feel that it’s harder for them to eat vegetables because of their food culture. But I disagree!
Here are some very common, but overlooked Mexican vegetables:
- Avocado
- Tomato
- Squash (zucchini, pumpkin, chayote)
- Onion
- Cabbage
- Radish
- Quelites
- Chili peppers
And the list goes on!
(Note: technically some of these are fruits but we count them as vegetables for your diabetes plate because they are lower in carbs).
To get half a plate of vegetables with Mexican food, you could serve simple side dishes like calabacitas a la Mexicana, or nopalitos salad.
My other favorite strategy is to take advantage of the garnishes that come with Mexican food. Think about how when you’re served a bowl of pozole you can add shredded cabbage or diced onion on top. Or think about how a spoonful of salsa can be added to almost anything.
It might not sound like much, but if you have 2 tablespoons of 3 or 4 different vegetables, you’re getting close to a full vegetable serving!
Here’s an example of what that might look like:
You could serve a chicken tostada with 2 tablespoons avocado as the base, topped with 2 tablespoons shredded cabbage, 2 tablespoons salsa, and 2 tablespoons radish slices. This equals a half cup of vegetables in just one tostada!
Protein Section
Fill about ¼ of your plate with a heart-healthy, lean protein like chicken, fish, beans, or eggs.
Red meats like birria and carne asada can be options 1-2 times per week.
Carb section
As we discussed earlier, fill ¼ of your plate with carbs that are also good sources of fiber.
This includes whole grains like corn tortillas. It also includes fresh, whole fruits.
The other option for healthy carbs that are a good source of fiber is starchy vegetables like potato, plantain, or yuca. There’s a lot of fear-mongering around these foods, but the fiber can be very beneficial!
Final Thoughts
Managing diabetes is already tough, and doubly so when you feel like you’ve been told to avoid all your favorite foods.
But the truth is that Mexican food can actually help your diabetes, especially when you incorporate all the nutrient rich Mexican foods out there like beans, vegetables, and corn tortillas.
As a Latina dietitian, I want you to feel confident knowing that Mexican food and diabetes can go really well together. I’ve got some exciting resources coming soon to help you manage your diabetes while enjoying the Mexican food you love.
In the meantime, get started with a free one-week meal plan for Mexican food. (Note this meal plan is generally healthy, diabetes-friendly version coming super soon!). Get your copy when you sign up below.