Mailbag: Can A Diabetic Enjoy Desserts? The Surprising Answer
By
Dr. Scott Olson, ND
Posted April 15, 2025
“If you have diabetes, may you eat a very few sweets in a week?”
—Sweet Tooth
Hi Sweet Tooth,
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition where your body either resists the effects of insulin (a hormone that regulates sugar in your blood) or doesn’t produce enough of it to maintain normal blood sugar levels.
Insulin works like a key to unlock sugar from your food, allowing it to enter your cells and be used as energy. With type 2 diabetes, this system doesn’t work correctly. Either the key doesn’t work well (insulin resistance) or there aren’t enough keys (insufficient insulin production).
This causes sugar to build up in your bloodstream instead of moving into your cells. It’s why, when my patients come asking about eating a limited number of sweets, I’m clear in my answer.
With diabetes, we need to be extremely cautious about ANY sugar consumption. Uncontrolled diabetes increases the risk of many serious diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and dementia.
However, the severity of someone’s diabetes matters as well.
Typically, I tell my patients if their blood sugar is well controlled (A1C below seven percent), then a small treat once or twice a week might be manageable if they:
- monitor their blood sugar regularly
- keep portions tiny
- time it carefully to be after a protein-rich, fiber-filled meal
- exercise immediately afterward
However, for those patients with poorly controlled diabetes (A1C above seven percent), I explain that eating any added sugars is playing with fire.
Even small amounts of sugar can trigger dangerous blood sugar spikes. And each spike can damage nerves and blood vessels. The risks far outweigh any momentary pleasure.
I get it. Giving up sugary sweets is hard. In fact, our brains are essentially hardwired to crave the stuff. But there are some tasty alternatives that can satisfy a sweet tooth while not sending blood sugar soaring.
- A small handful of berries (nature’s candy, but with blood-sugar balancing fiber)
- Cinnamon-dusted apple slices (the cinnamon helps with blood sugar control)
- Unsweetened coconut flakes
- A square of 90 percent or higher dark chocolate (very occasionally)
I also encourage them to consider a few blood-sugar-supporting supplements—especially if they have a sweet tooth. My topic picks are…
- Berberine (nature’s metformin)
- Gymnema sylvestra (makes sweets taste less appealing!)
- Alpha-lipoic acid
- Chromium
With diabetes, you’re already fighting an uphill battle with blood sugar control, so it’s best to avoid anything that makes it harder for your body to get the job done. While resisting the siren call of sugary sweets can be difficult, it gets easier with time.
P.S. Science finally reveals WHY we crave comfort foods (and the FIX!).
Written By Dr. Scott Olson, ND
Nearly 25 years ago, failed mainstream medical treatments left Dr. Olson in constant pain – and his health in ruins. And that’s when he did something REVOLUTIONARY. He began his career in medicine – and dedicated his life to uncovering the true, underlying causes of disease.
Through his innovative medical practices in Tennessee and Colorado, Dr. Olson has helped cure countless seniors from across America of arthritis… heart disease… diabetes… and even cancer. All without risky prescription drugs or painful surgeries.
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