4 Frustratingly Common Myths About Diabetes and Blood Sugar, Busted by Diabetes Educators

You’ve got a continuous glucose monitor telling you your blood sugar levels are up. Now you’re stressing. Too much blood sugar is bad, right? And you didn’t realize that brown rice would make your levels rise that much. Is it too high? Should you give up carbs, or drink a shot of vinegar? You don’t have diabetes, but it was suggested by your favorite influencer as a high-tech method to hack your metabolic health. Yet all this data has left you more confused than ever.

Of course, blood sugars are an important piece of your overall health. There are valid recommendations for optimizing blood sugars. But the truth sometimes gets lost in the social media flood. Our brains are inundated with suggestions and warnings—often with zero scientific backing.

Fearmongering is never the answer to improving well-being. Neither is information overload. These diabetes experts are looking to address common myths about diabetes to give you peace of mind—and help you better navigate the condition if you do have it.

4 common myths about diabetes and blood sugar that experts want you to ignore

1. Myth: Having a higher weight automatically means you’ll develop diabetes

The reality: Weight and BMI are not the only things that can influence your overall health or diabetes risk.

Esther Tambe, RDN, CDN, CDNES, is a weight-inclusive dietitian who commonly hears this myth about diabetes. “An assumption about [health] related to body size leads to misdiagnosis, and is a prime example of how weight stigma and weight bias show up in diabetes care,” she says. Not all people with type 2 diabetes are fat, she says, and not all with type 1 are thin.

To be clear: Weight is not the only risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Others include age, family history, lack of physical activity, and having prediabetes or gestational diabetes, per the National Institutes of Health. (Experts don’t quite understand fully what makes someone develop type 1 diabetes, but age and family history are the biggest risk factors).

At the end of the day, your health is so much more than your size. Focusing on health-promoting behaviors like exercise and sleep, rather than a number on the scale, can benefit both your physical and mental well-being no matter if you have diabetes or not.

2. Myth: You can’t eat any carbs if you have diabetes

The reality: Nutrition for people with diabetes is nuanced (and can include carbohydrates). 

Carbohydrate foods like oats, fruit, and certain veggies are often shunned by people with diabetes (or who are looking to prevent it) because of potential blood glucose spikes. Justine Chan, RD, CDE, founder of Your Diabetes Dietitian, says this tactic may backfire. “Regularly avoiding desserts and other carbs can make you more tired and increase cravings. You may feel deprived and end up eating more of the food you crave, which can lead to high blood sugars.”

In general, statements like “don’t eat X food” can be more harmful than good, experts say. “This ‘don’t mindset’ sets individuals up for failure because it deprives [them] of key nutrients that are required for them to thrive. It is also not sustainable, which is essential for keeping blood sugar stable long term,” says Michelle Routhenstein, RD, CDCES, CDN, owner of Entirely Nourished.

So yes, you may have to be a bit more mindful of your sugar and carbohydrate intake with diabetes. But unless you have a food allergy or intolerance, there are no particular foods you need to outright avoid—carbs included.

3. Myth: Sugar-free foods are superior options when you have diabetes

The reality: Sugar-free foods come with their own unique drawbacks that not everyone will want to explore.

Replacing all of your food with sugar-free alternatives may be tempting. But sugar-free foods are often too good to be true. For starters, “many sugar-free foods are higher in sodium or fat than their full-fat alternatives,” says Amanda Lane, RD, CDCES, founder of Healthful Lane Nutrition. Basically, to make up for the flavor difference with lower sugar, brands add in sodium or fat—which might not mesh with your particular health goals.

Additionally, Chan says that some “sugar-free” ingredients like maltodextrin may still impact your blood glucose levels. And these non-nutritive sweeteners can cause their own unique side effects. “There are often other additives such as sugar alcohols that may cause gastrointestinal distress,” she adds. (So if you polish off a bag of sugar-free candy, you may be parking yourself in the bathroom.)

All that said, Lane generally recommends choosing foods that are naturally lower in added sugar. But if there’s a particular sugar-free item that you love, by all means enjoy it! Just don’t think of it as a silver bullet for diabetes.

4. Myth: Continuous glucose monitors are helpful even if you don’t have diabetes

The reality: This tech provides info that is unnecessary and potentially confusing for most people without diabetes.

Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are being marketed to people without diabetes as a way to track blood sugar and manipulate metabolism—but should they? Most diabetes experts think not. “There is little to no research to support its use in someone without diabetes, and it’s questionable if it improves health outcomes,” says Chan.

Judging by the limited research that does exist on the subject, people without diabetes may find their GCM tells them a whole lotta nothing. One small study from 2019 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism gave CGMs to 153 people without diabetes, and found that participants’ blood sugar levels were in the normal range 96 percent of the time.

“Having constant access to blood sugar information at your fingertips can be overwhelming,” Chan says, adding that not everyone handles the feedback correctly. For example, everyone’s blood sugar naturally goes up and down throughout the day in response to what you eat and other behaviors. But if you don’t know that, and you have a GCM, “you may respond inappropriately to the data, such as snacking after seeing a normal physiological drop in blood sugars,” Chan says. On the flip side, you may freak out over every post-meal rise in glucose (even though, again, that’s normal and expected).

Another concern of diabetes specialists is supply. “The use of CGMs by those who don’t need them can contribute to shortages of devices for those that genuinely need them to inform care, ” says Lane.

Where to get reliable information about diabetes

Between social media and powerful search engines, we have a lot of info at our fingertips. But there needs to be safeguards to avoid overwhelm and misinformation, particularly when it comes to managing a health condition like diabetes. “Everything we see online does not apply to everyone—especially nutrition and diabetes management,” says Tambe. “Diabetes management is not a one-size-fits-all approach; it is very individualized!”

Tambe suggests finding reputable and credible sources online—think doctors or dietitians who specialize in diabetes, governmental health organizations like the National Institutes of Health, or non-profits focused on diabetes like the American Diabetes Association.

You can also change the way your social media feed looks to ensure you’re getting legit information. “Take some time to unfollow all the people on your timeline that are sharing too much confusing or conflicting information that makes you feel negatively about yourself or your choices,” says Diana Mesa, RD, LDN, CDCES.

Taking steps to improve your health can be very empowering, and it shouldn’t be stressful. If it feels like it is all too much, take a step back. Changes can be relaxed, small, and gradual so that it is manageable and sustainable.