An eating pattern similar to the traditional Mediterranean diet can be integrated with existing national guidelines for the management of diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Existing data suggest that the Mediterranean diet has health benefits, including improved glycemic control and reduced cardiovascular risk, and may offer benefits to diabetes patients and clinicians alike in terms of palatability, ease of explanation and use, and promotion of improved health.
Olive oil and vinegar
This excerpt is from an article by three dietitians writing in Diabetes Spectrum in 2009. Click through for details if interested.
—Steve
Reference: doi: 10.2337/diaspect.24.1.36 Diabetes Spectrum January 1, 2011 vol. 24, no. 1, p.36-40
Diabetic Mediterranean Diet 
One of the ideas of Florence Nightingale that truly elevated nursing and that the dietitians could learn from is to gather statistics on the efficacy of various treatments with their patients to see what actually works. As far as I can determine, the dietitians always propose some ideological nonsense and then when the patient deteriorates, they never gather their data and revise their opinions in order to be able to propose the best dietary treatment. Dr. Parker, do you actually see diabetics with high blood pressure get better when they cut the red meat and start eating more whole grains with their olive oil? Wouldn’t low carb better reduce the water retention and therefore lower the blood pressure (and incidentally the hyperglycemia)?