Social representations of feeding people with type-2 diabetes mellitus

The aim of this study was to analyze the social representations of the diets 34 patients of the Brazilian public primary care service diagnosed with type- 2 diabetes mellitus, according to how they represent their identity. Free association of words was used with responses to questions to survey social representations of food. Representations of identity were adopted from a previous study with the same participants. Normal participants eat healthily, eat little, eat greens and vegetables, avoid sweets, have positive attitudes, and maintain healthy eating habits and regular blood glucose levels. Participants who accept having the disease do not eat a lot, do not eat everything, avoid sweets, have an attitude of acceptance, and maintain inadequate eating habits and uncontrolled blood glucose. Participants with difficulties do not eat everything, do not eat a lot, do not follow the diet and eat vegetables and fruits, and have negative attitudes and altered blood glucose.