As ethandron says, best to steer clear of specialist diabetic foods, apart from being more expensive, they sometimes contain a sugar substitute which can cause "the runs" when taken in large quantities. If you look around good bookshops or online you can find some good diabetic cookbooks as well. Diabetes UK is a good source of information too but the diabetes team at your FIL's hospital should give him all the information he needs and I'm certain the dietician will advise him of the foods to eat and to steer clear of. Basically, it's a really good healthy diet, not too much in the way of carbs and sugars. Things have improved since my daughter was diagnosed, more than 20 years ago, nowadays there are so many sugar free foods available, than there was back then.