OBJECTIVE: to analyze the material and symbolic aspects of the food and diet involved in the management of diabetes among ill people assisted by primary care services. METHODOLOGY: this qualitative study was based on social representations and experience in the management of the disease. It involved the handling of food and diet among men and women diagnosed with type II diabetes and their families, living in a city in the state of São Paulo-Brazil, users of the primary care services. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and the thematic analysis identified structures of relevance, reference values and ways of action both reported and underlying the reports, which were analyzed in light of the purposes of the study and compared to the specialized literature. RESULTS: in the management of diabetes, the handling of food and diet by the ill people is not separate from the disease representations and experience, which are oriented by ideas, beliefs and by a set of daily adjustments and micro-decisions in order to control the adverse effects of the disease so that it is possible to live with and despite this condition. The ways of managing the food and diet are important components of diabetes control, extracted from the exclusive power of knowledge and medical and nutritional practices. CONCLUSION: the handling of food and diet in the chronic condition management is complex, involving issues related to the objective life conditions, socio-cultural dimensions, values and ideations, which permeate the ill people's representations and experience, being inserted in their life, social relations and in the characteristics of their social group.
Diabetes Mellitus; Diet; Food; Qualitative Research