Diabetic Meal Plans

Meal planning when you’re diabetic is more difficult because you need to stay away from certain foods, and watch how much you eat of others in order to maintain both your blood sugar and in many cases your weight.

The American Diabetes Association has created a diabetes food pyramid to help you make healthier food choices.

The Diabetes Food Pyramid is a little different than the USDA Food Guide Pyramid because it groups foods based on their carbohydrate and protein content instead of their classification as a food.

The Diabetes Food Pyramid divides food into six groups, with the largest group — grains, beans, and starchy vegetables — on the bottom and the smallest group — fats, sweets, and alcohol — at the top of the pyramid.  The idea is to eat the most foods from the largest group and the least from the smallest group for a healthy diet.

Creating a diabetic meal plan from the diabetes food pyramid makes it much easier to figure out what you can and can’t eat.  You should work with a dietitian to determine the best meal plan for your health needs.

Diabetic Meal Planning

One of the reasons I started meal planning is because my dh (along with several other family members) has diabetes.

If you have diabetes, you know that what you eat is very important.  Eat the wrong foods, and you can feel poorly or worse, cause even more severe health problems.

Many people with diabetes are also overweight, so they need to monitor their blood glucose levels, but also to maintain or reduce their weight.

As busy as people are today it’s hard enough to eat right, but it’s even harder when you have to worry about monitoring your blood sugar and keeping your weight down.

Meal planning can help people with diabetes improve their blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol and also help them keep their weight on track.

Your doctor or dietitian can help you get started with a meal plan that is best for you.  Once you get the hang of it, diabetic meal planning can be fun and easy, and the whole family will benefit by eating healthier.