Top 5 Diabetes Diet Tips for Creating Healthy Meal Plan

Diet plays a key role in controlling your blood sugar. Ahealthy-eating plan tailored to your needs will do that and more. Majority ofpeople affected with diabetes are overweight or obese. In fact, your risk ofgetting diabetes increases the more weight you put on.

So controlling your diet can be the key to reducing therisk of diabetes as well as improving your symptoms if you are already affectedby this disease people often refer to as “the silent killer.”

Everybody knows that maintaining a good diet is a healthychoice for every person. But for diabetes patients, this statement meanssomething more significant than the recent fad over healthy living.

For diabetes patients, having a healthy diet means eatingin a way that reduces the risk for complications that are commonly associatedwith their conditions, including heart disease and stroke. For them, a healthydiet could mean the difference between die-abetesand live-abetes.

Eating healthy involves eating a wide variety of foodsthat encompasses the whole diet spectrum of vegetables, whole grains, fruits,non-fat dairy products, beans, lean meats, poultry, and fish.

No, you do not have to eat all of that, but a little bit of this and that enough to balancethe three basic food groups (Go, Grow, and Glow) is what you should aim for.

Tip #1: Preparing aMeal Plan

When you go on a diabetes diet, the first things you needto do is to prepare a meal plan. This will serve as your guide to how much andwhat kinds of food you can choose to eat at meals, and even at snack times ifyou wish to include that.

Now, be sure that your meal plan fits in with yourschedule and eating habits. That way you will not be likely to ruin your dietsimply because your work schedule conflicts with your meal schedule.

Keep in mind your end-goal: To keep your blood glucose inlevels that are easy enough to maintain.

In addition to that somewhat myopic diet goal fordiabetes, you also want to follow a meal plan that will help you improve yourblood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as keep your weight on track.

All these – blood pressure, cholesterol and weight – arefactors that contribute to the worsening of your diabetes symptoms, socontrolling them could very well mean controlling your diabetes.

When preparing a meal plan, be sure to balance uptake anddown take – that is, food and exercise, respectively. Additionally, your doctormay have prescribed you with insulin or oral medications to help you manageyour condition.

Take those medications into account as well when you planyour meal plan, making sure that the food is balanced with the drugs. The wholething sounds like it’s a lot of work but with a few suggestions from yourphysician and/or dietician you can start building a meal plan that is best foryou and your condition.

Tip #2: Use theDiabetes Food Pyramid

The Diabetes Food Pyramid, released by the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture (USDA) is composed of six food groups (arranged accordingto how much you should eat from the least to the most and based on carbohydrateand protein content):

Fats, sweets, and alcohol

-Milk

-Meat, meat substitutes, and other proteins

-Fruits

-Vegetables

-Grains, beans, and starchy vegetables

Fats, sweets, and alcohol are the one food group thatdiabetes patients should avoid.

The problem with diabetes involves a certain malfunctionin the way our bodies make use of glucose in the blood. It is either there istoo much glucose in our blood because we ate too much food rich in sugar sothat the hormone responsible for regulating glucose – insulin – is unable tocope. Or, our cells are defective so that even though we have enough insulin tohandle the job, our cells do not respond.

In order to control the levels of glucose in the bloodstream, controlling diabetes diet is important. The intake of fats, sweets, andalcohol and other generally “unhealthy” foods should be minimized and only forspecial treats.

As for the rest of the food groups, here are the servingsizes recommended by the American Diabetes Association:

-Meat and Meat Substitutes: 4-6 oz. per day and divided between meals. This is equivalent to ¼ cup cottage cheese, 1 egg, 1 tbsp peanut butter, or ½ cup tofu.

-Milk: 2-3 servings per day

Fruit: 2-4 servings per day

-Vegetables: 3-5 servings per day

-Grains and Starches: 6-11 servings per day, equivalent to 1 slice of bread, ¼ of a bagel, or ½ of an English muffin or pita bread.

Use this Diabetes Food Pyramid only as a guide in planningyour meals. If you want a more individualized option, consult your dietician.

Tip #3: Draw Lineson Your Plate

Another good way to ensure that you are eating a balanceddiet is to draw a line across your plate. It could only be an imaginary line.As you sit there for a meal, the exercise might even prove to be fun.

The first step, of course, is to imagine that you aredrawing a line through the center of your plate. Then, divide one of the halvesinto two.

Then, fill this section with grains or starchy foods, suchas rice, pasta, potatoes, corn, or peas.

The other section should comprise your meat and meatsubstitute group – meat, fish, poultry, or tofu.

Next, fill half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables.You can place there broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, salad, tomatoes, andcauliflower.

Last, add a glass of milk and a small piece of roll, andeh voila! You are ready to eat.

Tip #4: Reading FoodLabels

With food labels, it all comes down to the NutritionFacts. It’s that list of nutrition information found on the package of foodssold in the grocery store. Reading food labels can help you make wise choicesabout the foods you buy. The labels will tell you what ingredients were used,the amount of calories, and other pertinent information essential to a diabetespatient.

For instance, a typical food label would contain the totalamounts per serving for the following nutrients:

-Calories

-Total fat

-Saturated fat

-Cholesterol

-Sodium

-Total carbohydrate

-Fiber

Use the nutrition facts found in food labels to comparesimilar types of foods and buy the one that contains fewer calories, lowerfats, cholesterol, etc.

Pay close attention to free foods like sugar-free gelatindesert, sugar-free ice pops, sugarless gum, diet soft drinks, and sugar-freesyrups. Just because they are called “free” does not mean they are entirelyfree of calories so don’t be overconfident. Instead, read the label. Most freefoods should have less than 20 calories and 5 grams of carbohydrates perserving.

Another thing, “no-sugar added” means no sugar was addedduring the manufacture and packaging of the foods. The ingredients do notinclude sugar. However, the food may be high in carbohydrates still so be sureto read the label carefully.

Fat-free foods could still mean that they contain lots ofcarbohydrates. Often, they contain almost the same amount of calories as thefoods they replace so be sure to pay attention to the label. Buying fat-freefoods instead of regular foods does not necessarily mean that you are making awise choice.

Tip #5: A Word aboutSweets

Now, you know that sweets are generally discouraged amongdiabetes patients. However, having diabetes does not necessarily mean that youcannot have sweets. Imagine how bad life can be for the sweet tooth withdiabetes. But as long as you keep your intake of sweets in moderation, there isno reason you have to eschew sugar from your life forever. After all, glucose(sugar) is still the most basic source of energy that the body needs.

So sweeten your foods with these following options:

-Sugar and other sweeteners with calories: honey, brown sugar, molasses, fructose, cane sugar, and confectioners sugar

-Reduced calorie sweeteners: erythritol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol

-Low calories sweeteners: ascelfume potassium, aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose

Research has overturned the long standing belief thatsugar caused diabetes. The new studies show us that sugar has in fact the sameeffect on blood glucose levels as other carbohydrates like bread and potatoes.Based on this discovery, experts agree that a diabetic can now consume sugar aslong as they incorporate it into their meal plan the way they would with anyordinary carbohydrate-containing foods.

Now that you have been pointed to the right direction withthese tips to improve your diabetes diet, you can go ahead and live ahealthier, fuller life where nothing – no carb nor sweets – is denied you, aslong as you keep it all in moderation.