Healthy Meal Plans for Diabetics
Introduction
Diabetics need to control their blood sugar levels with a healthy diet, exercise and oral medication or insulin injections. Healthy meal plans for diabetics don’t have to be bland and tasteless. In fact, the diabetic can choose foods that taste good just as long as they are low in saturated fat, sugar, sodium and cholesterol. As long as you take care to choose and cook foods that help you keep your blood sugar in check, you can eat almost anything that the non-diabetic can eat.
It’s important to follow a low-fat, low-sodium and low-sugar meal plan–if you do so, you’re ensuring that you’ll enjoy good health for longer. If you ignore a sensible meal plan, you’ll find yourself experiencing unwanted weight gain. Your blood sugar will go up and you may experience rises in your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. If you continue to eat an unhealthy diet, your body systems will suffer the ravages of uncontrolled blood sugar, e.g., your vision could deteriorate, you could suffer kidney damage and you can develop circulatory problems.
Snacks
Snacks are an important component of the healthy meal plan for diabetics. It’s important for you, as a diabetic, to maintain a regular blood glucose level and snacks can help you keep your blood glucose within a healthy range. Your snacks should be fat-free and sugar free. This doesn’t mean your snacks don’t have to taste good. Look for items like string cheese, light popcorn, sugar-free ice cream or sugar free puddings, according to the Buzzle website.
Eat fat free tortilla chips and salsa. The salsa adds heat and interest to your snack time and it’s fat free. Buy nuts like walnuts, cashews and almonds–unsalted. Buy fresh or frozen fruit–the carbohydrates help fill you up.
Breakfast
Make oatmeal or pour a bowl of dry cereal, add low fat or fat free milk, make a cup of coffee and you have a nutritious breakfast. Toast one slice of whole wheat bread and top it with one teaspoon of margarine spread. Scramble some egg substitute and pair this with the toast. Eat one half of a small banana or another fruit.
When you eat any of these items for breakfast, you’re eating from the whole grain, dairy, carbohydrate and protein groups.
Lunch
At lunch time, heat up one cup of vegetable soup and add four to six crackers. Make a sandwich or a hoagie, using two slices of whole grain bread or a hoagie roll, one oz. of turkey, one oz. of low fat cheese and one scant tsp of mayonnaise. Add vegetables like romaine lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and olives. Munch on a small apple for dessert.
You’ve eaten foods from the fruits and vegetables group, whole grain, protein and fat group for your lunch, and this should satisfy you until it’s time to eat a healthy mid-afternoon snack.
Dinner
Toss a small salad with two tbsp low fat salad dressing. Follow this up with four oz. of broiled fish or a lean meat topped with oregano and basil, two thirds cup of brown rice, one whole grain dinner roll spread with one tsp margarine spread, one fourth cup of a cooked vegetable and, for dessert, four unsweetened canned apricot halves and one small slice of angel food cake.
You’ve chosen foods from the whole grain, fruits and vegetables, protein, dairy and fat groups with this meal. Healthy meal plans for diabetics draw from foods your family can eat; you don’t have to buy special food. All you have to do is eat a sensible, healthy diet.
References
Buzzle.com: Meal Plans for Diabetics https://www.buzzle.com/articles/meal-plans-for-diabetics.html
American Diabetes Association: Diabetes Meal Plans and a Healthy Diet https://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/diabetes-meal-plans-and-a-healthy-diet.html