What should I consider when creating a diabetes meal plan?

If you have diabetes, you are the most important person to consider when choosing a healthy meal plan. Your plan should reflect your goals, needs, tastes, and lifestyle. Your provider and dietitian may recommend certain goals, but you will be the one who chooses a meaningful and realistic plan.

Keep in mind that a healthy meal plan for you is a healthy meal plan for anyone -- with or without diabetes. You don’t have to worry about following some strange diet involving weird foods that no one else in your family will want to touch. You can choose foods that will benefit everyone in your family. Often, family members will not even realize that they are eating a “diabetes meal plan.”

Your meal plan should make it easier -- not harder -- to manage your blood glucose: 

• Include foods you like and that are important to you.

• Take into account your daily activities and schedule.

• Be flexible

• A plan should help you keep your blood glucose levels within your target
  range.

• A plan should help you reach and maintain a healthy weight

• Choose foods that will help prevent diseases and conditions, such as
   heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. 

The most important thing to consider is carbohydrate content of food that directly affects your blood glucose. Portion sizes and types of food are important to maintain a healthy weight and promote heart health. A Registered Dietitian can help you to create an individual diabetic meal plan prescribed to you based on your lifestyle, gender, age, height, goal weight, blood glucose and insulin goals and preferences. 

First consider creating a eating routine that includes small meals and snacks throughout the day. This is will help balance blood sugar levels. Second is to check in with your health care provider and registered dietitian about your weight status... if you need to lose weight, create a plan that will help you lose at least 10% of your body weight, the reduction in weight can help balance blood sugar levels out! And last but not least: work in exercise...which can help rev the metabolism to lose weight, all which will help your blood sugar control (check with your health care provider first!

Consistently tune into the following factors when choosing your foods for a diabetes meal plan and you'll be rewarded with stable blood sugar, insulin, and energy levels throughout the day.

Glycemic load: Glycemic load (GL) measures how much carbohydrates in a food affect your blood sugar level. (Carbohydrates is the food group that impacts blood sugar the most; protein and fat don't as much.) Factors such as fiber content, serving size, and even shape come into play when the body is breaking down food into sugar molecules. The more challenging a food is to break down, the slower it digests and the more stable your blood sugar will be. Foods made with refined carbs, such as white pasta, are digested quickly and have a higher GL that causes blood sugar to rise rapidly, but foods made with complex carbs, such as whole-wheat pasta, have a lower GL that has a much smaller effect on blood sugar.

Portion size: Excessive portion sizes can impact blood sugar. A large meal means more sugar (from carbohydrates) enters the bloodstream at one time. Eating smaller portions beefed up by low GL snacks, such as nuts, keeps your blood sugar even throughout the day.

Shape of food: Food that's in its full "package," such as a whole grain, takes longer to digest than food that's been partially or fully processed. Whole barley, for instance, has a GL that's less than half that of cracked barley.

Food combinations: What you eat with your carbohydrates matters, too. Protein and fat slow the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream, which helps prevent (insulin) spikes and drops. Pairing an apple with peanut butter or serving rice with beans and avocado can lessen the blood-sugar impact of the whole plate.

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