Today I saw a few ads on line about how you can improve your diet through not eating this or through eating a lot of a certain type of food and it makes me wonder –
What type of diabetic diet meal plan really works for people?
There are certainly enough prescription drugs out there that you can inject or swallow to overcome a lot of your food intake. Take for example, insulin. If your blood sugar is high, you take more insulin, right? Oh, wait, you have some insulin resistance… so it will take a lot more insulin to get the result you want. Which is not good, because insulin costs a lot and it’s well known for its ability to pack on the fat. (Insulin actively turns the sugar in your blood into fat as a storage device because we used to need the extra energy as cavemen and women)
So maybe you can’t medicate your way out of a diabetic diet meal plan. And that means you should probably just go ahead and find one that works. How do you know it works? It fits you and your habits with a little change. Like not so many servings or eating a few more vegetables.
1. A diabetic diet meal plan will allow you to eat a variety of foods and not just a limited range of foods. A meal plan needs to let you know how much of each type of food that YOU like that you can eat. It cannot be all about eat only this and eliminate that. You have to be able to choose from a range of foods and understand how those fit into your life and your diabetes. It’s about learning to live with your diabetes, not always resisting it.
2. A diabetic diet meal plan does not totally eliminate any food group – it helps you manage the amounts you eat. You can’t tell someone who loves ice cream that they can’t eat it anymore because of their diabetes. They will limit that for about 2 days then binge. A meal plan needs to show you how all foods can fit into a healthy diet. Maybe you give up part of a portion of dinner and you can have ice cream. It’s a balancing act, but you will never survive nor succeed if you always are trying to avoid the things that you love. Find out how much you can have and eat that much. No more or less. And don’t eliminate entire food groups, it’s only going to make you want them more!
3. A diabetic diet meal plan helps you to remember when you should test, eat and take your medications. Yes, it serves as a daily note to write down what you ate, your blood sugar numbers and how much medication you had to take. If you are documenting food portions and amounts, it will help you get control of your diabetes much more quickly because the system is showing you what you are doing wrong. SO if you are eating breakfast, part of that routine involves taking a blood sugar, and having a plan and reviewing it reminds you to take care of that process.
It’s important to understand your highs and lows in blood sugar control, and a meal plan that allows you to document the amounts eaten and insulin taken and blood sugar measurement is sure to be invaluable.
Ok, enough of my high horse. But I want you to know that having a meal plan when you become diabetic is a valuable tool to build your success. Whether you listen to the dietitian who gave you what to eat or not, understand that taking that information and using it wisely is a big part of helping your doctor provide care for you. You can also note what makes you feel better with blood sugar control because you are eating throughout the day and the right amounts.
We provide diabetic diet meal plans based on the amount of calories that you need – 1200 – 1400, 1500 – 1800 or over 1900 calories a day. These are part of the weekly plan that we provide that has recipes, nutritional information and guidance about how much of each type of component is appropriate. Plus they are made for the entire family to enjoy, so check them out and see if they are for you.
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