Diabetics often find that meal planning is one of the hardest challenges they face on a daily basis. The lists of what to eat and what not to eat can seem so daunting, it becomes a struggle to figure out what to do. Fortunately, there are some ways to plan a diabetes-friendly diet that are easy to understand and simple to follow.
The Divided Plate Method
Using your dinner plate, imagine a line down the middle of the plate--you can even draw one with a food-grade marker. Divide the plate again on one side so that you end up with three sections. Fill the largest section with non-starchy vegetables like greens, carrots, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, mushrooms or peppers. In one of the small sections, place starchy foods, such as whole grain breads, grits, rice, pasta, cooked beans, potatoes, green peas, corn or lima beans. In the other small section, place your meat or meat substitutes: skinless poultry, seafood, lean cuts of beef and pork, tofu, eggs or low-fat cheese. Add an 8 oz glass of non-fat or low-fat milk or a 6 oz. container of light yogurt. Top the meal off with a piece of fruit or a 1/2 cup fruit salad or fruit juice.
Low-Glycemic Method
Familiarize yourself with the glycemic index, which rates foods on a scale of 1 (low) to 100 (high), based on their level of carbohydrates and how fast they get into the bloodstream. Aim for foods with a low number--under a rating of 50 on the scale.
Many glycemic diet resources divide foods into red light, yellow light and green light categories. Red light foods are those you should avoid, such as most breakfast cereals, white bread products, fruits like watermelon and dates, starchy veggies like pumpkin and parsnips, and fried foods. Yellow light foods are ones you can eat in moderation, like bran bud cereals, bananas and pineapple, baked potatoes and basmati rice and ice cream. Green light foods are those you can eat more freely, including oat bran, brown rice, soy milk, nuts, lentils, grapefruit, strawberries and more non-starchy vegetables. Meat, poultry and fish are also low-glycemic, but they should be eaten in small quantities due to fat content.
Food Advisor Method
Try using a food advisor such as the one from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), listed below under Resources. You can search foods based on various nutrition criteria, compare a selected food to another food, or ask for a healthier alternative. Then add each food to your plate to get a grand total of calories, carbohydrates and other nutrients for a recipe, for an individual meal, or for an entire day's worth of meals. The database contains 5,000 foods, including restaurant entrees to make it relatively painless to stick to a healthy diet.
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