Healthy eating through diabetic meal planning is an important aspect of diabetes management. In most cases, your doctor is likely to recommend a dietitian or a diabetes educator to help you with your diabetic meal planning. A meal plan will be developed according to your specific needs such as the kinds of foods that you enjoy and current lifestyle. In addition, your meal plan will also focus on controlling calories to help you lose excess weight if you are facing obesity issues.
When you have type 2 diabetes, the type and amount of food you eat and when you eat affects your blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels go up after eating. You should try to eat about the same amount of food at about the same time each day to keep you blood glucose near normal levels. If you eat a big dinner one day and a small dinner the next, your blood glucose levels may fluctuate too much.
You should note that there is no single diabetes diet that is right for everyone. However, there are a few points that you should remember during your diabetic meal planning. Firstly, carbohydrates are especially important because they have the largest influence on blood glucose. You should eat about the same amount of carbohydrate-rich foods at about the same time each day. For instance, you can consume foods such as fruits, milk, starches (whole-grain bread, cereal or rice) and starchy vegetables (corn or potatoes) during your meal times. In addition, ensure that your starches come from whole grains because they contain fiber and many other nutrients and are digested and absorbed by the body more slowly than refined starches. This can help to maintain a steady glucose level in your body.
Another important aspect of diabetic meal planning involves the appropriate ratio of total calories to nutrients such as proteins and healthy fats. Depending on you circumstances, your dietitian may recommend slightly different percentages for you. The typical recommendations for the ratio of total calories to nutrients are as follows:
1. 45 to 65 percent consisting of carbohydrates
2. 12 to 20 percent consisting of proteins
3. 10 to 30 percent consisting of fats
In addition, you should limit your intake of foods that are high in cholesterol, such as egg yolks. Avoid high-fat foods and sweets because they provide a lot of calories but few nutrients. Keeping track of your calories intake can help you keep your blood sugar at as steady level and help you make adjustments for reaching weight goals.
By following the above guidelines, you should be able to easily develop an appropriate meal program to control your glucose level. Most important of all, you really have to diligently follow the plan for effective results to be seen from diabetic meal planning!
By: Sky Joe
Posts Tagged ‘Whole Grain Bread’
Diabetic Meal Planning Is A Must For All Diabetes Sufferers!
March 4th, 2010Gestational Diabetes Diet Guidelines
January 26th, 2010
Gestational Diabetes is when the glucose level in blood gets high while one is pregnant. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after the baby is born. But a pregnant woman who had gestational diabetes is at the increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in her life. This does not cause harm a lot to the baby.
Gestational diabetes if left untreated can cause the baby to produce more insulin thus gaining a lot of weight. This can sometimes result in a premature delivery.This leaves a pregnant woman to a greater dilemma what to eat and what not to eat. What is good for the baby might be bad for her glucose values and vice versa.
Following are some of the guidelines for the gestational diabetic diet.
–Do not skip meals. Rather take 5 meals at regular intervals.
–Eat the minimum amount of carbohydrates in the breakfast, as at this time insulin resistance is greatest in the body.
–Keep the amount of carbohydrates consistent in each meal.
–If suffering from morning sickness take 2 servings of crackers as the first thing in the morning before even getting down from the bed.
–Take frequently small meals the whole day and try to avoid foods rich in fats.
–Select foods that are high in their fiber content like pasta, rice, whole-grain bread, fruits and vegetables.
–Take foods that are low in sugar.
–Drink a minimum of 6 glasses of water.
–Take at least 4 servings of the dairy milk products.
–Take at least three servings of food rich in iron.
–Take at least one serving of food that contains vitamin C.
–Daily take at least one source of folic acid.
–Take at least one source of vitamin A every alternate day.
–Avoid alcohol, quit smoking during pregnancy.
–Limit caffeine intake..
–Do not try to loose weight during pregnancy.
By following the above mentioned guidelines pregnant women can very easily control not only their gestational diabetes but also morning sickness, fatigue and headaches.
By: Tehmina Mazher
Gestational Diabetes Diet Plan
October 30th, 2009
Here is a sample diet for gestational diabetes. This Gestational Diabetes Diet Plan is designed to work as an outline for further daily meal plans. This should be kept in mind that gestational diabetes is only a temporary phase and can be effectively controlled by diet alone. It is recommended that it should not be treated by other oral hypoglycemic drugs.
The goal of this diet plan is to provide a woman with proper energy, to ensure a steady nutritional supply along with the required increase in the weight of the body of the mother. This diet plan aims at healthy growth of the baby while controlling the sugar levels of the mother’s blood.
The key idea of this meal planning is that it should center on eating small foods throughout the day. These small meals keep the blood sugar levels in a healthy range as compared to the large meals. The sample diet for gestational diabetes is given below.
Breakfast
2 slices Whole grain bread
6 tsp Peanut butter
4 ounces Pure juice
Mid-morning Snack
1 apple
8 ounces cottage cheese
Lunch
8 ounces Bean soup
1 slice Whole Grain Crackers
2 ounces Low Fat Cheese
8 ounces Carrots
Mid-afternoon Snack
8 ounces Almonds
8 ounces Grapes
Dinner
6 ounces Fish
8 ounces boiled/steamed broccoli
8 ounces brown rice
8 ounces low fat milk
Evening Snack
5 cups air-popped popcorn (plain)
The goal of the above meal plan is to provide the pregnant woman with a steady supply of energy. The caloric need vary a lot from person to person. Still an average woman may require an extra 300 calories during the second and third trimester. But these calories should be loaded up with all the required minerals and vitamins. This diet plan should be accompanied by a plenty of fluid intake evenly distributed throughout the day. A snack just before bed time is recommended to avoid hypoglycemia during the night.
By: Tehmina Mazher
