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Meal Planning Tips For Diabetics

By: Susanne Myers Once you are diagnosed with diabetes, your life changes. Along with appropriate medication, you also have to get regular exercise and most importantly, you have to pay a lot more attention to what you eat and when you eat. In addition to taking some medication, a proper diet is your best weapon in fighting this widespread disease. That’s why your physician will suggest you make some changes to what and how often you eat. These changes are an important part of getting your blood sugar levels under control and keeping you well and healthy for years to come.

It will take you a little while to get used to this new way of eating. Try planning your meals for a while to help you get used to these new eating habits. It’s a very powerful tool to keep yourself on track to eating healthy, low sugar and low fat foods. Start by making a list of the foods you should be eating including lean meats, vegetables, salad, and whole grains, while staying away from sugars, processed foods and excess fat. Your physician and a nutritionist are both valuable resources for helping you make those lists of appropriate foods.

Then sit down with a cookbook for diabetics, or look for recipes on line and in magazines and pick 7 of them. You’ll only have to do this in the beginning while you are getting used to the new way of cooking. After a couple of weeks you should have a nice stack of recipes to work with. Write down each dish and recipe reference for each day of the week. I like to write the recipes on blank index cards so I can have them next to me at the stove when I’m cooking.

You may want to do the same for breakfast, lunch and snacks. Keep your menu plan on the fridge or on a bulletin board in the kitchen for easy reference. I mostly tend to eat the same two or three things for breakfast and a sandwich, salad or dinner leftovers for lunch. For snacks, I try to keep some high protein, low carb food like boiled eggs or some raw veggies close by.

Last but not least, get out a blank sheet of paper and jot down everything you need to buy at the grocery store to prepare each meal for the week. Add whatever else you may need and head to the store. The list will make sure you get everything you but it is also a tool to help you avoid buying any foods you’re not really supposed to be eating anyway. Not only will you stick to your new way of eating, you’ll also save money by not buying anything you’ll just toss out later.

Having every meal laid out for you and having just what you need to prepare those dishes along with some healthy snacks in the house will make it easier for you to stick to your new nutritional plan and help you keep your blood sugar levels under control.