Healthy eating with diabetes involves keeping your meals correctly balanced. Therefore, it is important to try to derive as much nutrition from your meals as possible.  Eating a variety of different foods helps to ensure that you are getting all of the nutrients you need.  It is also important, however, to not to eat too large of portions. Therefore, it is best to strategically plan your meals beforehand.

In order to help you keep your meals balanced, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) provides advice in the “Create Your Plate” section of their website, Diabetes.org. Basically, this section informs you of how to fill your plate at each meal to make certain that your diet is balanced. The website states that you should begin by dividing your plate in half. Half off the plate should be filled with non-starch vegetables such as carrots or broccoli. One-fourth of the plate should be filled with healthy carbohydrates. Whole-wheat products are the most beneficial. Finally, the remaining fourth of the plate should be filled with lean meats. Poultry cooked without the skin and fish are the best options, but you can also choose other lean cuts of meat such as pork loin or tenderloin.

 

Eating Out with Diabetes

 

There are time when eating with diabetes can be quite a struggle. One of the situations which will make healthy eating with diabetes difficult is eating out. This is particularly hard to do when you are surrounded by non-diabetics or in a buffet where you are surrounded by unhealthy temptations. To better cope with these types of situations, it is best to plan a little beforehand so that you have an idea of what you want to eat before you go. The ADA also recommends the following:

  • Order only what you need and want, and know how to make healthy food exchanges in case the restaurant doesn’t have what you want.
  • Ask about the serving size if you don’t already know, and try to eat the same portion size as you would at home.
  • Eat slowly.
  • Be sure to ask that the meat or fish is not broiled with extra butter. If you are on a low-sodium meal plan ask that no salt is added to your food.
  • Order your food plain. For example, order your baked potato plain and then top it yourself. Also ask for sauces, gravy, and salad dressings “on the side” to ensure that you do not eat too much.
  • You can find more tips about eating out by visiting Diabetes.org.

 

Eating Fruit with Diabetes

 

Fruits are a wonderful source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber and are an important part of healthy eating with diabetes. However, you must remember that fruit contains carbohydrate so you need to count it in your meal plan. It is best to eat fruit that is fresh, but if you are eating frozen or canned fruit, make sure that there are they have no added sugar. Choose fruits which have been canned in juice or light syrup. Also, remember that fruit juice is good for you, but you have to watch you portion sizes carefully.

 

Eating Right with Diabetes

 

Healthy eating with diabetes is not really about dieting to lose weight. It is about making life-style changes that have long-lasting effects on your physical wellbeing. Please review the following tips on healthy eating with diabetes:

  • Use a grocery list when shopping. This helps you to choose more fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
  • Don’t stress out about the foods you shouldn’t eat. Instead, try to focus on the foods that you should eat more of.
  • Buy whole grain breads and cereals.
  • Buy leaner forms of meat and low-fat dairy products.
  • Save money by buying less soda, sweets, chips, and other snack foods.