Contents
Diabetes Diet Plan
A diabetes diet plan is your guide for when what, and how much to eat to get the nutrition you need while keeping your blood sugar levels in your target range.
You’ll want to plan for regular, balanced meals to avoid high or low blood sugar levels. Eating about the same amount of carbs at each meal can be helpful. There are some simple methods that can help you in planning a healthy diabetes diet.
Why A Diabetes Diet Plan?
If your blood pressure is more than normal for a prolonged time, you have the risk of developing several health complications. To avoid these complications of high blood pressure, you will need to control your diabetes. Eating healthy is one easy way to control your blood sugar levels. A diabetes diet plan is based on eating three meals a day at regular times. This helps you better use the insulin that your body produces or gets through medication. The plan also helps you resist the intake of extra calories and fat.
Carbohydrates in the food you eat raise your blood sugar levels. How fast carbs raise your blood sugar depends on what the food is and what you eat with it. With the help of a meal plan, you can keep your weight in check too. Having optimum weight also helps in controlling blood sugar levels.
How To Plan Your Meals?
You can help keep your blood glucose level in a safe range by making healthy food choices and tracking your eating habits.
- For Morning tea/coffee – Always drink sugar-free coffee or tea in the morning and replace cookies and salty snacks with dry fruits like almonds and pista.
- For breakfast- You can have oats, whole grain cereals like daliya, upma, cheela, and sprouts. You can also go for a smoothie of low glycemic fruits and non-starchy vegetables.
- For lunch and dinner- you have to be really careful with what and how much you eat.
Foods to Include In Your Diet
You are recommended to count calories while eating foods. Prefer healthy carbohydrates, rich-fiber food items, fish, and good fats for good health.
Healthy Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are of two types. One is simple carbohydrates and another is complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates digest easily and can cause blood sugar spikes in diabetics. Whereas, complex carbohydrates take time to digest. Therefore, it is recommended to eat complex carbs food for diabetics.
Fiber-rich Food
Fibers are components of food that cannot be digested or absorbed. So, fiber-rich food helps in managing sugar levels in the bloodstream.
To ensure you include all the essential nutrients you can follow-
Plate Method
It’s easy to eat more food than you need without realizing it. The plate method is a simple, visual way to make sure you get enough non-starchy vegetables and lean protein while limiting the amount of higher-carb foods you eat that have the highest impact on your blood sugar.
Start with a 9-inch dinner plate (about the length of a business envelope):
- Fill it half with nonstarchy vegetables, such as salad, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.
- Fill one quarter with lean protein, such as chicken, turkey, beans, tofu, or eggs and if you are vegetarian you can include pulses like daal, rajma, chole, and paneer.
- The rest of one quarter can be filled with carb foods. Foods that are higher in carbs include grains that are chapati, starchy vegetables (such as potatoes and peas), rice, beans, fruit, and yogurt. A cup of milk also counts as a carb food. But you should remember that quantity is the key. Do not eat anything more than required.
For Snacks– You can eat some fruits like berries, apricot, avocado etc. you can also consider some other beneficial foods like yogurt, almonds, paneer, and roasted chana, etc.
Foods A Diabetes patient Should Avoid
You should avoid processed and packaged foods and should rather go for fresh foods. Replace packed juices with fresh juices. Also, avoid deep-fried foods and refined floors containing food like pasta.
White bread and sugary drinks should also be avoided for maintaining a healthy sugar level.
Alcohol consumption should be avoided or kept to a minimum.
A Word From MantraCare
Do you want to get rid of diabetes? Join our online diabetes consultation program and reverse your Diabetes naturally through lifestyle changes such as a Personalized Diet plan, Exercise, dieticians, and health coaches.
