Diabetic Diet Menus
Diabetic Diet Menus
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Importance of Meal Planning
For most people, thinking about planning a weekÌs worth of meals, or even three meals for the day, is unimaginable. However, whether you are trying to lose weight, aiming to maintain weight, or controlling a health condition, such as diabetes, meal planning is the answer. With thought, preparation, and modifications to suit your lifestyle, daily or weekly menus function as your game plan to balanced, healthful food selection. Benefits of meal planning include:
* Controlled blood sugar/insulin
* Reduction and/or elimination of medications
* Weight management
* Controlled cholesterol and triglyceride levels
* Controlled blood pressure
* Less likely to skip meals
* Proper portions
* Less frustration about what to eat
Diabetic Menus
Adhering to practical food choices can make a profound difference to your blood glucose and insulin levels. That reason alone is enough to imagine doing the once unimaginable task of planning suitable and tasty meals. Meals do not have to be bland or severely restrictive. The most important feature of a daily menu is its mix of complex carbohydrates, such as grains, fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats.
The following diabetic diet menus will launch you on your way to a lifetime of healthy eating. Each menu supports adequate complex carbohydrate intake to discourage escalating glucose levels. The calorie totals range from 1200 Ò1500 per day. Providing yourself with a meal or snack at 2-3 hour intervals is highly recommended, as is always eating within 1 hour of waking. It is wise to seek the expertise of a nutritionist or other medical professional to help devise meal plans to meet your individual needs.
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Day 1
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Breakfast
1 small (2 oz.) bran muffin
? c. blueberries
1 c. fat-free milk
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Snack
1 small banana
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Lunch
Spinach salad with 2 tbs. reduced-fat dressing of choice
1 small whole-wheat pita
2 oz. low-sodium turkey breast
Lettuce leaves
Tomato slices
2 tsp. mustard
1 orange
1 c. fat-free milk
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Snack
20 almonds
6 oz. low-fat yogurt sweetened with sucralose (Splenda brand)
1 c. herbal tea or coffee
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Dinner
? lb. raw shrimp, grilled or saut»ed in small amount of olive oil
3/4 c. whole-wheat pasta
? c. black beans
1 c. steamed broccoli
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Day 2
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Breakfast
2 slices whole-wheat toast
2 tbs. peanut butter
1 small banana
1 c. tea or coffee
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Snack
1 c. herbal tea
? c. unsweetened applesauce
2 tbs. chopped walnuts
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Lunch
2 slices whole-wheat bread
3 oz. lean roast beef
2 tsp. mustard
1 c. raw or steamed cauliflower
1 c. tea or coffee
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Snack
1 c. fat-free milk
2 small fig cookies
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Dinner
3 oz. chicken breast, saut»ed with 1 c. of vegetables of choice
1 tbs. olive oil (for cooking)
2/3 c. cooked brown rice
1 c. fat-free milk
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Day 3
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Breakfast
3/4 c. bran cereal
1 c. strawberries
1 c. fat-free milk
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Snack
12 red or green grapes
? c. cottage cheese
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Lunch
1 serving (10 oz.) beef barley soup
1 multi-grain dinner roll
1 medium apple
1 c. tea or coffee
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Snack
? c. sunflower seeds
6 oz. low-fat yogurt sweetened with sucralose (Splenda brand)
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Dinner
6 oz. halibut or other white fish, broiled
2/3 c. whole-wheat couscous
Mixed green salad with 2 tbs. reduced-fat dressing
1 c. tea or coffee
