Meal Planning for Diabetes Management

In March 2005, the Canadian Diabetes Association published a new meal planning guide called “Beyond the Basics: Meal Planning for Healthy Eating, Diabetes Prevention and Management”. The new guide is more compatible with Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating and features major changes to the names of Food Groups and carbohydrate choice values. For more information, please visit the Canadian Diabetes Association Web site.

Food is one of the main factors that directly impacts blood glucose levels — and one you can control.

Did you know there's no such thing as a "diabetes diet" anymore? What's important is how the food you eat affects your blood glucose levels.

The more you know about nutrition, the easier it is to make good food choices. When you make healthy choices, your body should feel better and your blood glucose is more likely to be in control.

Meal planning is one of the most powerful tools available to control diabetes. Meal planning for diabetes management means putting together a daily eating plan that includes healthy foods in the proper amounts. Meal planning can help you:

• Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight
• Improve blood glucose control
• Improve control of blood fats (cholesterol and triglycerides)
• Improve or control high blood pressure
• Make better use of your body's own insulin
• Feel good
• Improve overall health

General Recommendations for People with Diabetes

• Enjoy a variety of foods
• Choose whole grain bread and cereals over white bread and processed cereals
• Include vegetables and fruits in your daily diet
• Choose lower-fat dairy products, leaner meats, and foods prepared with little or no fat
• Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight by enjoying regular physical activity* and healthy eating
• Limit salt, alcohol, and caffeine 

* Be sure to talk to your health care professional before beginning or changing an exercise program.