Plan Ahead For Healthy Meals
Planning healthier meals and snacks can go a long way to helping you reach your goals. Talk to your registered dietitian or health-care team about the amount of carbohydrates that are right for you and for help with meal planning. A weekly meal plan will help you shop for the right foods and encourage more cooking at home.
Benefits Of Meal Prep
Meal Prepping is an excellent way for those of us living with diabetes to:
- Save time. By spending a few hours preparing your meals ahead of time, youll save time throughout the rest of the week. When youre tired after a long day, instead of stressing about having to cook, you can simply heat up whats in your fridge.
- Make healthier choices. No more last-minute takeout or trips to the drive-thru when youve made food thats healthy and youll enjoy.
- Save money. Think about how much you spend dining out. How much food at the grocery store can you buy with that? Instead of dining out, buy your favorite ingredients and work them into your meal plan.
- Keep healthy portions. Whether youre aiming for better glucose management or another health goal, meal prep gives you the opportunity to control your portion sizes and ingredients in your dishes.
- Avoid waste. When you make the food youll enjoy, youre more likely to eat it and less likely to waste food.
How To Get Started
Meal planning can be broken down into 5 simple steps.
Step 1: Talk with your family about foods they like. Think about how they can be a part of well-balanced meals that help you avoid high and low blood sugar levels.
Step 2: Shop at home. Before you head to the store or order your groceries for delivery, look at what you have at home. Do you need to use up produce before it spoils? Make a list of the foods you have on hand to help you choose recipes. Low on staples such as beans, oil, or pasta? Add them to your grocery list.
Step 3: Find recipes that match your familys tastes and your health goals. Start by looking at recipes you know your family loves. Are there ways to make them healthier? If you want to add new meals, save recipes from newspapers, magazines, or food blogs.
Step 4: Using what you learned in steps 13, fill out a diabetes meal planner pdf icon to track what you plan to make and when. Consider:
- Making meals during a time of day or day of the week when you are less rushed.
- Choosing one day to make meals in advance.
- Using a theme for each day of the week. Your family may enjoy the routine, and it can be fun! Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, or Whole-Grain Wednesdays are just a few ideas.
Interactive tools can help you with healthy meal planning.
Step 5: Make your grocery list. Whether you use a pen and paper or an app, know what you needand what you dontbefore you shop.
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Tips For Success With The Low
TIP 1: Use the Low-Carb Diabetic Meal Plan as a Guide.
If you find recipes you arent crazy about, and like other recipes better, double up on the ingredients and eat more of the meals/snacks you like.
TIP 2: You Decide the Order.
All meals and snacks are similar in macronutrient amounts. Therefore, you can switch meals and snacks. Just make sure to switch a snack for a snack and a breakfast for a breakfast, etc.
For Example: If you really like a certain lunch from the meal plan, eat that lunch again instead of a lunch you dont think youll love as much. Same with any of the breakfast, dinner, or snack options.
TIP 3: Use This Low-Carb Diabetic Meal Plan as a Starting Point.
This meal plan should not be a quick fix diet, but a starting point for you to have some great diabetic friendly meals to use as staples in the future. After trying these recipes, take your favorites and make them a part of your usual routine for better blood sugar and weight loss maintenance.
TIP 4: Adjust for Your Calorie Needs.
Each day of meals and snacks equals about 1200 calories per day. If you have higher needs for your goals, add or subtract to the given meals and snacks to get the number of calories you need.
Egg and Chicken Frittata
How To Make Chicken And Egg Salad
The beauty of this recipe is how easy it is:
Step 1: Cook the chicken breast in the oven at 360 F for 20 minutes . You can check out my guide on How To Cook The Perfect Chicken Breast for a few tips and tricks to cook the juiciest chicken breast youve ever had!
Step 2: Cook the eggs for 8 minutes. You want them hardboiled.
Step 3: Mix fat-free mayo with curry powder. A LOT of curry powder.
Step 4: Cut the chicken breasts and eggs into bite-sized pieces and fold them into the curry mayo.
Step 5: Place the salad in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. It tastes much better when its slightly cool. In fact, leaving it overnight will allow the flavors to combine and intensify, making the salad even better.
Thats it! You can make a huge batch of this delicious meal just 25 minutes. And 20 of those minutes are just waiting while the chicken breast is in the oven.
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What To Eat With Diabetes:
- Chicken
- Nuts, peanuts and natural nut butters that don’t contain sugar
- Olive and avocado oil
- Fruits, especially fruits with skin and seeds, like berries, apples and pears
- Vegetables, especially low-carb nonstarchy vegetables, which is most vegetables except corn, peas and potatoes
- Higher-fiber complex carbohydrates, like oatmeal, quinoa and starchy vegetables
- Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup unsalted dry-roasted almonds
Lentil And Sweet Potato Chili
Cooking large-batch portions of healthy meals such as chili means you can enjoy them the entire week and cut down on weekday cooking, Weisenberger says. Plus, you can eat chili several different ways so you dont get bored. Enjoy this chili in a bowl one night, then cold in a wrap with diced chicken, and finally in a bell pepper a third time, she recommends.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon canola or extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 2 large bell peppers, cut into bite-size pieces
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped or crushed
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 large sweet potato , peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1¼ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cup green lentils, dry
- 1 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
- 12 fluid ounces low-sodium vegetable juice
- 4 cups vegetable broth
Directions
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How To Find Your Daily Calorie Need
We all have different calorie needs. Your daily calorie need depends on your size, fitness level, daily activity, gender, etc.
When you are creating a healthy diabetes meal plan, your first step should therefore always be to calculate your calorie equilibrium, or how many calories you need each day to maintain your current weight.
You can learn exactly how to find your calorie equilibrium with 5 easy steps in this post: How to Find Your Daily Calorie Need.
Once you know your calorie equilibrium, you can adjust your daily calories up or down to meet your goals. If your goal is to lose weight, I recommend that you eat up to 500 calories less than your equilibrium each day . This should lead to a steady and healthy weight loss.
If you want to build more muscle mass , start by eating 300-500 calories more than your equilibrium each day and see what happens. If you find that you are putting on a little too much fat, decrease your calories slightly.
Medications For Gestational Diabetes
It’s possible that even after changing your eating habits and exercise routine, your blood sugar levels will continue to remain too high during pregnancy. This is not your fault, just as developing gestational diabetes in the first place was not your fault. Continue to work with your doctor to get your blood sugar levels under control. Doing so will ensure the best outcomes for your pregnancy.
The preferred medication for gestational diabetes is insulin. Insulin does not cross the placenta, so you don’t need to worry about it harming your baby. Because blood sugars can fluctuate during different stages of pregnancy, you’ll probably be advised to monitor your levels at home to maintain the correct dosage. Don’t worry, your doctor will walk you through the process each step of the way.
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How Does Insulin Work
When we eat carbohydrates, the digestive system breaks them down into a form of sugar called glucose, which enters the bloodstream. As blood glucose levels go up, this triggers the pancreas to release the hormone insulin.
Insulin is like a key. Insulin opens up cells so they can let glucose in and use it for energy. When this system is working properly, blood sugar levels return to normal quickly, as glucose is either used up by cells or stored as energy for later use.
In gestational diabetes, blood sugar remains too high for too long. This can lead to pregnancy complications and health risks for the mother. Gestational diabetes can occur when other pregnancy hormones interfere with insulin, or when the body is unable to produce enough insulin to meet increased needs during pregnancy, due to insulin resistance that occurs during pregnancy.
Eating Nutritious Healthy And Downright Delicious Food Is That Bit Easier With Our Meal Planners
We’ve created multiple different weekly meal plans to suit all types and tastes. They’re nutritionally balanced, are calorie and carb counted, and can help if you want to lose weight. They also make sure you eat your five a day and have the right amounts of dairy , wholegrain foods, oily fish and very little processed meat. So get cooking and enjoy the food you love, but healthier.
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Places To Find Diabetes Recipes
When someone in your household is diagnosed with diabetes, life changes for everyone. One of the more difficult adjustments occurs in the kitchen, where meals must now be prepared with their potential blood sugar effects always at the top of your mind.
Whether youre the cook or the one with diabetes or both finding recipes that accommodate your dietary needs can cut meal prep frustration and boost mealtime enjoyment in a big way.
Weve selected the top nine websites and tools that are making it easier to cook for diabetes. Check them out to find your next diabetes-friendly meal.
All Day I Dream About Food
ishonestNo.371 – Blackheads
Carolyn Ketchum was diagnosed with gestational diabetes while pregnant with her third child. Thats where her affinity for low-carb eating began, and it continues on All Day I Dream About Food today. She specializes in turning high- carb delights into low-carb recipes, proving you dont have to go without your favorites just because you have diabetes.
Theres a lot of deliciousness to choose from, but were particularly enticed by Carolyns desserts, like her peanut butter Texas sheet cake. This one promises perfect proportions of cake and frosting with every bite!
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The Dangers Of High Blood Sugar
Getting a handle on your blood sugar is essential for a healthy pregnancy. Taking the time when you’re first diagnosed to make some changes can help you avoid complications during pregnancy, labor, and after giving birth. Because high blood sugar is something we can’t always feel, it might seem easy to ignore.
Ignoring gestational diabetes can cause serious issues including a larger baby, which could lead to a C-section delivery or excessive bleeding and more severe tears during vaginal birth. Mothers with uncontrolled gestational diabetes have an increased risk of birthing an infant with breathing issues, jaundice , or low blood sugar. The risk of stillbirth is also higher.
What To Keep In Mind If You Live With Diabetes
If you live with diabetes, the good news is that youre probably already a pro at meal planning in order to keep your blood sugar level stabilized, says Amy Gorin, M.S., R.D.N., owner of Amy Gorin Nutrition in the New York City area. With diabetes, its important to eat regularly and not skip meals so that you can keep your blood sugar stable, she says. Youll need to eat balanced meals or snacks every three to five hours.
If prepping healthy snacks and meals is part of your routine already, thats great. You may face a few additional challenges though, says Jill Weisenberger, M.S., R.D.N., C.D.E., C.H.W.C., F.A.N.D., author of Diabetes Weight Loss: Week by Week. When you have diabetes, your challenges include eating for blood sugar control as well as for the health of your heart, she says. Thats because the diagnosis of diabetes brings with it a two- to fourfold risk of having a heart attack. How much you eat and when you eat is critically important because these two things directly and immediately affect blood sugar levels. Having diabetes means that you can no longer skimp on one meal because you want to indulge heavily in another.
Thats where meal and snack planning can come in handy. Prepping some foods in advancesay, on a weekend for later in the weekcan help you stay on track, she says.
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Healthy Diabetic Lunch Ideas
It can be hard to find a good lunch menu for a diabetic. Perhaps you are at work or school without access to a kitchen but with plenty of unhealthy choices around you. Thats why its important to plan ahead and to have a good list of healthy diabetic lunch ideas to choose from!
For this roundup, I have chosen a mix of cold lunches, lunches that you can make beforehand and reheat, and a few that require cooking at lunchtime. What they all have in common is that they are low-carb, taste amazing, and will give you a healthy boost in energy for the afternoon.
I try to follow the guidelines that my diabetic lunch ideas should have:
- Less than 20 grams of carbs
- Mostly carbs with a low glycemic index
- At least 20 grams of protein
- Some healthy fat
For even more healthy low-carb recipes, check out my roundups of Breakfast Ideas for Diabetics and Dinner recipes for Diabetics.
Enjoy!
Food Prep And Cooking
To make your meal prep for the week a little easier, you can find a downloadable and printable grocery list HERE that includes everything you need to make every meal.
Many of the meals can be made in large batches and stored in the fridge. Some meals are included on multiple days so you can cook for several days at the same time so always check the day-by-day plan before you start meal prepping.
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Be Consistent With Your Carbs
Try to eat three meals per day at regular times and space your meals no more than six hours apart. Eating at regular times helps your body control blood sugar levels. It also helps to try to eat about the same amount of food at each meal, especially carbohydrates.
Consider learning about counting carbohydrates as the amount of carbohydrate eaten at one time is usually important in managing diabetes. Having too many carbohydrates at a meal may cause your blood sugar level to go too high, and not enough carbohydrate may cause your blood sugar to go too low, depending on the type of diabetes medication you take.
How Much Curry Powder To Use
The curry powder adds amazing flavor to this salad.
However, curry powder will vary in intensity depending on the brand. For me, one tablespoon is just right. But if your curry is strong, one tablespoon could be overwhelming.
I recommend adding half a tablespoon at a time and taste-testing until you reach your desired amount of flavor.
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Meal Prep To Better Manage Your Diabetes
Involve your family to plan and prepare meals that are diabetes-friendly.
Meal prepping, or preparing your meals ahead of time, can help you better manage your diabetes. Read more for tips on how to get started.
A healthy and balanced diet is a key part of diabetes management, and meal prep can helpespecially during times of uncertainty when your schedule may be disrupted. Feeling overwhelmed or anxious can lead to shortcuts in the kitchen, and you may end up eating unhealthy foods. Frozen pizza or fast food may be easy choices, but not the best choices for your health.
When you plan your meals and make them in advance, youll be less tempted to eat foods that arent diabetes-friendly. This can give you some control over your diabetes management even at times when other things can feel out of control.
There Are Several Options For Diabetes
If you spend your days juggling Zoom meetings, caring for your family, and tackling tasks that focus on anything but self-care, chances are your midday meal has become an afterthought. But if youre managing type 2 diabetes, making a healthy lunch one of your priorities can have a significant effect on your weight and blood sugar level. Whipping up your meal at home is the simplest way to make sure that happens. Plus, eating out for many meals is associated with negative health effects, like a higher body mass index and cholesterol levels, according to a study published in May 2015 in the International Journal of Obesity.
Thankfully, all it takes is a little know-how and these easy recipe ideas to create quick, healthy lunches that are diabetes-friendly.
For starters, think about building your lunch around a lean protein source, such as skinless chicken, tuna, shrimp, beans, or tofu, as the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases suggests. In general, protein does not raise blood sugar as quickly or as greatly as foods high in sugar or options from the grain group, says , a national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who is based in Baltimore. From that base, Stefanski recommends adding at least 1 to 1½ cups of your favorite nonstarchy vegetable. The American Diabetes Association lists collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and green beans as diabetes-friendly nonstarchy veggie options.
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