Meal Plans - Diabetic Meal Planning

No other kind of meal planning is perhaps as controversial as diabetic meal planning. Every few years, there is a new kind of diabetic meal plan that is advocated for patients of the disease. What's more is that, the diabetic meal plans that are accepted by the health experts are not necessarily subscribed to by the dietitians. Some meal plans advise intake of more carbohydrates, while some want carbohydrates to be at a minimum. No wonder, patients of diabetes and their relatives are finding it so very tough to find the right kind of diabetic meal plan that they can use, without worrying unduly for the repercussions.

Dietary management for diabetes is undoubtedly a serious issue. Here, I try to give some medical points about diabetic meal planning that will help you know what the best option could be.

Diabetes Meal Planning – Objectives

Let us begin with what objectives a diabetic meal seeks to serve. The following are the objectives:-

• Maintaining the amount of blood sugar at a controlled level
• Reducing the amount of harmful cholesterol, especially in cases of obesity
• Keeping weight under control
• Making all kinds of nutrients available to the patients in their right measure
• Trying to minimize the need for supplements and medication
• Preventing complications of diabetes through a healthy meal plan

Diabetes Meal Planning – Important Characteristics

Ideally, a diabetic meal must have the following characteristics to be considered healthy and safe:-

• It should be a well-balanced diet, i.e. it should try to provide all the nutrients that are necessary for the wellbeing and good health of the patient.
• More than the quantity of the diet, the timing and the spacing between different meals is important. The body must be allowed to be familiarized with the eating cycle of the person which helps it to metabolize the foods better. For the same reason, there should be an adequate gap between meals.
• The diet should not be too different from the normal diet the person used to have before being diagnosed with diabetes. (This is an important point, especially in considering the drastic lifestyle changes that some meal plans try to bring about in diabetic patients. That would probably have only adverse effects.)
• The diet should not be monotonous. It should be varied everyday, or there could be a chance that the patient would develop a dislike for food itself, and that could cause more complications.
• Most importantly, the diabetic meal must not be too expensive, and must be readily available. An ideal diabetic meal plan is that which is made with available foods and is not too fanciful or a response to a meal fad.

Diabetes Meal Planning – Composition Of The Nutrients

Rather than the actual foods that are included in a diabetes meal, the amounts of the nutrients are of more concern. Diabetic people must be more concerned of nutrients like carbohydrates and fats. But other aspects such as total fiber amount and calories are also of great importance. Let us discuss how to handle these aspects in diabetes meal planning.

Carbohydrates And The Diabetes Meal

Carbohydrates are directly important to a diabetic patient, because sugar is a carbohydrate. Starch is the other form of carbohydrates. The total amount of carbohydrates that is consumed per day by a diabetic patient is of grave concern. That is because, if the amount of carbohydrates is too high, then the blood sugar level increases; and if it is too low, then the blood sugar level decreases.

At the same time, there is a lot of dispute about the exact amount of carbohydrates that a diabetic person must consume. There is wide speculation about how much is better – should 40% of the total calorie intake be in the form of carbohydrates, or is 75% a better option? The American Diet Association suggests an amount between 60 and 70%. But, in reality, the amount of carbohydrate will depend on the insulin dosage that the patient gets. If the person is on a high insulin dose, then more carbohydrates can be metabolized in the body. A concept of carbohydrate counting, where people are actually advised to calculate the amounts in grams of carbohydrates they are taking per day, is usually advised by diabetic meal planners. This enables people to consume any carbohydrate food, provided they do not exceed the carbohydrate limit per day that is assigned to them based on their insulin dosage.

But there are some suggestions that can be considered universal in diabetes meal planning. The strongest of them is that carbohydrate foods must always be taken in small quantities, and they should be distributed throughout the day, to allow for metabolism. Ideally, 60% of the carbohydrate quantities must be divided between lunch and dinner, 30% must be kept for breakfast and 10% must be kept in reserve for some carbohydrate product taken during the day, such as milk.

Fats And The Diabetes Meal

Since weight is an important concern of diabetic people, the amount of fats they consume in a day becomes important. Ideally, the diabetes diet must contain fats only in low amounts, and where they are needed for cooking other foods. Eggs and meat are permissible to an extent. But the most acceptable fatty foods are fishes like salmon, which contain a high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The total amount of fats in the diabetes meal must not go beyond 150 grams in a day.

A high level of fats in the diabetes meal will cause problems such as obesity, which could bring on many other complications of its own. As is well-known, obesity and diabetes make a fatal combination. In addition, fats when increased beyond limits in a diabetic diet will cause problems such as heart attacks, strokes and blindness.

Calories And The Diabetes Meal

The total amounts of permissible calories for diabetic persons are different from those for people without diabetes, and there too, the amount varies according to the age and the lifestyle of the person. Younger and hardworking diabetic people could use a total calorie intake of 2400-2600 kcal per day, while pregnant diabetic people should not go beyond 2300 kcal per day. Among people leading a sedentary lifestyle, obese people have more requirements of calories of 2000 kcal per day, but if these obese people are also seniors, then they should not go beyond 1000 kcal per day. For younger people leading a sedentary lifestyle, a calorie intake of 1700 kcal per day should be considered the limit.

Diabetes Meal Planning – Vegan Diets

A lot of publicity is being given to the role of vegan diets in controlling diabetes, but as expected, they are meeting with their own share of skepticism. Vegan diets are being considered especially beneficial in the control of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. But people who are adhering to vegan diets must make sure that they are meeting their protein requirements with the right kinds of vegan foods.