Healthy Eating

Healthy Meal Planning

Eating healthy foods is one of the most important tools for managing your blood sugar. Good blood sugar control protects your health and decreases complications from diabetes.

A healthy meal plan consists of multiple servings of vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish lean meats and poultry, and some fresh or frozen fruit. The food guide pyramid is a tool that can help you make healthy food choices. If you visit www.mypyramid.gov, you can receive personal nutrition guidance such as appropriate calories for you age, weight and activity level as well as the number of recommended servings for each food group.

The food guide pyramid encourages you

• Make half of your grains whole grains
• Vary your vegetables by eating a variety of green, red and orange vegetables
• Focus on fruits by eating a variety of fresh or non sweetened fruit
• Get your calcium-rich food
• Go lean with protein by eating a variety of lean meats and beans.

If you choose to drink alcohol, limit to 2 servings per day for men and one serving for women. (1 serving=4 oz. wine, 12 oz. beer, or 1 ½ oz. liquor).

Avoid skipping meals. Skipping meals can make you extra hungry and likely to eat more than you should at one meal. Space your meals about 4 or 5 hours apart.

Keep Portions in Control

Your blood sugar is affected not only by the kind of food you eat, but also by how much food you eat.

Serving sizes differ among food groups. The following will help you estimate serving sizes:

• 3 oz. of meat, poultry, or fish is about the size of one deck of cards or the palm of a small hand.
• ½ cup of fruit, vegetables, or pasta is about the size of a small fist or a tennis ball.
• 1 oz. of cheese is about the size of your thumb.

Cooking food can change its size. Serving sizes recommended are based on foods after cooking.

Use a salad plate rather that a large dinner plate. Use a sectioned plate to keep servings of vegetables and starches at ½ cup servings.

Compare portion sizes to those in an individual size frozen dinner.

Make Healthy Carbohydrate Choices

How much carbohydrate should you have? A typical meal plan may allow 45-60 grams or 3-4 servings of carbohydrate at each meal and 15-30 grams or 1-2 servings for a snack. A registered dietitian can help you determine how much carbohydrate you should have at each meal and snack.

How do you count carbohydrate?
15 grams of carbohydrate = 1 serving

Each item equals 15 grams of carbohydrate:

Sample Breakfast Meal:

¾ cup cereal = 1 serving or 15 grams

1 small banana = 1 serving or 15 grams

1 cup skim milk = 1 serving or 15 grams

Limit foods high in sugar such as honey, regular sodas, syrup, jelly, candy, doughnuts, fruit packed in syrup, cake with icing and pies. If you occasionally have something sweet, substitute a small serving for 1 or 2 carbohydrate choices.

Refer to the food label to help you count carbohydrate grams.

Understanding Food Labels

The Nutrition Facts label lists the amount of carbohydrate, protein, fat, and calories in foods. Remember the nutrition facts listed are based on serving size, which is the first line on the nutrition facts panel.

Focus on total carbohydrate. Sugars are included in the total carbohydrate grams. The total carbohydrate grams are more important than the sugar grams on the label.

Calories from fat tell you how many of the calories in the food are from fat. Choose foods with no more than 3 grams of fat per 100 calories to keep the fat grams lower.

Choose foods with no more than 400 mg of sodium per serving.

Ingredients are listed at the bottom of the food label. The first items listed are the ingredients found in the highest amounts (by weight).