The goal of following a healthy eating and meal plan with diabetes is to get healthy now and stay healthy over the years. The key to staying healthy with diabetes is to keep your blood glucose, blood lipids (fats) and blood pressure within the following target ranges:
Target Goals for the ABCs of Diabetes Care
A: A1C, or blood glucose: A1C: between 6-7% fasting and before meals blood glucose: 90–130 mg/dl
2 hours after the start of a meal: <180 mg/dl
B: Blood pressure: under 130/80 mmHg
C: Blood cholesterol: LDL: under 100 mg/dl. HDL: above 40 mg/dl (men), above 50 mg/dl (women). Triglycerides: under 150 mg/dl
Healthy Eating – A Key to Diabetes Care
A key to hitting your target goals and to feeling good and preventing long-term complications of diabetes is healthy eating. Yes, this is easier said than done! DineWise meals are developed with people with diabetes in mind and can make healthy meal planning a snap.
There’s good news for people with diabetes about healthy eating and losing a few pounds. Studies show that losing ten to twenty pounds can help you get your blood glucose, blood lipids and blood pressure into better control. You may be able to stay off of some blood glucose-lowering medications for a time or take smaller doses or fewer medications. The same is true for managing your blood lipids and your blood pressure. Regardless of the medications you take to manage your diabetes, a healthy eating plan should always be an important part of your diabetes care plan.
So What Should You Eat?
According to the American Diabetes Association, the guidelines for healthy eating to manage diabetes are very similar to the healthy eating recommendations for all Americans. Give these ten keys to healthier eating a closer look:
1. Eat a variety of foods within and among the basic food groups while you stay within your caloric needs.
2. Control the amount of calories you eat to get to or stay at a healthy body weight.
3. Eat more fruits and vegetables.
4. Choose whole grain starches that provide fiber and more nutrition without added fats and sugars.
5. Eat more fiber from fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
6. Fit in more non-fat or low-fat milk and milk products each day.
7. Keep the amount of saturated fat and trans fats you eat as low as possible. When you use fats and oils, choose those that contain mainly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
8. Choose and prepare foods with little salt and buy fewer processed foods.
9. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.
10. Be physically active every day.
Change Your Eating Habits for Diabetes Care
The ten healthy eating guidelines for all Americans help you focus on where you may need to make changes in your eating habits. A good first step is to think about how you eat now. Think about what you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, what you nibble on between meals and what beverages you drink at and between meals. Then think about a couple of aspects of your eating habits that will be easiest to change. Think about these in relation to the ten healthy eating guidelines.
Then start to make some of these changes. Slowly but surely you can change your eating habits, become healthier and also get and keep your diabetes in control. DineWise foods and meals help you eat healthier immediately. That’s because they are calorie- and portion-controlled, low in saturated fat, provide healthy vegetables, and the best part, they offer no-muss, no fuss meals on the table in minutes.
The Right Number of Calories for You
People come in different shapes and sizes and therefore no one number of calories per day is right for everyone. The number of calories you need each day depends on your sex, height, weight, how much physical activity you get each day, your weight history, whether you need to lose weight and several other factors. You likely realize that many people with diabetes, as well as with pre-diabetes, need to lose weight. The loss of ten to twenty pounds by eating healthier and being more active can greatly improve your diabetes numbers, and for people with pre-diabetes can prevent and/or delay developing type 2 diabetes.
To get a sense of the calorie range that might work best to help you achieve your diabetes and nutrition goals, read the descriptions below and see which one fits you best:
1,300 to 1,500 Calories a Day: For most small (5’2”) and moderate (5’2” to 5’6”) size women who need to lose weight and are sedentary (< than 30 minutes of activity/day).
1,600 to 1,900 Calories a Day: For most small (5’4”) and moderate (5’5” to 5’9”) size men who want to lose weight and are sedentary (< than 30 minutes of activity/day) or for moderate size women and small to moderate size men who don’t need to lose weight and are sedentary.
2,000 to 2,300 Calories a Day: For most large size men (>5’9”) who want to lose weight and are sedentary (< than 30 minutes of activity/day) or for moderate size men who don’t need to lose weight and are sedentary.
Notes: These calorie ranges and descriptions are general and apply to many, but not all, people in these categories. Check with a dietitian or with your primary health care provider to determine your individual calorie and nutrition needs. Most Americans get less than 30 minutes of physical activity a day and are considered sedentary. If you get 30 minutes or more of physical activity a day, i.e., do physical labor in your job, walk 30 minutes a day, etc., you may need about an additional 200-300 calories a day.
Calories Come from Nutrients—Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat
The calories you eat mainly come from the amount of carbohydrate, protein and fat in the foods you eat. (The only other source of calories is from alcohol.) Learn the foods that provide these nutrients and the recommendations from the American Diabetes Association for Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat.
Carbohydrates
Food sources: Carbohydrates are contained in starches, starchy vegetables, fruits, non-starchy vegetables, dairy foods, sweets and desserts, and sugary foods.
How Americans eat and what should change: Americans get about half of their calories from carbohydrates. That’s a moderate amount and there’s nothing unhealthy about that. What is unhealthy is the types of carbohydrates. Americans eat too much carbohydrates from refined sources, such as snack foods, white breads, refined grain cereals, sugary drinks and desserts, and not nearly enough fat-free dairy foods. To eat healthier, Americans need to eat more whole grains, more fruits and vegetables, fat-free dairy foods and less of those foods noted above.
What ADA says: Today the ADA echos the healthy eating recommendations for all Americans—get 45 to 65 percent of your calories from carbohydrates. For example, if you eat 1,400 calories a day and choose to eat half of those as carbohydrates, you would need about 175 grams of carbohydrates. ADA doesn’t recommend that you follow a low-carbohydrate diet. To get the energy you need along with adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals and fiber, you need to get about half (50%) of your calories from healthy sources of carbohydrates.
To manage your diabetes, it’s important to understand another detail about carbohydrates. It’s the main nutrient you eat that raises blood glucose after you eat. The ADA has concluded, based on lots of research, that the total amount of carbohydrates you eat at your meals and snacks has a greater impact on your blood glucose than the type of carbohydrates you eat. However, the type of carbohydrates you eat will also play a role in your resulting blood glucose level. Because carbohydrates are the main nutrient that raises blood glucose, it’s important to eat similar amounts of carbohydrates throughout the day.
Protein
Food sources: The main food source of protein is meats (beef, lamb, pork, veal), seafood, poultry, cheese, nuts, beans and peas, and dairy foods. Starches provide a small amount of protein.
How Americans eat and what should change: Americans get about a fifth (20%) of their calories as protein. This is more protein than most people need. That’s because a focus of meals is often on the source of protein in the middle of the plate. Another problem for Americans is that the sources of protein are often high in saturated fat and cholesterol—two things that aren’t healthy for your heart. Reducing your servings of meats, seafood and the like to no more than 3 ounces cooked is a healthy move along with choosing more lean meats, poultry and seafood. DineWise meals help you accomplish all these goals. The meats are pre-portioned, as you need them, and the meats are lean and low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
What the ADA says: The ADA suggests you limit your protein intake to what is recommended for all Americans—about 0.4 grams/pound of body weight. For example, a man who weighs 180 pounds would need about 70 grams of protein a day. The reason the ADA encourages people to keep their protein intake moderate is that a high protein intake may increase your risk of developing diabetes and/or kidney disease. When you keep your protein intake low you also keep the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol low. Protein can influence blood glucose, but to a much lesser degree than carbohydrate.
Fat
Food sources: Fat is provided in two main ways. You eat fat attached to and within foods such as meats, seafood, poultry, dairy foods, cheese and nuts. You also eat fat when you add it to foods, such as with margarine, oil, mayonnaise, salad dressing, sour cream and others.
How Americans eat and what should change: Americans get about 35% of their calories from fat. This is on the high side of what is recommended today. The problem is that the sources of fat are higher in saturated and trans fat and higher in cholesterol than desirable. No doubt the biggest concern today is saturated fat. People need to reduce saturated and trans fat. You can accomplish this by eating less meats and cheese, using less fat in foods and choosing foods with no or very limited amounts of partially hydrogenated fat. Use a healthy liquid oil, such as canola, olive or soy oil, as much as possible.
What the ADA says: As a person with diabetes or pre-diabetes, you may have abnormal blood lipids (high LDL, low HDL and/or high triglycerides) and high blood pressure. Due to these conditions you are at risk for or may have heart and blood vessel problems. It is important that you reduce the amount of saturated and trans fat you eat. The ADA recommends that your total fat intake be between 25–35 percent of your caloric intake, and that you keep your saturated fat to less than 7 percent of your calories. Also, keep your trans fat intake as close to zero as possible. The remainder of your calories from fat should come from the healthier unsaturated fats. The impact of fat on blood glucose is that it slows down its rise after you eat.
From Nutrients to Foods and a Diabetes Meal Plan for You
Foods are combinations of carbohydrate, protein and fat. For example, starches contain mainly carbohydrate and some protein. Meats contain mainly protein and varying amounts of fat. Fruits and vegetables contain mainly carbohydrate and small amounts of protein. Dairy foods are a nice balance of carbohydrate and protein and contain varying amounts of fat based on whether they are fat-free or full-fat. As you well know, the foods you eat provide you with a mix of carbohydrate, protein and fat.
The chart at the top of this page shows you the total number of servings of foods per day based on the three different caloric ranges provided above. (The calculations used in this chart are based on the numbers used in the American Diabetes Association's and American Dietetic Association’s Exchange Lists for Meal Planning [2005]).
These diabetes meal plans all provide approximately 50% of calories from carbohydrate, 20% from protein and 30% from fat.
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