Eat Well
You don’t have to give up all the tasty dishes you love just because you have diabetes. The key is moderation, and there are many new and exciting recipes for you to explore. But first, you might want to learn a few things about food in general.
All Food Groups Are Okay
The Diabetes Food Pyramid illustrates an important point: all the basic food groups have value in your diet. The pyramid suggests how many servings you should be consuming daily from each of the six major food groups.
Notice that the base of the pyramid—the foundation—includes grains, beans, and starchy vegetables. That’s because these are the non-sugary foods with the highest carbohydrate content. These are foods readily converted to glucose. Fruits and vegetables, also good sources of carbohydrate, form the second tier of the pyramid. Meats and cheeses are included, but fewer servings are recommended. Even fats and sweets are included, right at the top, with the instruction to “use sparingly.”
You have a daily calorie and carbohydrate budget, and you should count everything you eat to make sure you stay within that budget. Yes, you can have the occasional slice of pie, but not as an extra. Those “splurges” should be included in your daily allotment.
Surviving a Trip to the Grocery Store
You may think you’ve got this meal-plan business figured out, but then you walk into the grocery store, with all those shelves of packaged and processed foods and, suddenly, you don’t feel so confident anymore.
Fear not. We have some simple tips to help you negotiate the grocery store and stick to your diabetes meal plan:
- Make a grocery list before you go to the store, and try to stick to it when you get there
- NEVER go grocery shopping when you are hungry
- Choose fresh foods over packaged, processed foods
- Read the FDA Nutrition Facts labels on packaged foods
That last tip is very important because, let’s face it, you’re not always going to be able to whip up a recipe from scratch. Fresh foods are great, but there’s a reason why convenience foods are such a big business—people are busy. So when you do buy packaged, processed foods, pay close attention to the nutrition label. Don’t know how to read a nutrition label? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered in the next section.
Reading a Nutrition Facts Label
Just about every packaged food you buy at the grocery store is required to have a Nutrition Facts label. It tells you the serving size, upon which all of the label data are based, and the number of servings per container. All the other label information pertains to a single serving of the food in question—in this sample, a brand of frozen macaroni and cheese.
The first thing to notice here is total calories and calories from fat. In this case, 110 of 250 calories (or 44%) are from fat. From a nutritional standpoint, this dish is no bargain.
Americans generally eat more than they need of the items shaded in yellow: fats and sodium (salt). You should try to limit your intake of these items.
The most important thing on the label for a person with diabetes is total carbohydrate (starch and sugar) because the carbohydrates you eat are readily converted into glucose.
Most of us do not get enough dietary fiber or the other items shaded in blue: vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron.
The numbers shaded in purple are fractions of daily values. Rules of thumb:
- 5% or less is low
- 20% or more is high
So this macaroni and cheese, while high in calcium, is low in iron and vitamins.
The footnoted information at the bottom of the label (in the white box) is the same on every label. It tells you the recommended daily total (by weight) of fat, fiber, sodium, cholesterol, and carbohydrate, based on a 2,000- and a 2,500-calorie diet.
All daily values in the purple shaded section of the label are based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
The great value of the food label is that it allows you to make the healthier choice among various brands of similar foods. Within the frozen food case, for example, maybe there’s a low-fat macaroni and cheese with just as much calcium and vitamins but fewer calories. The label lets you compare.
Choosing Lean Meats and Poultry
Beef
A 3-ounce serving of meat is about the size of a deck of cards. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that beef labeled lean contain the following per 3-ounce serving:
- Less than 10 grams (g) total fat
- Less than 4.5 g saturated fat
- Less than 95 milligrams (mg) cholesterol
The requirements for extra lean, per 3-ounce serving, are:
- Less than 5 g total fat
- Less than 2 g saturated fat
- Less than 95 mg cholesterol
The US Department of Agriculture grades beef according to tenderness, juiciness, and flavor:
- USDA Prime is restaurant-quality. It has the most marbling (fat streaking in the lean portions away from bone), and though considered the best quality, it is the least lean.
- USDA Choice beef has moderate amounts of fat. From a leanness standpoint, it’s better than Prime, but you should still buy it only in moderation, if at all.
- USDA Select is the leanest grade of beef—not always the tenderest cuts in the meat case, but best of the three for a person with diabetes who is trying to limit fat intake. But, even if the cut is marked “Select,” look for the word ”lean” on the package or the label.
- Ground beef should be labeled according to fat content. Look for at least 90% lean.
Pork, Lamb, and Veal
All pork sold in US supermarkets is graded USDA Acceptable. Pork is much leaner today than in years past because of changes in commercial breeding stock. Firm, grayish-pink cuts with only a little fat around the edges are your best bet.
The only grades of lamb and veal you’re likely to find in the store are Choice and Prime. As with beef, Choice cuts are leaner.
Poultry
All chicken sold in stores in this country is USDA Grade A. Look for pieces with most of the fat trimmed away. White chicken meat and skinless turkey are your leanest options with no more than 1 gram of fat per ounce. Ground poultry, however, can have as much fat as ground beef if it includes dark meat and skin. For a lean choice, always buy ground breast meat.
Some Foods Are Better for You Than Others
Whole grains, beans, and starchy vegetables contain carbohydrate, but they also provide a lot of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Cane sugar, on the other hand, is full of carbohydrate and calories but is of virtually no other nutritional value.
Fresh vegetables provide carbohydrate, but also fiber, vitamins, and minerals not found in starches and sugars.
Fresh fruits also provide important vitamins and minerals, but pay close attention to the carbohydrate count because most fruits contain a lot of sugar.
Non-fat and low-fat dairy products provide the same vitamins and calcium as whole milk products, but they have fewer calories and, obviously, less fat.
Find and compare nutritional information for hundreds of foods
The My Food Advisor Web site from the American Diabetes Association includes a search engine that lets you find nutritional information for all sorts of foods and recipes for healthy meals.
All Carbohydrates Are Not Created Equal
Some carbohydrate-rich foods are better for you than others because they have a lower glycemic index. Glycemic index is a measure of how quickly a food’s carbohydrates are converted to glucose and taken up into the bloodstream.
Eating a food with a high glycemic index can cause a surge of glucose, which is met with a flood of insulin. The net result is low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, and you may compensate for the symptoms of this condition by eating more of a high-glycemic index food. The result can be a blood-glucose roller coaster ride—up, down, up, down.
Carbohydrates with a low glycemic index are digested more slowly, resulting in a steadier flow of glucose into the blood. More information on the glycemic index and diabetes meal planning is available from the American Diabetes Association.
Next Article: Live With Diabetes
Download These PDF Tools: Daily Food Diary, Grocery Shopping List
