Top Ten Meal Planning Tips!
There is not a single meal plan that works for everyone. What we are all striving to achieve is a plan that fits our personal preferences and, most importantly, helps achieve our blood glucose targets as well as maintaining a healthy weight.
It is often thought that planning a healthy meal is difficult to create and expensive. However, with a little bit of pre-planning, healthy meals can be easy to prepare, fit anyone’s budget and excite the taste buds!
To start you off on your journey to find the meal plan that is right for you, we have compiled our top ten meal preparation tips.
1. Fit a plan to YOUR life! If your weekdays are hectic balancing work and family demands, enlist some help on the weekend and get the whole family making quick, tasty dishes you can eat on the run during the week.
2. Carbohydrate counting or “carb counting,” is a meal planning technique for managing blood glucose levels that is based on the premise that carbohydrate-containing foods have the greatest effect on blood glucose compared to foods that contain mainly protein or fat.
3. Glycemic Index (GI) – learn about glycemic index (GI) – stock your fridge with foods with a medium or low GI since foods with a high GI raises blood glucose more.
4. Lean meats – choose leaner cuts of meats and try to eat seafood a couple of times a week.
5. Portion sizes – establishing the proper portion sizes is easy if you follow the plate method.
6. Eat lots of vegetables.
7. Cooking method – grill, broil, bake, and stir fry instead of frying.
8. Flavouring – use herbs and spices to cook, instead of salt.
9. Low fat – try low fat cheese, skim milk and low-fat yogurt.
10. Reduce sugar – try to reduce your sugar intake.
Of course there are many more ideas that you can add, a lot of which you will find in the articles below.
Finally, we’d like to suggest that you reach out to a dietitian to help you talk about specific choices that will fit your life, and preferences and foods you will want to stick with.
Meal Preparation Articles
Diabetes meal planning for beginnersHealthy eating is a cornerstone of diabetes management, but people newly diagnosed with the condition might not know how to create a meal plan.
7 kitchen tools for people with diabetesIf you have diabetes, there are some handy kitchen tools you can use to help you prepare healthy meals. Read on to learn more about 7 kitchen tools for people with diabetes.
Navigating the grocery store for vegetablesWalking through the vegetable section of your local grocery store can be an intimidating experience, especially if you aren't familiar with a lot of the choices available.
Navigating the grocery store for milk and milk productsOur series on navigating the grocery store takes us to the milk and milk products aisle, another important food group for healthy eating.
Carb counting: a meal planning solution that offers flexibilityCarbohydrate counting or "carb counting," is a meal planning technique for managing blood glucose levels that is based on the premise that carbohydrate-containing foods have the greatest effect on blood glucose compared to foods that contain mainly protein or fat.
Tasty and healthy brown bag lunch ideas for people with diabetesPacking a healthy brown bag lunch for work or school is one of the best ways you can trim your budget – and your waistline!
Kitchen shortcuts for the diabetes dietFollowing a healthy eating plan doesn't have to mean spending extra time and effort in the kitchen.
Navigating the grocery store for fruitsYou may be familiar with the advice that, when grocery shopping, it’s best to shop the perimeter of the store where fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables, milk products, meat and fish are usually found. This article will focus on navigating the grocery store for fruits.
Planning meals for a busy weekAs our lives get busier and our hectic schedules make it necessary to rely on quick and easy meals, the key to less stress and healthier eating is to take the time to do some meal planning in advance.
Baking tips and best practices for people with diabetesWho says you can’t have your cake and bake it too! Just because you have diabetes doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a delicious baked treat from time to time—especially when you bake it yourself. Here’s a guide to blissful baking when you have diabetes.
