The Mayo Clinic Diabetic Diet provides recommendations for healthy food selections along with notes on what foods to avoid. Certain foods help diabetics maintain balanced blood sugar levels, and low-fat and low-calorie foods along with fruits, vegetables and whole grains help maintain this balance. The Mayo Clinic diabetic diet is a healthy eating plan that is also suitable for non-diabetics.
Exchange Lists Help Meal Planning
The Mayo Clinic Diabetic Diet plan refers to exchange lists to gauge food factors such as cholesterol, sodium and calories. Exchange lists consist of foods groups for carbohydrates, protein and fat. The carbohydrate group contains starch, fruit, milk, vegetables and other carbohydrates. The protein group lists meat and meat substitutes, divided into very lean, lean, medium-fat and high-fat lists. The fat category separates monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fats. Each food in each group represents a serving value. One serving of any food is called an exchange.
Exchange plans are flexible and allow food trades from one food for another in the same group. For example, the trade of one small apple for 1/3 cup cooked pasta, which both equal one carbohydrate serving, is acceptable. Quality and quantity are considerations of equal importance. Portion sizes, after recommendations from a registered dietitian, are based upon height and weight.
Recommended Foods
The Mayo Clinic suggests consuming healthy carbohydrates in the form of fruits; vegetables; whole grains; legumes such as beans, peas and lentils; whole-wheat flour products; wheat bran; and low-fat dairy products. These foods are also fiber-rich. For the protein category, consider having heart-healthy fish at least twice a week. Good choices of fish include salmon, mackerel and herring. Avoid fried fish and fish with high levels of mercury, such as tilefish, swordfish and king mackerel. Add good fats to the diet, those that contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats --- such as avocados, almonds, pecans, walnuts, olives and canola, olive and peanut oils.
Avoid saturated fats from dairy and animal proteins, especially in the form of processed or high fat meats such as hot dogs, sausage and bacon. Avoid trans fats from packaged foods, snacks, baked goods made with shortening and margarine. Be cognizant of cholesterol and sodium levels, consuming no more than 200 milligrams cholesterol and 2,000 mg sodium each day.
Glycemic Index
The glycemic index is a system that determines which carbohydrates produce high or low fluctuations of blood sugar and insulin levels. High-glycemic foods produce high blood-sugar levels. In an effort to avoid unbalanced blood sugar, take into account the glycemic index when making a meal plan.
However, not all low-glycemic foods are healthy. For example, foods that are high in fat tend to have lower glycemic index values. Researchers from the American Society of Clinical Nutrition report that diabetics have a metabolic advantage when they consume healthy, low glycemic-index foods.
A Sample Mayo Clinic Meal Plan
Healthy carbohydrates should account for 50 to 60 percent of a meal, protein approximately 10 to 20 percent and total healthy fats should be less than 7 percent. That translates into a healthy breakfast of whole-wheat pancakes or waffles, one piece of fruit and cup of low-fat milk.
A recommended lunch meal plan consists of a chicken kabob with 1/2 cup steamed broccoli, 1/2 cup cooked rice and 1/2 cup juice. For dinner, enjoy pasta with broccoli, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash and Parmesan cheese and 1 cup low-fat milk. Snacks are permitted in the Mayo Clinic Diabetic Diet and might include 6 homemade crispy corn tortilla chips, 1/2 cup fresh vegetables and seasoned garlic sauce.
