When it comes to managing your diabetes, you can use one of several meal planning guides. Your doctor or dietitian can help you determine the best diet for you. The ADA diet, or the American Diabetes Association diet, refers to the exchange system of diabetes meal planning, which is the most structured of all the diabetes diet planning guides.
The ADA Diet
The ADA exchange diet aims to control the number of calories and amount of carbohydrates, protein and fat you eat each day. On the diet, you eat a certain number of foods from each of the designated food groups. Food groups include starches, fruits, milk, meats, vegetables and fats. A single serving of food within each group contains the same number of calories and same amount of carbohydrates, protein and fat, so you can "exchange" items within groups when planning meals.
1,800-Calorie ADA Diet
How much you get to eat from each group depends on your calorie needs, blood sugar goals and food preferences. A dietitian can help you create a meal plan tailored to your needs. A basic 1800-calorie ADA diet includes the following exchanges: 10 starch exchanges, seven meat exchanges, three vegetable exchanges, three fruit exchanges, two milk exchanges and three fat exchanges. Your dietitian can help you create balanced meals using these exchanges. A basic meal plan will evenly distribute the exchanges among three meals and one snack.
Breakfast
A basic 1,800-calorie ADA menu would include three starch exchanges, one meat exchange, one fruit exchange and one fat exchange. For breakfast, you can have a 3 oz. whole-wheat bagel topped with 1 oz. of cheese, with a 6-oz. container of nonfat, sugar-free yogurt and a small orange.
Lunch
A balanced lunch would include three starch exchanges, three meat exchanges, two vegetable exchanges, one fruit exchange and one fat exchange. This may translate into 1 cup of chicken noodle soup, with a turkey sandwich consisting of 3 oz. of turkey meat on two slices of whole-wheat bread, 1 cup of mixed greens with 1 tbsp. of salad dressing and 17 small grapes.
Dinner
Your dinner should include three servings of starch, three servings of meat, two servings of vegetables, one serving of fruit and one serving of fat. A sample dinner meal may include 2 1/2 oz. of chicken topped with 1/4 cup of marinara sauce and 1/2 oz. of low-fat mozzarella cheese, served with 1 cup of whole-wheat spaghetti noodles with 1/4 cup of marinara sauce and 1/2 cup of asparagus spears sauteed in 1 tsp. of olive oil and garlic.
Snack
Your snack on the 1,800-calorie ADA diet should include one starch serving and one milk serving. A sample snack includes 3/4 cup serving of whole-grain ready-to-eat cereal with 1 cup of nonfat milk.
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