If you have diabetes it is important to develop a good relationship with food. You'll want to plan what you eat, how much you eat and what time you eat each day. Knowing what makes up a serving size and how many you should have each day can help you plan a smarter diet. Planning a diabetic diet can help you to feel better, lose weight, and prevent heart disease and stroke.
Carbohydrates
The carbohydrate group is the most important to the diabetic diet. It not only makes up the base of the diabetic food pyramid, but also plays the biggest role on altering your blood sugar levels. To maintain healthy blood sugar levels the American Diabetes Association recommends consuming between 45 to 60 g of carbohydrates at each meal. Different foods that fall into the carbohydrate group are breads, cereals, rice, fruit, milk, yogurt, beans, and starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn. To determine how many carbohydrates are in each food you consume, you should consult the nutrition label if available. As a general guideline, ½ a large baked potato, 1 small piece of fruit, 1/3 cup of pasta, 1/3 cup of rice, 1 slice of bread and 2/3 cup of plain fat free yogurt, each contain about 15 g of carbohydrates. Another helpful rule to follow is when you create your dinner plate, carbohydrates should only take up one small portion of the plate.
Non-Starchy Vegetables
If still looking at that same dinner plate, non-starchy vegetables should fill up the largest section of the plate. Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber, which make for a healthy snack or side dish. This is the group that you can look at as being unlimited. However, for an idea of serving sizes, one serving of lettuce is equivalent to 1 cup, while one serving of vegetable juice, carrots and broccoli is ½ cup each.
Protein Foods
The next step to balancing out your meal is including a protein source. You should aim to consume 4 to 6 oz. of protein daily. Three ounces of meat looks comparable to the size of a deck of cards after it is cooked. One egg or 2 tsp. of peanut butter constitutes a 1 oz. serving. Include healthy protein sources like fish, poultry and lean meats into your diet.
Fat Sources
You can include small portions of fat with each meal, but you should not exceed more than 2 to 3 tsp. per meal. Switch your unhealthy fat sources, like butter and margarine, to heart healthy unsaturated fats like olive and canola oil. Salad dressings, mayonnaise, oil and avocado all fall into the fat category.
