Meal Planning Tips for Diabetics

Fri, Feb 27, 2009

As a diabetic it can be stressful and worrying preparing meals. If you have children to cook for they may not always be receptive to the foods that you need to eat for diabetes maintenance and in these cases some people even go to the extent of cooking 2 meals. Whilst this may sometimes just have to be the case (particularly if your family are fussy eaters!) there are ways to cut down you the stress of meal planning for diabetics.

Every Sunday night (or on a night that suits you) it is a wise idea to plan out your meals for the week. You should include breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as snacks and even drinks. That way when you go shopping you will know exactly what you are buying and should be less tempted to stray from your planned diet. It is always good to know what your next meal is going to be so it cuts down on stress and you will always have ingredients ready.

Meal planning for diabetics will take time to start with but over time you will collect a variety of different recipe and meal ideas that you can reuse again and again. Snacks can be a problem if you have diabetes but again, collecting ideas and keeping a list means that you will gather a variety of diabetes friendly snack foods. Mixing it up will ensure that you never get bored of your meals and snacks.

Plan out each day as realistic as possible. If you are going to be home late one night and you know about it advance, do not plan a roast dinner. Instead, plan a quick healthy meal like a salad. Keeping it realistic and practical means that you are unlikely to avoid sticking to your meal plan.

Writing a list when going shopping is simply the best way to focus only on the foods and drinks that you should be buying for the week, and avoiding junk food and other unneeded snacks.

Meal planning for diabetics is only as difficult as you let it become. Remember, you can still eat most of the foods that other people eat – you just have to monitor the quantity a little more. Sticking to fresh, healthy foods will generally mean that your diabetes is kept in check and your family will also enjoy the meals that you cook up for them.