Planning your diabetic meal is easy when you know how it should be done. Here is a guide to starting out.

You should start off with learning the ideal portion sizes for each food group. With diabetic meals, you do not need to eliminate any of the food groups, but just eat them in the right moderation. Starting with starches, the serving guide for the different types of food are ½ cup of rice, cereal or beans, one slice of bread, or a small bagel or muffin. In a meal one should aim for two to three servings. For fruits, they should generally one serving in a meal of medium-sized fruit, ½ cup of fruit juice, or 15 grapes. Vegetables servings are ½ cup cooked, or one cup raw; two servings should be consumed during lunch and dinner. With meat, keep to two to three ounces a meal, where one ounce is equivalent to one serving. A serving of dairy product would be one cup of milk or yogurt, and should one should consume two to three servings a day. Fats are also important but should be limited to serving per meal; a serving refers to one tablespoon of peanut butter, one teaspoon of butter, or one tablespoon of salad dressing. You may notice that the portion sizes in a meal are much smaller than you would have without diabetes, but it is no excuse to not enjoy the meal. Take your time to chew and swallow your meal. It helps with digestion anyway.

Managing the meals and coming up with diabetic recipes can be easy with meal planning tools. You can consult a registered dietician for a suitable plan for yourself, or you could check out the free tools that are available online. Lastly, you can keep that recipe and reuse it in the future. You can modify the recipe from time to time so you do not get bored of the taste. If you are planning to complement the dish with another, you can reduce the food portion of this recipe so that you can enjoy the other dish as well, or use lower calorie ingredients.

Tags: diabetic, meal, Planning