What Is a Typical Diabetic Diet Plan?

Answer 1

The recommended diabetic diet plan has changed in recent years, so it is easy to get confused about what the typical diet for a diabetic is like. You will get different answers about what diabetics should eat depending on who you ask, even if all of the people you talk to are diabetic. That is because many people who have had Diabetes for years were given a different diet plan to follow than those who have been diagnosed recently.

Today, there are two common methods of diabetic menu planning. The first method is the plate method, which allows diabetics to estimate the appropriate portions without keeping track of the carbohydrate content of their food. The other method is based entirely on the amount of carbohydrates the diabetic eats at each meal.

In the plate method, you mentally divide your plate into three sections and fill the sections with the appropriate type of food. The first section takes up half of the plate. This section should be filled with non-starchy vegetables. The other half of the plate is then divided into two smaller sections, each of which are approximately 25% of the size of the plate. One of these sections is for meat and the other for starchy foods such as bread or starchy vegetables. This method is an easy way for newly diagnosed diabetic patients to understand and stick to a diabetic diet.

As a person becomes more familiar with the carbohydrate content of various foods, they are often switched to a diabetic diet that involves something called carb choices. This method is a simple way to count carbs by estimating the amount of carbohydrates in each serving of food. One carb choice is approximately equal to 15 grams of carbohydrates, but the amount is usually rounded to the nearest 1/2 carb choice. For example, if a person consumes something that contains 21 grams of carbohydrates, it would count as 1 1/2 carb choices. The doctor or diabetic educator working with the patient will usually give a recommendation of how many carb choices to consume at each meal depending on the patient’s sugar levels and medication.