Healthful Diabetes Meal Planning

​When you have Diabetes or if you are Pre-diabetic, good meal planning is crucial.  Not only will you have better blood sugar control and better Hemoglobin A1C, planning balanced, healthy meals will help with managing your weight, reduce risk for heart disease and reduce risk for kidney disease. 
 
When someone has a diet high in calories and fat, this can cause unnecessary rise in blood sugar. If blood sugar remains high for long periods of time, this can lead to kidney damage, nerve damage, and damage to the heart. Often, people with Diabetes can have Neuropathy, Retinopathy, Chronic Kidney Disease and Heart Disease.  Weight loss along with consuming the appropriate amount of fats, protein, carbs and calories will help control blood sugar and improve health, and also increase energy and result in better lab values.
 
So, how should you eat?  Along with lean protein, healthy fats, you should decrease carbs and when you do have carbs, ensure they are high fiber. Also, eat raw fruits and vegetables as well to increase fiber , and nutrients like vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. An ideal meal would include:
 
Half of the plate should be vegetables
One fourth of the plate should be high fiber carbs
One fourth of the plate should be proteins like fish, chicken or plant proteins (beans, lentils)
Also include in your meal: one small fruit and 1 serving of fat like low calorie dressing or plant based butter.
 
                                      
 
















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What else can you do to stay healthy? 
Invest in a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM).  The benefits of using a CGM are:  less finger sticks… you still need to calibrate your CGM during the day. CGMs monitor your blood sugar 24 hours per day so you have a better idea of how your blood sugar changes throughout the day and how what you eat affects your blood sugar.

So what is a CGM?
It is a wearable device that tracks your blood sugar. People using insulin injections and using insulin pumps can determine how much insulin is needed.  Also, CGMs will show fluctuations of blood sugar. You can get the “big picture” of how your blood sugar affects you, like how you feel, how food and activity affects you blood sugar.  Also, other benefits are: if you are ill or undergoing stress, the CGM will track how your blood sugar is affected.  Your doctor can even download data from your CGM and provide individualized care and your dietitian can utilize the data, too.  Your health care team can view trends and patterns and treat you and give you guidance to improve how your diabetes is managed. Even if you are pre-diabetic, a CGM can give you the same benefits.  CGMs  can even alert you if you are having low or high blood sugar so you can treat it more effectively. 
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Even though a CGM is not a cure, it can be an essential aid to help manage diabetes and pre-diabetes and improve your overall health. Fingersticks are still needed to calibrate the CGM, use for in the moment blood sugar checks, especially if you are not feeling well. Always call your doctor if you have very high and very low blood sugar levels as these can be life threatening if left untreated.



Symptoms of Hyperglycemia (high sugar) and Hypoglycemia (low sugar)
 
           

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