The field of nutrition is a shifting landscape because it’s a relatively new area of study and constant research is being done. While this can be frustrating for a normal person, it’s even more frustrating for diabetics who are dependent on good meal planning to control their blood sugars.
Having been diabetic myself now for 14 years, I often feel bad for new diabetics trying to figure out what the heck to eat.
I’ve spent years researching and studying nutrition with the hope of gaining some solid ground not only for myself but for all the diabetics I work with. Here’s some of what I’ve learned:
There’s no single meal plan that will work for all diabetics. We’re all different and what will work for one diabetic will not necessarily work for others. We also all don’t necessarily like the same foods or have the same food sensitivities.
So, from that perspective, we diabetics will each need to do quite a bit of initial testing (of our blood sugar) when working on our own individual meal plans. And while that can be additionally frustrating, you can all start doing this slowly, finding one food or meal after the other that satisfies you and that you’ll look forward to eating. Meals and foods that don’t cause those major blood sugar spikes, that is.
The good news that I can tell you is that low carb foods are often a good place for diabetics to start with. “Low carb” was much touted in the 1990’s and the trend died out. I think at least part of the reason for that was that manufactured low carb foods often tasted like cardboard or paper towels, blah.
Well, fast forward to today, and no more cardboard for we diabetics! Low carb is back in the picture today and the internet is chock full of great low carb foods made with alternative, healthier, lower carb ingredients. Well, at least some of them.
Some of you may have tried a low carb diet like Atkins or South Beach already and found the immediate blood sugar lowering results low carb is known for. I just want my low carb foods tasty AND healthy.
Sweet Talkers promotes making tasty, low carb foods with the healthiest ingredients possible. We strive to use organic food products and create and find recipes that not only taste good but help us heal our bodies to boot.
It really doesn’t have to be as daunting as it may sound. If you’re diabetic or pre diabetic, you’ll need to start on the road to making some healthy lifestyle changes. I’d start by learning about foods and what their carb load is like. Lifestyle changes don’t happen overnight so don’t expect to change your food choices to all change overnight either.
Get yourself a good book on low carb eating with some net carb food lists and then start trying to track how many carbs you eat each day. You could even start by just tracking how many carbs you eat for breakfast each day and then expand until you’re good at knowing how many carbs you eat on average everyday.
Go ahead and take the challenge. The more you know about what you’re eating now, the easier it will be to change it to healthier choices.
So, why not give low carb meal planning a shot?