The American Diabetes Association no longer recommends the same meal plan for all diabetics, strict guidelines on distributing calories, and losing unrealistic amounts of weight. Instead, it now promotes a well balanced diet, flexibility in meal planning, and reasonable, achievable weight goals to control blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels.

Designing a meal plan
If you are a diabetic, a registered dietician can help you tailor a meal plan based on your medication needs, your health risks, the foods you like, and your lifestyle. For example, if you are overweight, part of your plan might include cutting back a little on the calories you eat so you can maintain a reasonable weight. Even a 10 to 20 pound weight loss in an overweight person can improve diabetes control.

To help you design a meal plan, your dietician might suggest you follow the United States Department of Agriculture Food Guide Pyramid (Fig), which provides basic nutrition guidelines not only for people with diabetes but for the entire family. By following the guidelines, you and your family eat a balanced diet that is low in saturated fat and high in fiber.

Satisfying your sweet tooth
The new nutritional recommendations discuss how moderate amounts of sugar can be eaten safely. Sugar and starch are carbohydrates that raise your blood glucose level when you eat them. Sugar found in baked goods and candy is called simple sugar and is digested and absorbed quickly. Vegetables and grains contain starches called complex carbohydrates. The starch is mixed with fiber that slows down the speed at which your body uses this carbohydrate. For many years, diabetes specialists have believed that because sugar is digested and absorbed faster than starch, it raises the level of blood glucose faster. However, researchers have found that the total amount of carbohydrates that you eat, not the source, affects blood glucose levels. Of course, this does not mean that a person with diabetes can indulge in cakes and cookies every day. Remember, foods high in sugar, such as cookies, are often high in fat and calories and do not satisfy your appetite quickly like more nutrient-dense complex carbohydrates, such as a baked potato or pasta. By eating enough sugary foods to satisfy your appetite, you might eat too much carbohydrate, raising your blood glucose level too high. For this reason, you should eat sugary foods in moderation. Most of the carbohydrates in your diet should come from complex carbohydrates. But a small amount of sugar can be part of a balanced diet.

If you are one of the approximately 14 million Americans with diabetes, the new American Diabetes Association recommendations should make it easier to follow your meal plan. The key is good nutrition from healthy food choices, which is beneficial for the whole family.

Rita Panayioto, R.D.
Atlanta, Georgia