Nutrition
Careful meal planning should be an important part of your diabetes plan. Your health care team will help you tailor a meal plan just for you. Your plan will include foods from all four groups of Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating.
Carbohydrates
Although carbohydrates are an important source of energy, they normally affect your blood glucose quickly and last for a shorter period of time. You may want to count carbohydrates as part of your meal plan because they can affect your blood glucose. Some foods contain more carbohydrates than others. In general, carbohydrate foods are in the grain products, some vegetables, fruit, and some milk products.
Fats
You should try to limit your consumption of high-fat foods, because they contain a lot of calories and may affect your blood lipid levels. Follow the tips for grocery shopping to help you choose low-fat or fat-free foods whenever you can.
Vegetables and Proteins
Many vegetables give you vitamins and minerals, but may not affect your blood glucose significantly.
Only peas, parsnips, turnips and squash contain enough carbohydrate to affect your blood glucose.
The foods in the meat group are higher in protein, but also in calories, cholesterol and saturated fat. Protein gives your body an energy reserve. It's a good idea to have at least 100 grams (4 oz) of protein per day. Follow the grocery-shopping tips to help you select protein foods that have less fat.
Food Labels
Make sure to read the labels on foods. They offer the information you need to make good meal-planning choices.