Low carbohydrate meal routine meet you to your metabolic goals and individual preferences. It is effective diet for both weight loss and diabetes controlling.
Your diabetes diet is simply a healthy-eating plan that will help you control your blood sugar. During digestion, sugars-simple carbohydrates and starches-complex carbohydrates break down into blood glucose. Focus on the healthiest carbohydrates, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and low-fat dairy products.
After hearing for years that a high-carb, low-fat diet is the only real road to weight loss, you might be wondering how a low-carb diabetes diet can help you finally drop the pounds and help you get control of your blood sugar. Eating low-carb meals helps moderate blood sugars, and it’s also a smart strategy for cutting calories if you’re looking to lose a few pounds. That’s because all starches — even healthy choices like whole-grain pasta, brown rice, and baked potatoes — are calorie-dense, easy to overeat, and known to elevate blood sugar. To gain better control over type 2 diabetes, consider completely omitting starch at dinner a few nights each week. Instead, build your meals with lean protein, which helps stabilize blood sugar, and pair it with plenty of filling, fiber-rich non-starchy vegetables. Here are six simple and delicious meal ideas to help you get started in the kitchen.
Carbohydrate Target
A low-carb diet can provide anywhere between less than 20 g to 150 g of carbohydrates a day, and you will need to find the amount of carbohydrates that works best to achieve your goals, such as improving your blood sugar levels and losing weight. Endocrinologist Dr. Surender K. Arora, writing in the July 2005 issue of “Nutrition & Metabolism,” recommends that diabetics gets a minimum of 30 g of carbohydrates a day. The long-term study showing the benefits of low-carb diet, as published in May 2008 of “Nutrition & Metabolism,” used a carb intake corresponding to 20 percent of daily calories, or about 80 to 100 g a day based on a 1,600-to-2,000-calorie diet. You can start with this amount of carbohydrates, which is the equivalent of 25 to 30 g of carbohydrates per meal, to see how it benefits your health, and adjust accordingly.
Low-Carb Recipes
Are you counting carbs? We have delicious low-carb diabetic recipes for you! Whether you’re looking for low-carb dinners, desserts, or snacks, we have something here that will meet your diabetic meal plan and satisfy your taste buds.
Grilled Chicken Parmesan
An oversize restaurant portion of classic chicken parmesan can easily top 1,000 calories — yikes! The traditional recipe starts with chicken that’s coated in white refined bread crumbs and deep-fried in a vat of oil, jacking up the fat and carb count, and then smothered with fattening whole-milk cheese. To make a slimmer, low-carb version, nix the breading and frying: Instead grill or pan-sauté plain boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Top each chicken breast with marinara sauce and shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, and place under the broiler just until the cheese melts. Hold the side of pasta, and instead serve this comforting entrée with a giant mound of steamed broccoli.
Vegetable-and-Cheese Frittata
Frittatas make easy, versatile vegetarian meals and are a great way to transform eggs into a more substantial lunch or dinner entrée. Eggs are naturally low in carbs and rich in protein, the perfect combo to maintain steady blood-sugar levels. Sauté any mix of vegetables in an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Whip together 4 whole eggs and 8 whites (to help cut back on calories, fat, and cholesterol) with black pepper and a pinch of kosher salt, and pour mixture over the softened vegetables. Allow to cook undisturbed for 3 minutes to form a crust, and then sprinkle the top with a handful of reduced-fat cheese. Transfer the skillet to a 375° oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the eggs are set. Cut the frittata into quarters and plate each wedge with a side salad.
Turkey Meatloaf
Traditional meatloaf is made with marbled ground chuck, which is loaded with artery-clogging saturated fat, and bound together with junky white bread crumbs. Create a leaner, meaner version of your favorite recipe by substituting low-fat ground turkey for the beef, and slash the carbs by cutting out the bread crumbs. To stretch the recipe and add a blast of nutrition, mix plenty of chopped and sautéed onions, carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, or other vegetables into the turkey. With these simple tweaks, you’ll create a low-carb, protein-rich “turkey meatloaf” that’s light on calories and big on taste!
7-Day Diabetes Meal Plan
These 7-day diabetes meal plans are designed by EatingWell’s nutrition and culinary experts to offer delicious, nutritionally balanced meals for a diabetic diet at five different daily calorie levels: 1,200, 1,400, 1,600, 1,800 and 2,000. These diabetic-diet meal plans avoid refined grains and limit added sugars. Each meal and snack is planned to help you keep your blood sugar in check. Snacks are generally 1 to 2 1/2 carbohydrate servings and meals are 2 1/2 to 5 carbohydrate servings, depending on the calorie level.
Breakfast
1 Cup Skim Milk
1 Orange, medium
1 Cup Cheerios Cereal
Lunch
Grilled Shrimp Skewers over White Bean Salad
1 Whole-Wheat Pita Bread, small
1 Cup Skim Milk
1 Fudgsicle, no sugar added
Afternoon Snack
2 Tablespoons Prepared Hummus
3 Ounces Celery Sticks
Dinner
1/2 Cup Cooked Brown Rice
North African Spiced Carrots
Tomato-Herb Marinated Flank Steak
1/2 Banana, small