What does meal planning look like if you’re prediabetic? It’s not as dire as you might think. You can still enjoy the foods you love, just in lower quantities or less frequently.
The key is to ensure the right ratio between carbohydrates (starches and sugars), vegetables, and protein. If you have any of the other health conditions that often accompany prediabetes, like high cholesterol or high blood pressure, you also have to factor in the amount of saturated fat and sodium in the foods you eat. And you should always aim to include good sources of fibre in meals and snacks.
It can be tricky to balance it all, but it can be done. It just takes a little legwork to learn what you need to do and a mental reset to get your head around what your meals will look like now.
I’ve talked about the various elements you need in other posts in this series. I am bringing it all together here in one big summary.
To me, it all starts with portion size. Once you nail that, you can start balancing your plate. From there, you need to consider ways to increase fibre and protein. Most people don’t get enough of these nutrients and both can help control blood sugar.
Right-Size Your Portions
I looked at serving size in my post about carbohydrates but the discussion bears repeating.
It is remarkably easy to underestimate food portions. A serving of carbs should be about the size of your fist, and a serving of protein about the size of a deck of cards. Now think about the last serving you had of rice, pasta, or potatoes. It was likely more.
This is not to say that you can’t exceed a portion at a meal, but you need to recognize when you are eating more than a single serving because you will be getting more carbs, sugar, and fat. You might also want to adjust other meals and snacks to accommodate the excess, especially for carbohydrates (including sugar) which can raise your blood sugar levels.
And when reading nutrition labels on packaged foods, take note of the portion size. It can be smaller than what you are used to eating.
I checked some labels for examples:
- A serving of a popular brand of wheat crackers is just 4 crackers.
- Most cereals consider a serving to be anywhere from 30 to 55 g, which doesn’t tend to look like much when it’s in the bowl, hence the tendency to overeat cereal and its accompanying carbs.
- Popcorn is a healthy snack, if not swimming in butter, but a single serving is 3 cups. That sounds like a lot but when you see it in real life, it’s a surprisingly small amount.
It’s easy, and disheartening, to glance quickly at the nutrients listed on a label and think the amounts of carbohydrates and sugar sound okay, only to find out the serving is much smaller than you thought. The moral of the story: read labels carefully to verify serving size.
Use The Dinner Plate Visual
To help manage portions and the ratio of carbs to protein and vegetables at mealtimes, I find it really helpful to use the dinner plate visual provided by Health Canada.
As advised here, carbs and protein should each make up a quarter of your dinner plate, while non-starchy vegetables should make up the remaining half.
Diabetes Canada also has a handout on the balanced dinner plate, with some suggested foods.
Distribute Carb Servings Throughout the Day
For prediabetics, staying attuned to portion sizes is critical for controlling blood sugar. Eating a ton of carbs at one sitting can cause a blood sugar spike. If you do that daily, it will elevate your A1C score.
Instead, you should aim to eat 3-4 carb servings (45–60 grams) at each meal and 1-2 (15–30 grams) at each snack, depending on the daily carbohydrate totals your dietitian recommends. (Mine actually suggested 2-3 servings at meals and 1 serving at snacks.) And be sure to combine those carbs with some protein or fat to slow the release of sugar.
I speak from experience here. My dietitian told me that sometimes it is just one trouble spot in a day that can bump up the A1C score. She singled out my lunch as an issue for me. I would often be really hungry at midday. In my haste to eat, I would overload on carbs with minimal protein alongside.
She made some suggestions to help me balance things out. I now try to plan lunch ahead of time to ensure a quick and easy source of protein – often leftovers from the night before – to go along with any carbs I eat. And I’m more careful about carbohydrate serving size to ensure I’m staying within the limits my dietitian suggested.
When planning meals, have a protein, carbohydrate, and vegetable in mind so you aren’t stuck scrambling to come up with something and throwing off the balance on your plate. If need be, measure your carb serving so you don’t exceed the amount recommended for a meal. You don’t have to measure every time you eat, but it’s good to do it when you’re first getting used to serving sizes and whenever you are uncertain about how much of a food constitutes a serving.
Balance Your Snacks
To even out the blood sugar load in your daily snacks, it’s important to combine carbohydrates with protein or a bit of fat, as advised above for meals.
For example: eat a few walnuts or pecans with a piece of fruit or serving of pretzels; have a bit of cheese or nut butter with wholegrain crackers; add fruit and chia seeds to Greek yogurt; serve cottage cheese with some vegetables.
Healthy snacks are an important part of managing blood sugar. Allowing yourself to get overly hungry, as I used to do at lunch, means you will be more likely to overeat at meals. And, if you are anything like me, when starving you will reach for quick and easy carbs – like bread, crackers, tortilla chips – before anything else.
Make a Habit of Meal Planning
Meal planning is work, no lie. But it’s worth it and it gets easier the more you do it.
If you are prediabetic, it’s really important to have the components of your meals planned ahead of time as much as possible. Ad-libbing at each meal can lead to unbalanced meals, thrown together quickly to fill you up instead of factoring in your nutritional needs. I’ve been there and done that many times.
Of course we all lose the plot on meal planning from time to time, so be sure to have some staples on hand as a fallback. Canned tuna, eggs, canned chili and beans – all are quick sources of protein that you can throw together into a meal with a carb on the side:
- scramble an egg and serve with toast;
- whip up some tuna salad and serve it on wholegrain bread;
- serve chili with rice cooked ahead of time;
- make a bean salad with vegetables and whatever bottled salad dressing you have.
I have a whole series on meal planning if you need a little guidance on that subject.
To learn more about the ingredients you might want to have in your pantry for your prediabetes meal planning, read Tips for Increasing Fibre and Protein.
To read this entire series, visit the Prediabetes Series page.
To read this entire series, follow the Prediabetes link on the Food for Thought Menu or click the tag at the end of this post.
Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian but have worked with one to learn all I can about prediabetes. I have also done a lot of my own research, from valid sources like Diabetes Canada and books and news articles written by dietitians and doctors. I am speaking here of my own experience and nothing I say should be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional. Always consult with a doctor or dietitian before making any lifestyle changes for prediabetes or any other condition.
Photo of menu board by Maël BALLAND on Unsplash.