EXTENSION NEWS: The Healthy Diabetes Plate | Columns
What foods should you eat if you have diabetes? Fortunately, planning healthy meals to manage diabetes does not have to be complicated.
Some of you may use carbohydrate counting and some of you may use the Diabetic Exchange diet as a ways to control your blood glucose. One way that can help you is by following the Healthy Diabetes Plate. A Swedish dietitian designed a visual way to teach diabetes meal planning and called it the Swedish Plate Method. In the 1990s a group of Idaho dietitians modified this method to meet the nutritional guidelines of the American Diabetes Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics renaming it the Idaho Plate Method now the Healthy Diabetes Plate. The Healthy Diabetes Plate includes concepts and information from each of these methods. It takes the five food groups and helps you usually create healthy and tasty breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. You do not need to measure or weigh your foods or buy special food products. All you need is a 9-inch plate for your vegetables, starches and protein foods, plus a small bowl and/or glass for your fruit and dairy products.
Using the Healthy Diabetes Plate is easy. You just divide your plate in half. Half of your plate should include non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, cauliflower, okra or many other vegetables. The other half should include a fourth of your plate with a starch food that can include a starchy vegetable such as a small potato or corn, or whole grain such as brown rice, pasta, or bread. The other fourth of your plate should be a protein. Also, you need a fruit such as a bowl of strawberries or half a banana and a serving of dairy which could be milk or yogurt.
There are many benefits of using the Healthy Diabetes Plate. It saves time and money by using regular food. That means less “impulse” buying as well as fewer trips to the grocery store.
It also makes meals healthy by including all five food groups. You will get vitamins and minerals your body needs to keep it healthy.
It helps keep blood sugar under control by limiting food portions. This minimizes the damage that high blood sugar levels can do to kidneys, nerves, heart, and eyes.
It is for all family members. You do not have to be a certain age or have diabetes to benefit from the Healthy Diabetes Plate. It is a good way to eat healthy for everyone.
Do Well Be Well with Diabetes II Classes
You can learn about the Healthy Diabetes Plates, how to count carbs and control your diabetes by participating in Do Well Be Well with Diabetes education series. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension will offer Do Well Be Well with Diabetes education series beginning Wednesday, May 5, 2021 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The class will meet for five weeks on Wednesdays through June 2. The classes will be available in person at the Parker County Extension office located at 604 N. Main St. in Weatherford and online through Zoom.
The topics will include: How Food Affects your Blood Glucose; Are you Eating the Right Number of Carbohydrates; Beyond the Diet: Improving Your Blood Glucose Control with Physical Activity; Improving your Blood Glucose Control with Medication; and Celebrating Diabetes Control and Avoiding Complications.
The cost for the class series is $15. You can sign up or find out more about the classes by calling 817-598-6168 or emailing Kathy Smith at [email protected].
Kathy Smith is a Texas A&M AgriLife extension agent in Parker County.