Diabetes – Day 1

For the next seven days, I will play the role of a person with diabetes. That means I’ll be planning my meals, controlling my intake of carbohydrate containing foods, and checking my blood sugar. I don’t really feel too intimidated by this assignment, because I have the impression that I already control my intake in this way. I’m pretty balanced with my food choices throughout the day, and I never binge on candy or eat large portions of high carb foods in one meal. Except when we order Chicago style pizza…which I conveniently did LAST night.
Today I used the Plate Method for meal planning. This is generally considered the simplest form of meal planning for people with diabetes, or people who just want to control their intake and lose weight. So far, my impression of this method is that it is overly simple and does not really fit in with my personal eating plan. For example, I always have cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. I also eat mixed dishes for dinner fairly often. Under the plate method, you are supposed to divide your plate into three sections: ¼ for meat, ¼ for grains or starchy vegetables, and the rest for non-starchy vegetables. Milk and fruit go on the sides, and are optional at meals. It is recommended that these foods are used for snacks. At any rate, snacks and desserts should be kept at very small portions.

Here’s what my plates looked like today:

Morning/pre-workout snack (not pictured): I always have a cup of coffee with fat free half and half, sweetened with Equal or Stevia, and ½ cup of orange juice in the morning before I work out. I usually work out for about an hour, and this keeps me going all the way until I eat breakfast.














Breakfast: small bowl of bran flakes cereal with skim milk and 1/2 banana, and a fried egg














Lunch: 1/2 turkey sandwich with Gouda cheese (yum!), a small bowl of Campbells Light Southwest vegetable soup, and fat free/no sugar added yogurt.














Afternoon snack: about ½ cup of fruit cocktail in lite syrup, and 6 Wheat Thins with peanut butter














Dinner: Extra lean beef hamburger with Gouda (yum again!), a small hamburger bun, and roasted garlic broccoli. I did have a few roasted potato wedges and about a tablespoon of ketchup. Hey, you’ve gotta have it!















Evening snack/dessert: bowl of sugar free/fat free chocolate pudding.

My overall reflection of day 1: this isn’t really that difficult. All of the foods I ate are normal for me. I often use artificially sweetened products like the yogurt and pudding. I normally would have had a whole sandwich for lunch, but this method of meal planning made me feel like I could only have one slice of bread since it fits on that part of the plate. I also would have had a lot more potatoes with my burger, but probably the same amount of broccoli.I remembered to check my blood sugar three times. Today I checked it when I got up, after my workout, and 2 hours after I ate lunch.