Diabetic Diet Chart - Specific Food Intake

When you are first diagnosed with diabetes, your doctor will send you home with a lot of different information about self care and diabetes control. One of the most important things that you will receive is a diabetic diet chart. The diabetic diet chart is not more important than the other information, but it is one of the things that you will need to use soonest after your diagnosis. Chances are, you will eat your first meal within a few hours of having left the doctor’s office!

At first glance, your diabetic diet chart may look a little complicated. Once you learn how to read and interpret your chart, however, you will see how easy this system really is. You will be using your diabetic diet chart every single day, so after a few weeks, you probably won’t even have to look at your actual chart. By that point you will have it memorized!

Your diabetic diet chart will tell you the appropriate amount of food for you to eat throughout the whole day. This amount will be the same every single day. That is why you can continue to use the same chart for an extended length of time. Eventually your chart may change, but this is not something that happens often.

The diabetic diet chart has been personalized for you according to your size, gender, and activity level. If, for example, you are a small to medium-sized woman, your chart total may read something like this: 6 starches, 2 milk and yogurt, 3 vegetables, 2 meat or meat substitute, 2 fruit, and up to 3 fats. Any food that you would want to eat in categorized into one of these categories. Your goal will be to eat exactly the amount and type of servings shown on your chart, nothing more, and nothing less. Following your chart as closely as possible ensures the best blood sugar control possible.

Your diabetic diet chart will also divide the servings into meals and snacks. A typical meal pattern for a diabetic diet is breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and snack before bed. Your diabetic diet chart will show how many of each group you need to eat at each of these time periods.

Try to eat meals of the same size around the same time every day. The more you get into a routine with your diabetic diet and your medications, insulin, and exercise program, the more you will be able to control your blood sugar. Good luck!

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