Putting it all together: Creating a plan

You may use a few different approaches to create a diabetes diet to help you keep your blood glucose level within a normal range. With a dietitian's help, you may find that one or a combination of the following methods works for you:

The plate method

The American Diabetes Association offers a simple method of meal planning. In essence, it focuses on eating more vegetables. Follow these steps when preparing your plate:

• Fill half of your plate with nonstarchy vegetables, such as spinach, carrots and tomatoes.
• Fill a quarter of your plate with a protein, such as tuna, lean pork or chicken.
• Fill the last quarter with a whole-grain item, such as brown rice, or a starchy vegetable, such as green peas.
• Include "good" fats such as nuts or avocados in small amounts.
• Add a serving of fruit or dairy and a drink of water or unsweetened tea or coffee.

Counting carbohydrates

Because carbohydrates break down into glucose, they have the greatest impact on your blood glucose level. To help control your blood sugar, you may need to learn to calculate the amount of carbohydrates you are eating so that you can adjust the dose of insulin accordingly. It's important to keep track of the amount of carbohydrates in each meal or snack.

A dietitian can teach you how to measure food portions and become an educated reader of food labels. He or she can also teach you how to pay special attention to serving size and carbohydrate content.

If you're taking insulin, a dietitian can teach you how to count the amount of carbohydrates in each meal or snack and adjust your insulin dose accordingly.

Choose your foods

A dietitian may recommend you choose specific foods to help you plan meals and snacks. You can choose a number of foods from lists including categories such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

One serving in a category is called a "choice." A food choice has about the same amount of carbohydrates, protein, fat and calories — and the same effect on your blood glucose — as a serving of every other food in that same category. For example, the starch, fruits and milk list includes choices that are 12 to 15 grams of carbohydrates.

Glycemic index

Some people who have diabetes use the glycemic index to select foods, especially carbohydrates. This method ranks carbohydrate-containing foods based on their effect on blood glucose levels. Talk with your dietitian about whether this method might work for you.