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Adjusting the Meal Plan (January 2013)

Our One Day Meal Plan may not exactly fit your individual needs, so we’ve provided some ideas for adjusting carbohydrates and calories in the meal plan below.

For Less Carbohydrate…

Your healthcare provider may ask you to limit carbohydrates more than our meal plan suggests. This means you should cut back on the carbohydrate foods that you eat throughout the day. To keep your calorie intake about the same, substitute sources of lean protein or healthy fats in their place. Here’s an example:

To lower carbohydrate intake for the day (to about 35% of calories) while keeping calories about the same, make the following adjustments to our original meal plan:

• At breakfast, replace your waffle, syrup, and margarine with 1 ounce of cooked turkey bacon.
• Instead of eating an apple with almond butter at lunch, have a hard-boiled egg and 1/4 cup of unsalted dry-roasted almonds with your pita sandwich.
• Add 1/4 cup of sliced avocado to your afternoon snack. Eat it as is or spread it onto your rice cakes with the Laughing Cow cheese.
• Decrease your portion size of Honey Tarragon Carrots at dinner to 1/3 cup.
• For your night time snack, increase the amount of cottage cheese to 3/4 cup and have just half of the orange instead of the whole piece of fruit.

To Adjust Calories…

Depending on whether you are trying to lose, gain, or maintain your weight, you may have different calorie needs as well. Here are some ideas for adjusting the calories in our one day meal plan.

To cut about 200 calories:

• Have just 4 ounces of yogurt and ½ cup of blueberries at breakfast. (This saves about 60 calories.)
• Use just 1 tablespoon of almond butter on your apple at lunch. (This saves about 100 calories)
• At dinner, have just ¼ cup of Honey Tarragon Carrots. (This saves about 40 calories.)

To add around 200 calories:

• Add a second waffle to your breakfast meal. (This adds about 85 calories.)
• Add a hard-boiled egg to your afternoon snack. (This adds about 80 calories.)
• Sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoons of grated parmesan onto your salad at dinner. (This adds about 35 calories.)

*Note: Our meal plans are developed based on the American Diabetes Association’s general nutrition guidelines. However, nutritional needs can vary from person to person. Your healthcare team can help you set up a meal plan that works for you and will help you meet your health goals.

Featured Cookbook

Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cooking, 2nd Ed

by Lara Rondinelli-Hamilton, RD, LDN, CDE, and Chef Jennifer Bucko Lamplough

This calendar cookbook provides seasonal recipes with clear and easy-to-follow instructions. You’ll also find month-by-month, week-by-week, and day-by-day meal plans with grocery lists!