I can’t find a meal plan that is easy to follow or that seems to work for me. There are VERY limited resources out there that help you find practical things to eat. I do not want to eat bland chicken breast and kale every meal. I work full time and have very little time to make breakfast. Are there any meals plans for actual people? Any Suggestions?
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The best plan I have found for me is what I create based on meter readings, things I like to eat, limiting carbs and yes convenience.
So it take some works but well worth it.
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It might depend on how you are choosing to eat, and it will definitely depend on how much you are willing to cook, how often, what your caloric goals are, and what you mean by “easy to follow.” But, it’s not too hard to find meal plans online. If, for example, you’re going for serious carb-restriction and a moderate calorie limit, you could try the following two “keto” meal plans:
7 Day: Week One Keto/Low Carb 7 Day Meal Plan & Progress
14 Day: 14-Day Keto Meal Plan with Recipes & Shopping Lists - Diet Doctor
If you really just want the easiest possible planning, but not someone else’s plan, I’d suggest the preparing and eating a meal (measure everything), test your BG an hour and two hours postprandial, and record the results. Do this for three or four breakfasts, lunches, and dinners until you find out how each meal affects your blood sugar. Pick the best three meals from each category (if none are satisfying or hit your BG targets, try a few more meals), and rotate them daily (just make sure you have non-even numbers like 3 breakfasts, 4 lunches, and 5 dinners). That way, you’ll end up with a new menu each day for several weeks in a row, won’t get bored of cooking/eating the same thing, and will have predictable results.
Also, remember that eating for diabetics (of any type) is just one of those things we tend to spend more time on than any normal human being will ever have to. Our minute to minute and year to year outcomes are dramatically affected by the type and amount of food we eat and whether it matches our exercise, our medication, and our lifestyles. I suspect that most of us that do “well” with controlling our diabetes all become at least a bit obsessive.
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Now that I am no longer able to cook, every meal is a major issue. What to eat??? What to eat??? Anything already prepared that I don’t have to cook has too much of something on the nutrition label. Diabetes is not my only medical condition dictating my food choices. If the carbs are low, something else is high that I also need to be low, like sodium, cholesterol, fats, calories, etc. I guess I should eat air and water. I don’t have to cook either of those and they meet all the dietary constraints.
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I have a Plated meal box subscription for 3 dinners a week. I generally choose the low carb designated meals but there are often other selections that I deem “reasonable” carb meals (less than 60g carb per serving). I know it’s not for everyone but I find it helps not having to plan or shop for 3 dinners during the work week which in turn prevents me from eating crap. I find that the meals are interesting and there is quite a variety of tastes. I enjoy cooking so I find most recipes quite easy to make.
Whole 30 also works well and eliminates sugar, grains, dairy and legumes for 30 days and then slowly introduces them back. I found it useful to do when I was sorting out my eating when I started using insulin to figure out how my BG reacted to certain foods. There are meal plans out there.
Clean Eating magazine offers a pretty decent two week meal plan with a shopping list in each issue. Some easy modifications to recipes may be needed to reduce carbs, but many of the daily menus as written come in at less than 120g carbs for the day.
realplans.com is a subscription meal planning service with a variety of diets that create menus and shopping lists.
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I agree with tom
- Eat to your meter - We are all different and all have different requirements so there really is no such thing as 1 plan fits all.
- Look at prepared meals you can pop in the microwave and have ready in 4 1/2 minutes such as Healthy Choice Steamers. Many have about 36 grams of carbs which is not too bad. Others exist as well but are more available in some parts of the country than others. Overall selections are pretty limited.
- Go to low carb/keto websites such as ditchthecarbs.com, myketokitchen.com etc. and look for dishes you like that you can make in about 30-45 minutes. Make 12 servings, freeze 10 of the servings and take 2 out every day and put in refrigerator to have as a choice for a meal.
- Date a diabetic that likes to cook.
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