The Canadian Diabetes Association launches new meal planning guide

31/03/05 The Canadian Diabetes Association has launched a new meal planning guide designed to help people with diabetes - or those at risk for the disease - choose the right foods and portion sizes to manage blood glucose levels and maintain a healthy body weight.

Beyond the Basics: Meal Planning for Healthy Eating, Diabetes Prevention and Management is a new meal planning guide that groups foods into two main categories - food groups that contain carbohydrates and therefore raise blood glucose levels (grains and starches, fruits, milk and alternatives and snacks or sweet foods) and food groups that contain little or no carbohydrates (vegetables, meat and meat alternatives, fats and 'extras' such as sugar-free foods and beverages, herbs, spices and condiments.)

'Beyond the Basics is designed primarily for an adult with type 2 diabetes, but anyone who wishes to understand carbohydrate levels of many common foods and portion size will find this tool useful,' said Sharon Zeiler, Senior Manager, Nutrition Strategies and Initiatives.

'Beyond the Basics will make it easier for people with diabetes to choose healthier foods, estimate the carbohydrate load in their meals, and get an idea of how to calculate the appropriate portion size of the foods they eat,' said Zeiler.

The new meal planning guide is aligned with the food groups cited in Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating and reflects a list of multicultural foods common to 11 cultural groups (First Nations, Barbadian, Chinese Filipino, Hispanic, Jamaican, Japanese, Somalian, Vietnamese Trinidadian and Tobagoian.)