Diabetes-friendly Lunch Ideas
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
We love questions from our followers, and one recently asked for advice on lunch. Of course, we answered with some food for thought.
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My Favorite Meal - Lunch
I received this video request from many of you, thanks for offering the suggestion. Today we will cover lunch ideas! Yay! Lunch is a favorite meal, well, I’d say all the meals are favorites😊 I’m going to give you some tricks to make packing or preparing a lunch easier and will give you some lunch ideas that are good for people with diabetes. Ready? Let’s get to it…
Tips For The Diabete's Plate Method
1 - I want to give you a picture for your mind as you set out to plan your lunch. Visualize the diabetes plate method as your guide to healthy eating. Everyone eats or has eaten off a plate, right? So, this makes sense to use this visualize that picture in building a healthy eating plate of food. As a review, the diabetes plate method has three sections, half the plate is filled with vegetables, one quarter is filled with protein, and one quarter is filled with carb-containing foods.
2 - Try to include food from each of these three sections of the plate. The plate method can serve as a check-off system…Did I get my veggies? Place several different veggies in your “choices”. For example, baby carrots, celery, tomato, bell pepper, or grilled veggies. Remember canned or frozen vegetables can be used as well.
3 - Look at your choices for your source of protein, like lean beef, chicken, cheese, egg, fish, nut butter, or soy (I have a tofu salad or deli slices vegan meat here as an option), and make sure to include at least one source of carbohydrate, on average, people with diabetes can include 2-4 sources of carb per meal. In the carb group, we have whole grain crackers, tortillas or whole grain bread, fruit, or a baked chip like these veggie crisps or popcorn. You can think of this as a mix and match when you have a couple of options from each of the three groups of food. I promise these two tips will make it easier to plan your lunch.
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Here is The Final Plate
Alright, now to put these tips together for our healthy lunch. Here is my first example: pick a tortilla that is high in fiber and lower in carb, like this La Banderita carb counter tortilla OR if you want to keep your carbs even lower, you can use these Cali-flour flatbreads with only 3-5 grams of carb per serving. Fill your tortilla or top your flatbread with a protein - it can be diced chicken or shredded beef, nut butter, OR tuna salad topped with grilled veggies. You can make your tuna salad, egg salad, or salmon salad with fat-reduced mayonnaise, some diced celery, and dill relish. Serve with baby bell peppers and ½ of a mango, sliced. You can also add a low-carb peanut butter cookie as your dessert.
There are days I like to use a cheese board concept by having cubed cheese or hard-boiled eggs as my protein along with whole-grain crackers, baby carrots, and jicama sticks with a low-carb salad dressing as a dip, grapes, almonds, and a piece of dark chocolate.
Or you can have a peanut or almond butter sandwich using whole grain bread. Add celery sticks and an apple and my chocolate chia pudding to finish your meal.
Just a Reminder
Lunch can be packed the night before and stored in the refrigerator. And remember, you can use leftovers from dinner to pack your lunch, giving your dinner meal a new twist. For instance, if you served the grilled chicken with corn and steamed green beans for dinner, you can make a chicken taco with lettuce and tomato and serve it with a slice of melon for lunch the next day.
Do you have any favorite lunch ideas? Share them in the comments section below.
Until next time, cheers to your health.
Don't forget to take a look at our most frequently asked questions.
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