How to Meal Plan for Diabetes (Even if You Hate Cooking or Have No Time)

0:00
Welcome back to another episode of the Diabetes Digital Podcast.

Today we are super excited to talk about creating a meal plan for diabetes, including all the pros, why we love meal planning, and also what to do if you are someone who is burnout from life.

I definitely have been there and you don’t feel like meal planning.

0:19
So how do you make a meal plan for diabetes something that can be really flexible?

If you have no time or no energy or motivation, we’re also going to give you some meal ideas, very quick and easy ideas that can fit into your meal plan.

And this conversation is going to be tailored for people with diabetes, but it really can apply to everybody.

0:40
So even if you don’t have diabetes or pre diabetes, still Tune In because I’m sure they’ll be some tips that’ll be great for you.

Our guest today is also going to share some of his favorite resources for meal planning, including websites, books and recipes, and also had a meal plan for diabetes during special occasions or holidays.

0:59
Welcome to the Diabetes Digital Podcast.

I’m Wendy.

And I’m Jess, and we’re best friends, registered dietitians and diabetes educators.

Through our telehealth platform, Diabetes digital.co, we offer accessible and personalized virtual nutrition counseling for people with diabetes and pre diabetes.

1:16
Visit diabetesdigital.co that’s Co to book your first appointment.

We accept insurance and offer affordable self pay options.

Now let’s get into today’s episode.

We are thrilled to have one of our diabetes digital dietitians, Fernando Umentor Guzman, who grew up in Washington, DC raised in a predominantly Latin and African immigrant community.

1:41
There, he persistently saw how food expresses love and culture while being exposed to misleading ideas that cultural foods are unhealthy.

He received a bachelor’s and Master’s in Clinical Nutrition, and he believes that everyone can benefit from nutrition education and counseling to understand how all foods influence the body and can be utilized to heal.

2:02
Fernando, we are so excited to chat with you today.

Hello, thank you for having me today.

I’m super excited to join you guys.

This is also my first podcast, so it’s.

Exciting.

It’ll be a time.

Yes, Yeah, you’re doing amazing.

You’re doing great.

It’s very chill, very laid back.

People with diabetes, I mean, often times as dieticians, we’ve seen this where they just get a meal plan and they’re on their way.

And not just people with diabetes, but I think just people in general.

2:34
When you go in to see a dietician, typically that’s what is done, but a lot of times it’s not helpful because you might not be getting to the root of why someone is having a hard time eating in a healthier way or what might be going on with them.

Can you talk about the difference between a meal plan for diabetes and meal planning?

2:55
Because I do think that meal planning can be useful for many people, but I do think there’s a difference there, especially for people with diabetes.

Correct.

Yeah.

So the whole idea of like meal plans, realistically, it’s not really actually a plan.

3:13
It’s kind of very misuse of a word because you’re not necessarily planning much.

It’s already something that’s been structured for you.

So in that sense, since it has kind of like a structure, the question really is, is it something that’s really flexible?

3:28
Can it be used for multiple people, multiple demographics?

And realistically, I believe a meal plan the way I see them is just that they’re too rigid.

And yes, it could work for one person, but let’s take it to the next level.

And what about let’s bring that meal plan into the household?

3:45
Can it be suitable for more than one person, the mother, father, maybe children, kind of raising that question on building a flexible meal plan for diabetes, we’re going to have to think about it.

It’s a condition that is kind of lifelong and can a meal plan for diabetes be sustainable for that long is a really big question that I have.

4:03
Whenever patients come to me and they say, oh, I, I really want you to tell me what exactly to eat.

It could work for some people, but at the end of the day, it’s not really for the majority of the population.

And we have to take into custom also like cultural customs.

4:18
So it’s kind of another aspect to consider.

Absolutely.

So for people like us who are listening and meal planning is triggering for them, right?

Because they think of it as this like rigid meal plan, which we are saying it’s not.

4:37
And it can mean so many different things to so many different people, right?

So looking at this from an intuitive eating framework, which we practice, how can people meal plan in a way that doesn’t feel triggering and is very flexible?

4:52
Like what do you typically tell your clients?

Yeah, kind of thinking of meal planning to do to like differentiate from a meal plan, kind of think of meal planning to be more prepared for different types of scenarios.

And with preparedness, we have to think about what are maybe your favorite foods that that you like to eat to kind of just having that always in the back of your head and considering that some of these meals can be flexible.

5:21
So often times from the intuitive eating aspect, we have to consider that food sometimes could be trigging for other people.

So it can cause a lot of emotional influxes.

And sometimes at the end of the day, we don’t really want to be thinking about food.

5:38
So just kind of avoiding that extra exhaustion, like mental exhaustion and physical exhaustion.

So a big recommendation I often give a lot of my patients is to consider having the different types of macro nutrients available and also just kind of keeping different like shelf stable items at home.

5:58
And that could be like frozen things, canned items, even buying things in bulk too, though that kind of makes a big difference for for longevity.

For someone who’s listening, who is like, what are the macronutrients like, what exactly are those?

6:13
And maybe even a few examples of ways that they can kind of keep them on hand at home.

Yeah.

So from the macro nutrients perspective, I I like to train a lot of my patients to think about the benefits that different foods have.

6:29
So for example, considering for diabetes is a big aspect is we want to be mindful of sugar and a misconception is about like sugar and carbohydrates.

So kind of having that understanding of the differences.

So for example, like for carbohydrates, that could be things like rice, pasta, bread, but we also have to think about different types of vegetables, the corn, potatoes and peas, yams, for example, just kind of taking that to another level.

7:00
And then protein is another big aspect that we have to consider for diabetes.

So thinking of a big way to kind of clarify protein is kind of think of flesh.

So things that have muscle, that’s definitely like a protein source.

So a lot of the times patients, I, I see that they’re a little bit confused just based on the information in the media about what different foods belong, what category they belong into.

7:24
So kind of clarifying that information.

But protein doesn’t have to be just animal sources.

It could be plant based sources.

So thinking about like your beans, it could be soy items as well, nuts and seeds, like your almonds, your peanuts and things like that.

And then fats is another big aspect.

7:41
So thinking about things that are like oil, for example, having like different dairy sources, avocados as well.

So kind of taking that into consideration.

OK, so it sounds like for someone who has diabetes, it’s really important to incorporate the different food groups together so that they have good balance.

8:01
So making sure that when you do eat your carbohydrates, you’re pairing that with protein, with healthy fats, also with fiber, like your vegetables, your non starchy vegetables.

I think that the concept can sound a little overwhelming for someone who maybe isn’t used to meal planning.

8:17
So can you talk to us about what are some easy ways that someone with diabetes can put together meals that have all these different components together and they might not have a lot of time?

Yeah.

So taking into consideration of either like when you go to the grocery store, making like a list of of items, having that list available, either like digitally, it could be on your phone.

8:43
Some people are more like handwritten and this could also be like a list that you develop over the week.

It doesn’t have to be all in one sitting.

Kind of taking into consideration the foods that you that you eat very frequently, maybe foods you want to incorporate more often as well.

So just some general considerations I like to think about is just having things in, in bulk.

9:03
So keeping in mind that you want to have things that are shelf stable that could be either canned, frozen.

And I like to prioritize these specifically for maybe like vegetables or our fiber components that it would be really, really helpful for controlling your blood sugars.

9:23
And often times I, I find that these are maybe ingredients that we might struggle a little bit to incorporate.

Often times maybe the vegetable or that fiber component is the last thing we consider when, when cooking.

And sometimes we don’t even want to spend that much time cooking.

9:40
So just having that item available can be really, really useful.

And it doesn’t have to be just like fiber and also your, your protein sources.

So for example, like having like frozen, if you like frozen fish, having frozen shrimp, for example, like chicken.

9:55
And you can even have in terms of like canned canned beans could be another really good protein source to to incorporate.

And I find that to help with the whole cooking process because the chopping the washing, usually these are items that are already, you can buy them already pre washed.

10:15
And then if it’s canned, you can kind of just rinse it, reduce the sodium content, and then you just flavor it yourself.

I love that, Yeah.

And Wendy and I are also both huge fans of canned foods and including processed foods when possible because I think everyone when they picture processed foods, they’re thinking about Twinkies.

10:39
And I mean, there’s place for Twinkies in a diet as well.

But like I’m a huge fan of those like bags of salmon or even depending upon somebody’s sodium goals, like maybe this isn’t the best, but smoked salmon, like adding that to like some rice and some veggies.

10:58
I also was gonna mention a specific brand that I really love.

I believe it’s called.

Yeah, Safe catch.

It comes in like a little pouch and they have salmon and also tuna.

And I like them because they, I guess their mercury levels are lower, like they said, yeah, 10 times lower than the FDA limit or whatever.

11:20
So it’s like something you don’t really have to worry about as much.

And then they do like different seasonings, like they’ll do dill and citrus.

So anyways, yes I love that and I love leaning on these easier foods that can make a complete meal in like 5 minutes.

What are some of your favorite like quick go to meals that you think can help with blood sugar management?

11:43
Yeah, a big one would be I love canned tuna because I just find it really, really accessible.

It could be either canned or in a jar.

Jar and oil content, that’s completely fine as well as an option because when we think about like oil also is a fat component.

12:00
So you can buy your tuna either in water or oil, depending on what your health goals are.

But just knowing that that oil content is actually beneficial, you could buy with olive oil, just different kind of varieties of of options you can browse.

But in even sometimes like the canned tuna can even be like already seasoned.

12:20
I’ve already seen that before.

So it just helps with the cooking process and tuna like for that can of serving, like the range of protein can be between like 20 to like 45 grams of protein.

And it’s not a large quantity of food either.

12:35
So in a sense it can help with kind of portion of your plates.

It’s a really great source of protein for not such so much food.

And I like to pair that with some kind of vegetable.

So one of my favorites is just kind of making like a quick type of kimchi with cucumber.

12:51
So I’m really more into like Asian cooking and kind of having like the the different types of chili flakes, maybe some sesame oil or like a little bit of vinegar, kind of making that quickly while I’m opening a can of tuna, rinsing it if I have to, and then adding other seasonings to it.

13:09
And I like to pair that with just maybe a serving of rice on the side.

And I just find that as a quick easy meal to to prepare.

That sounds delicious and I also like that you are considering volume of food and protein in particular ’cause it can get really tricky for some people to meet protein needs and often times with people who are getting protein from beans, for example.

13:35
It’s like not to say that you can’t be vegetarian or you can’t be vegan because we totally support whatever anybody wants to do.

But sometimes we have to explain to folks that like it might take for cups of beans to get the same protein in that one can of tuna ’cause they they think it’s like interchangeable.

13:51
And it’s like this just has to be a higher volume for those plant based foods.

So tuna, I agree is a great option.

Any other meals?

Yeah, I actually want to take a little further too ’cause when thinking about like portion, a big aspect too is with different other medical conditions, like for example, if somebody has like gastroparesis, I’ve been seeing this more recently because gastroparesis is the type of condition that is caused by uncontrolled blood sugar sometimes.

14:19
So somebody has diabetes.

It could affect the different nerves in in your stomach.

So it could potentially make you not want to eat such large volumes of food and then you might feel nauseous and sometimes it’s hard to meet those protein goals on such a small volume of food.

14:36
And this could be so beneficial for this type of population who is very sensitive to to volumes of food.

Yeah, that’s so helpful.

And also people who are taking these GLP ones like Ozempic where maybe and even for diabetes, maybe they’re getting side effects that they’re really full quickly, but but yet they’re not eating enough protein and then they might have muscle wasting.

14:59
So I think that’s a really great point that people don’t think about.

Any other meal ideas like another one or two of your go TOS?

Yeah.

So other options I usually like to do for like breakfast, honestly, like I like yogurt a lot.

15:15
It’s like one of my favorite foods.

So like Greek yogurt, it’s like another source of like just really good protein in the morning that I feel often times we we do struggle to to get a lot of protein in for breakfast.

And this could be super beneficial for just patients with with diabetes that they want to be able to manage their their sugars from the start in the mornings, especially let’s say if their sugars are high in the mornings, this can kind of just help them meet that little protein go in the morning.

15:42
But I like to pair that with like, just like a jar of Peaches.

I sometimes buy them in bulk.

So I find them like all in a container.

I just coop out how many I want and I pop it in there.

And then like any nuts that I want to add or a little bit of granola.

And I just find a little bit easier to prepare than having to like actually start the stove on or or the oven.

16:02
Yeah, especially in the summer because, yeah, you know who wants to be in the kitchen?

It’s so hot.

Yeah.

Exactly, I never thought of the jar of Peaches.

That’s a really great idea.

It’s something that I just got into because I went to Costco recently like that.

It’s something they would have been doing and they had them in bulk there.

16:19
And I was like, oh, there’s actually not a lot of sugar in a jar of Peaches that actually has light syrup.

So kind of just being mindful of that.

And I was like, oh, this is such a great option for myself, but also just with anybody that just wants to be mindful of, of food options.

16:36
I love Costco.

Yeah, I would just hear this back to.

Like elementary school too, with like a little snack packs and yeah.

And those are so portable.

Yeah, exactly.

They’re easy to carry around.

Very cool.

16:51
Yeah, Costco has a lot of a lot of goodies.

I need to hit that up because we’re talking about, you know, it being hot and not being in the kitchen.

What about people who don’t like to cook?

Because there’s a lot of people listening, I’m sure, who can relate.

Because that’s why I like the ideas you just said because it is very minimal cooking, like the tuna and the Peaches and the yogurt.

17:12
What are some ideas that people can do if they don’t really want to be dealing with the stove or the oven, things like that too much?

Yeah, I would say if you can use like the air fryer, that’s something that is not so it doesn’t take much space in your countertop.

17:30
So that’s something that you want to be mindful about too.

But it’s also doesn’t cause a lot of heat when you’re cooking it compared to the oven.

And I find it even, it sometimes even cooks a lot better than the oven because it fries it kind of air fries it for you.

Obviously that’s the the name, but it’s kind of just manipulating the air to make it more appealing to the the the textures of her.

17:49
If you like, for example, like potatoes that are crunchy, I find often find people want to make French fries and this is just an easier option for them to kind of make at home versus having to rely on like takeout or fast food.

This way you can kind of just make it versatile to to what you want to what you like.

18:06
So I would say the air fryer is a big one if you’re a user of the microwave, I don’t think it’s it’s a bad option.

This is really also just useful for somebody we want to be mindful about like your physical function, like can you actually stay standing up for a long time?

18:22
Not not a lot of people can.

So this might be a resource that they might be find more beneficial and kind of ensuring them that it’s OK to use a microwave.

So for example, like you can buy, oh, the other day I bought like lentils that are in a little pouch and then you just warm it up in the microwave.

18:39
Really good source of protein, fiber.

You got your carbohydrates and then you just kind of find a protein and and pair that together.

Yeah, kind of nice.

Yeah, Trader Joe’s has a lot of those, like the pouches and just like the frozen meals that you can just pop on it like in the microwave and it’ll be ready really quickly.

18:55
And with the air fryer, there’s one that I have for my apartment because I don’t have a lot of counter space.

It’s I think Insta pop makes it and it’s like a mini and it’s super cute and it’s tiny.

It takes up no space and it’s so efficient.

19:10
It’s like good, I would say for two people, yeah, like 10 minutes.

And you have like it makes anything crispy.

It’s yeah, I love it has all of the functions of an air fryer, like the oven function and, you know, all the other things.

And it’s been like God sent, especially in my apartment where I’m like, I don’t want to be too much in the kitchen and I don’t have a lot of space.

19:32
It’s insta pot you said.

Yeah, it’s Insta pot.

It’s in our Amazon order history.

OK, maybe I have that one.

I probably have that one.

That’s like the many I.

Think I got it from ours.

What are your thoughts on recipes and this idea of meal planning, meaning that you have to follow these recipes and you have to make like five of them on Sunday and spend hours like.

19:57
Any thoughts on that?

Yeah.

So from the aspect of a recipe, just the the way to describe it is think of it as a guide to help you cook a meal.

So in a sense like you don’t need to use all the ingredients to achieve.

That certain flavor from the recipe, you can kind of just modify it to yourself for for what you’re looking for.

20:17
And the the nice thing about it is it has a breakup.

So it kind of just tells you like how to make your meal.

But from the whole recipe aspect, I think it’s use it to see what you like from that recipe.

And then if there’s something outgraded you don’t like, just tweak it.

20:34
Find a substitution that will help still complete the recipe as well.

I love.

That.

What about for people who are consistently having hypoglycemia or even hyperglycemia?

People that have diabetes, What kind of changes can they make to their meals to address this?

20:52
For their meals just to make modifications, for example, if they’re noticing their sugars are maybe a little bit low, just trying to have that recipe and maybe a bulk.

So one thing, a big aspect of having low blood sugars is maybe skipping a meal and maybe we have to think about why is that person skipping a meal?

21:13
Maybe they didn’t prepare the the meal fast enough, potentially maybe they just didn’t have something available while they were with them.

So with recipes, I just think it’s really great for making things in higher portions and you can kind of just ration that for several times throughout the the week.

21:31
And this way it can help some patients prevent like low blood sugars, especially when we’re a little bit more occupied with our day.

And if we’re more on the go, we’re burning our sugar.

So that could increase our risk of our sugars dropping a little bit too.

Yeah, exactly.

21:47
And also what I’ve seen is that maybe they’re not including enough carbohydrates during their meals because they think that that’s what they’re supposed to do since they have, you know, pre diabetes or diabetes.

So making sure that you are including a good amount of carbohydrates at each meal.

22:04
And you can do this for every meal, especially if you’re running low, just to keep your energy levels stable.

Now with hyperglycemia, if someone is noticing like hey consistently after having dinner I am running high, what are some troubleshooting steps that someone could do?

22:25
Yeah, I like to help the patient kind of think of, let’s take a couple steps back and see what you ate.

And maybe kind of think about if you didn’t finish the meal also like everything on your plate, kind of paying attention to what you ate a little bit more of, what you ate a little bit less of.

22:42
And maybe one of those portions that you ate a little bit more of could be raising your blood sugar.

So kind of paying attention to that and let’s say looking at maybe what’s the main carbohydrate source from, from your that recipe that you’re having, maybe the portion was a little bit larger.

22:59
So that would cause your sugars to be a little bit more elevated in the afternoon.

So I like to take those steps back to reconsider what’s going on with with their meal process.

Yeah.

And I like how you’re giving advice that is very much about checking in with a patient.

23:18
And, you know, often times it’s like, oh, you’re having this like hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, scolding them.

I like the approach of yeah, like, why are you skipping meals?

Like, what’s going on?

How can we support you and not skipping meals maybe.

23:33
Yeah, bringing things with you or planning things ahead so that it doesn’t happen.

I think that’s great.

Yeah, I have an example from earlier this week actually.

So I have a patient couple that so the, the wife is kind of in, in charge of looking at how he’s eating and he’s a little bit more active.

23:50
So he’s constantly on the go and he, he just wants to be a little bit more mobile.

So like he’ll have his breakfast, check his sugars before and after.

He’s a little bit more vigilant right now because his sugars are a little bit high.

So we we noticed that he was doing really well in the mornings, but when he came back from his park activities, he was there for a little bit longer than than usual than when he was intending to do.

24:15
And when he came back, we noticed his sugars were kind of on the lower end.

So just to kind of take, if you are sometimes unintending to be outside for a little bit longer, just having something available with you on the go can be really, really helpful.

That’s a great point, a snack, bringing a snack along with you, especially if you’re on insulin or other medications that can cause those lows.

24:39
Another thing that I’m thinking about is special occasions like the holidays can be very stressful for people that have diabetes and pre diabetes because they’re not really sure like what should they make?

They want to still honor those like cultural traditions around that time.

24:54
So what are some strategies that you think might be helpful for special occasions or holidays for meal planning?

I would say for, for meal planning when it comes to holidays, kind of having that conversation with in the household who’s buying the ingredients for like maybe the set event and also who’s cooking, because sometimes it might not be the same person.

25:16
Or this also just applies just in general at at home too for like like daily eating.

But for those holiday events, having that kind of conversation with your family that you have a specific health goal, they can kind of help you with this.

And being a little bit more supportive ’cause often times I feel with the holidays, people might be a little bit more cautious with, with what they might be eating ’cause they don’t want to get judgement from some people.

25:39
And some people, they sometimes see it as an opportunity to, to have a certain food for more frequently.

And kind of having another understanding of, is this a moment where I want to honor my, my food preference and or is it a moment that I want to be a little bit more adherent to my health goals?

25:57
Yeah.

Also for people who are looking for a resource for creating a meal plan for diabetes, we really like the American Diabetes Association website.

It’s called Diabetes Food Hub and there are a ton of recipes on here that you can turn into a meal for yourself or like a daily kind of meal guide.

26:18
I will say some of them are a little bit on the lower side in carbohydrates, maybe even lower than what we would recommend.

So just keep that in mind that we definitely need a baseline number of carbs per meal.

And it really depends on the person.

So we don’t want to give a number per SE, but I would say most people tend to feel their best and not have intense carbohydrate cravings when they’re having at least like 30 to 45 grams of carbs per meal.

26:47
So just keep that in mind.

And it is diabetesfoodhub.org.

Now, Fernando, for people who want to work with you, how can they do that?

All right, so if you would like to work with me, you can go to ourwebsite@diabetesdigital.co and you’ll be able to find our intake form there.

27:08
And then you can kind of just go through the options and it’ll guide you what’s your health goals, what concerns you have, and then the type of insurance.

And then we’ll kind of connect you and see how we can work with you.

Amazing.

And is there like an ideal type of client that you have?

Because I know that you do focus on diabetes and also gestational diabetes.

27:27
So who is your target person?

I would just say anybody that is curious to learn about how they can just improve their daily routine because I really like to see more nutrition as a way to fuse your food choices with your daily routine.

27:46
So in my sessions, I love, I love to talk about like what you do from when you wake up until you go to sleep, because at the end of the day, that’s really going to affect about where you are that affects your food choices.

What do you have access to?

What do you do not have access to?

And just kind of going through the groove of what your daily activities are.

28:04
It gives me a better judgement of how we can work together to help you feel more comfortable with making your meals and enjoying your meals at the same time.

Because it’s very frequent to see patients be oh like I’m not going to enjoy my favorite foods anymore because my doctor told me I can’t eat any carbs.

28:21
But I just tell him carbs are your preferred energy source and that’s what you need to survive and just maintain that momentum throughout the day.

Amazing love.

That.

Thank you so much, Fernando.

This was great.

28:37
We will link everything in the show notes for how you can sign up to work with Fernando to learn about creating a meal plan for diabetes, and also some of the resources that we mentioned and we’ll catch you next week.

Thanks for tuning in.

Bye.

Bye everybody.

Thank you.

Thanks for joining us for today’s episode.

28:53
If you’re interested in nutrition counseling with one of our expert dietitians to help improve your pre diabetes or diabetes, visit us at diabetesdigital.co.

Also, if you found our conversation helpful, do us a favor and rate and review at this podcast on iTunes, plus share with someone who might find this helpful.

29:12
You can also connect with us on Instagram at Diabetes Digital dot.

Co and TuneIn, everyone say for practical, inclusive and culturally humble diabetes insights.

We’ll catch you later.

Bye.