Sample diabetic menus can give you a good idea what the best foods are for you to be eating with your illness. It also can give you a good idea on which types of foods you are allowed to eat and which foods will be excluded from your normal diet. This is a good idea of a sample diabetic menu, which includes meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and appropriate snacks in a typical day. It is important to remember to drink 16 oz. of water with each meal. A full day should consist of about 1600 calories and 225 grams of carbohydrates.
Breakfast should consist of about 350 calories, including about 50 grams of carbohydrates. An approved meal with these specifications includes ½ of a banana, ½ cup of skim milk, 1 slice of toasted whole wheat bread with 1 teaspoon of margarine. In addition, you can have ¼ egg substitute or ¼ cup of cottage cheese and ½ cup of oatmeal.
An acceptable lunch would include around 540 calories and 75 grams of carbohydrates. Included in the lunch would be one cup of vegetable soup with 4-6 crackers, a small apple, and a turkey sandwich. The sandwich will be limited to only 2 pieces of whole wheat bread, an ounce of turkey, one teaspoon of mayonnaise, and one ounce of low-fat cheese (1 slice). This is all that is acceptable for lunch.
Dinner in sample diabetic menus will include more calories for you at around 65 carbohydrates and 640 calories. A proper dinner will include a chicken breast broiled (4oz.), 2/3 cup of brown rice, a small slice of angel food cake or four unsweetened apricot halves, a tossed salad with 2 tbs of low-fat salad dressing, a wheat dinner roll, and half a cup of cooked carrots.
You can have two snacks a day. A snack is considered something like, three cups of lite popcorn or 16 fat free tortilla chips with salsa, or some string cheese with a small orange.
Sample diabetic menus give you a good idea what you will be restricted to if you are restricted to a diabetic menu. This type of menu is a normal healthy meal that most people should be eating. Notice that there are saturated fats and note that wheat is whole grain bread, not bread that adds caramel coloring so it looks wheat.
