How the Diabetes Food Pyramid Can Help You With Your Life

There is another meal planning alternative for people with diabetes known as Diabetes Food Pyramid. It is less popular compared to carbohydrate counting and the plate method but also proven to be effective for diabetes management.
 There are six groups of food in the Diabetes Food Pyramid:  

• Grains
• Beans
• Starchy vegetables
• Fats
• Sweets
• Alcohol

The first three groups are the largest group and are located at the bottom of the pyramid. The last three groups are the smallest group and are located at the top of the pyramid. This means that you should eat more servings of grains, beans, and starchy vegetables than of any of the other foods and minimize the servings from the last three food groups.  The Diabetes Food Pyramid gives a range of servings. In each group, if you follow the minimum number of servings, you would eat about 1600 calories and if you eat at the upper end of the range, it would be about 2800 calories.





It is advisable that women should eat at the lower end of the range and men should eat in the middle to high end of the range if they are very active. The exact number of servings you need depends on your diabetes goals, calorie and nutrition needs, your lifestyle, and the foods you like to eat. Apportion the number of servings you should eat among meals and snacks you eat each day.






The Diabetes Food Pyramid is slightly different from the USDA Food Guide Pyramid because it groups foods based on their carbohydrate and protein content instead of their classification as a food. To have about the same carbohydrate content in each serving, the portion sizes are a little different too. For example, potatoes are included in the first three groups instead of the vegetable group and cheese is in the meat group instead of the milk group.

If you want to know more about diabetes click here for more useful information and advice. Also find out how someone with diabetes can live a healthy and normal life, click here to learn more.