Good Breakfast Menu Ideas for Diabetics

When diagnosed with diabetes, you must quickly learn the important role your diet plays with managing your disease. Yes, breakfast has traditionally always been how you should start your day. However, with diabetes it becomes a must. The good news is that you can easily prepare a wide variety of your classic breakfast favorites with just a little tweaking, as well as prepare delicious choices quickly for those people who are always on the go. You can also prepare and freeze some innovative breakfast meals so you have them handy anytime.

Breakfast Burrito

According to the American Diabetes Association (diabetes.org), a healthy breakfast burrito is a wonderful and easy way for busy diabetics to obtain the nutrition they need. Instead of using whole eggs, use egg substitute and replace traditional sharp cheddar cheese with a reduced fat brand. You an also use reduced fat flour tortillas to make it even healthier. After scrambling your egg substitute and cheese, spread it on the flour tortilla, spoon on some picante sauce and roll it up for a quick nutritional breakfast you can eat as you run out the door to work or school. You can also include some lean protein or a meat substitute as you scramble your egg substitute for even more protein. See the links in Resources for this recipe and cooking instructions, along with other diabetic breakfast ideas.

Breakfast Cookie

With this healthy treat from the American Diabetes Association, have a delicious cookie that contains your bowl of oatmeal, fruit, and milk–everything you need for a great breakfast. It also can be a wonderful snack or sweet treat following a meal. Another great fact about this recipe is that it makes 30 cookies, so you can freeze them and have them available whenever you want. One of the secrets to this wonderful, diabetic recipe is that you rely on the natural sweetness of applesauce, orange juice, raisins and honey, so that it only requires 1/3 cup of brown sugar.

Toasted Walnut Waffles

Just because you have diabetes, it does not mean you have to give up on eating this classic breakfast treat. According to diabeticlivingonline.com, what makes this great diabetic breakfast recipe so special are the toasted walnuts you grind and sprinkle on top giving it a light crunchy, nutty flavor. The secrets behind this recipe’s success are switching from white flour to whole wheat flour and replacing the traditional sugar saturated syrup with a fantastic homemade blueberry sauce.

How to Create a 30-Day Menu for a Type 2 Diabetic

Creating a diabetic diet requires providing the patient with a healthy balance of starchy foods, non-starchy foods, protein and dairy. This diet should be limited in carbohydrates due to their ability to convert into sugar, which raises blood glucose levels (BGL). By planning a meal 30 days in advance and sticking to the diet, you can help reduce the chances of unusual blood glucose level spikes. You should also keep a food journal by writing down what you eat for each meal, as a dietitian can help you with your meal plan and monitor how certain foods affect your body.

Space eating times evenly. Uneven eating times can destabilize your blood glucose levels, which means you'll need to eat each meal around the same time everyday to keep it in check. You can eat five to six small meals or three larger meals with small snacks between meals; the choice is up to you.

Use the "Create Your Plate" planning method. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) provides a plate planning method to assist in creating your meals. According to the site, 50 percent of your plate should consist of non-starchy foods such as most vegetables. The remaining half of your plate is divided up into two sections: one for meat and one for starchy foods. These starchy foods include bread, pasta, beans, cereal or starchy vegetables including potatoes and green peas.

Include fruit and dairy. According to the ADA, your daily diet should have two to three servings of fruit and eight ounces of low-fat milk. You can also substitute your milk with low-fat yogurt. Although fruit has fructose, a natural sugar, it is high in vitamins and nutrients.

Use complex carbohydrates over simple carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates are found in foods that contain refined sugar, such as white bread, pasta, desserts, chocolate, jam, cakes and soft drinks. They break down quickly without providing much nutrition, and raise your blood glucose level. Complex carbohydrates break down slowly, which causes you to feel full longer, and provide dietary fiber. Whole-wheat bread and pasta, beans, bagels, oat bran and cornmeal are all complex carbohydrates.

Avoid or limit processed foods. Processed meats and foods are often high in saturated fat and sodium, which can increase the risk of obesity and cause health complications. Instead of using butter or margarine to cook, use vegetable oils as they are high in healthy polyunsaturated fat. Prepare your meats by grilling, baking or broiling rather than sauteing or frying, as it can increase your BGL. Fish, skinless chicken and turkey are recommended over beef and pork.