The core meals of your Diabetic Heart Lifestyle™ should be foods that essentially will not get you into trouble. Outside of extreme overeating, most patients will not go wrong with:
- Fresh vegetables
- Lean low-saturated-fat proteins
- Unsaturated fats, and
- Low-sodium or no-sodium seasonings
These meals are essentially the “free” items in your eating plan. The more you fill your life with these, the more you will avoid having to use up your allowances!
We urge you to develop core meals that you love, based on the strategies and ideas below. Here are a few core meals and strategies to get you started. Check back for more recipes each week:
- Chicken fried “rice”
- Chicken salad
- Chicken veggie packets
- Kale or collard greens
- Mushroom and onion topping
- Mushroom omelette filling
- Sautéed chicken thighs
- Sautéed or grilled white fish
- Steamed green vegetables
- Stir fry combinations
- Fish or Chicken Tacos
- Tomato soup
- Turkey burgers
- Turkey Chili
- Turkey drumsticks
- Turkey meat loaf
- Vegetable soup
This list is designed to help you see that even within the limited range of fish and poultry, and with the use of just proteins, vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats, there is a wide range of great foods you can enjoy. When you start making over your favorite recipes, swapping in some substitutions and then using your allowances carefully, you will realize there’s a wide variety of delicious foods you can enjoy … without overindulging on fats, starches, sodium or sugar!