The 1500 Calorie Diabetic Meal Plan

Learn how to create a diabetic exchange diet of 1500 calories.

Has your physician suggested you try a 1500 calorie diabetic meal plan? If so, he or she might be recommending this particular diet to help you control your blood sugar, lower your risk for heart issues, or assist you in losing weight. Eating healthy is a crucial part in properly managing diabetes, but if you aren’t educated in the area of nutrition it can seem overwhelming. Whether your doctor asked you to consider a diabetic exchange diet of 1500 calories or create a 1500 calorie diabetic meal plan on your own, your goals are similar – choose lean protein sources, healthy fats, whole grains, fresh fruit, and nutritious fiber-rich complex carbohydrates. In addition to choosing those types of foods, you will want to limit refined carbs like white sugar and white bread, and processed foods with a lot of added sugar.

Now that you are more familiar with the overall goal of a 1500 calorie diabetic meal plan, let’s take a look at some options you might want to try moving forward:

Try a Sample 1500 Calorie Diabetic Meal Plan

The following meal plan from Drugs.com contains the right amount of carbohydrates, meat, starches, fats and dairy. Let’s take a lot at this meal plan’s options for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner:

Breakfast

2 breads or starches, such as 3/4 cup (1 ounce) corn flakes and 1 slice toast

1 fruit, such as 1 small (5 inch) banana or 1/2 of a 9 inch banana

1 milk, such as 1 cup skim or 1 cup 1% milk

1 meat or protein, such as 1/4 cup cottage cheese or 1 poached egg

1 fat, such as 1 tsp margarine

Lunch

2 ounces meat or protein, such as 2 ounces sliced turkey breast

2 breads or starches, such as 2 slices bread

1 vegetable, such as 1 lettuce leaf and 2 tomato slices

1 fat, such as 1 tsp regular mayonnaise or 2 tsp lowfat mayonnaise

1 fruit, such as 1 medium (3 inch) apple

Afternoon Snack

1 starch, such as 3 cups air-popped popcorn

Dinner

2 ounces meat or protein, such as 2 ounces lean roast beef

2 starches, such as one 3 inch baked potato and 1 medium (2-1/2 inch) dinner roll

1 fat, such as 1 tsp margarine

2 vegetables, such as 1 cup (8 ounces) cooked mixed vegetables

1 fruit, such as 1-1/4 cups fresh strawberries

1 milk, such as 1 cup (8 ounces) skim or 1 cup 1% milk

Try a Diabetic Exchange Diet of 1500 Calories

Another option is learning about a diabetic exchange diet consisting of 1500 calories per day. This diet was created by the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association, and divides food into six categories based on their protein, carbohydrate, fat and calorie content. As you learn more about the diet, you will see that you can eat a certain number of foods each day from each category. With so many nutritious and tasty items in the diabetic exchange diet, you are less likely to feel that you are being deprived of your favorite foods, all while helping your blood glucose levels stabilize.

Try a 1500 Calorie Diet Meal Plan for 7 Days

Once you have become familiar with what food items would be in a daily 1500 calorie meal plan for diabetics, you can start creating three, seven or ten day meal plans for yourself. Here are some great resources that contain already prepared meal plans for diabetics – get creative and review several meals plans at once and make your own based on your meal preferences:

Eating Well Diabetes Meal Plan

Livestrong Diabetes Meal Plan

NovoMedLink

Learn more about 1500 calorie diabetic meal plans and how to manage weight and blood sugar levels at www.BetterHealthKare.com