Understanding Food
This page is an overview , and you will learn general information about:
- The three main sources of calories in food: Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat
- How to eat a balanced diet
- Helpful meal planning tools
The subsequent sections provide more detailed information:
Main sources of calories in food
To begin with, let’s talk about food in general. We obtain nutrition through the foods we eat. Foods supply us with energy, or calories. To keep your body running, you need three types of food:
Calories in food
However, all food is not equal in calories. Fat, for example, has more than twice the calories, gram for gram, as equal amounts of carbohydrates or protein.
- Fat = 9 calories per gram
- Carbohydrate = 4 calories per gram
- Protein = 4 calories per gram
How much carbohydrate, protein and fat do I need each day?
There is no one perfect balance of carbohydrate, protein and fat.
Choosing the right balance depends on your calorie goals, body weight, lipid profile, and your personal preferences. Your registered dietitian can help design a meal plan that is right for you.
The typical range is:
- Carbohydrates - 45 to 65% of your daily calories
- Protein – 10 to 35% of your daily calories
- Fat- 25 to 35% of your daily calories
This is the case whether you have or don’t have diabetes.
Carbohydrates
If you have diabetes, you have to know about carbohydrates.
Why? Because among all the foods, carbohydrates have the largest effect on your blood sugar. Carbohydrates include starch and sugars.
During digestion, both forms of carbohydrate break down in your body to single units of sugar, called glucose. Carbohydrate is an important part of your diet because glucose is your body’s preferred source of energy or fuel.
You don’t need to avoid carbohydrates because of diabetes. Just be able to identify which foods have carbohydrates, and then control the amount you eat.
Carbohydrates are found in:
- Rice, grains, cereals, and pasta
- Breads, tortillas, crackers, bagels and rolls
- Dried beans, split peas and lentils
- Vegetables, like potatoes, corn, peas and winter squash
- Fruit
- Milk
- Yogurt
- Sugars, like table sugar and honey
- Foods and drinks made with sugar, like regular soft drinks and desserts
If you have type 1 diabetes, you must match your carbohydrate intake to your insulin dose. To get the best blood sugar result, your carbohydrate count must be accurate. Carbohydrates are counted in grams, which is a measure of weight – and even a few grams more or less can make a difference in your blood sugar reading.
Proteins
Protein is an essential part of your diet -- and your body. Think muscles and organs just to start. But too much of a good thing can be bad for you. Excess protein can mean excess calories and fat – which means a greater chance at gaining weight.
Proteins are found in:
- Beef and pork
- Poultry
- Fish and shellfish
- Eggs
- Dairy products, like cottage cheese and regular cheese
- Plant-based proteins, like beans, nuts and tofu
The best advice about protein? Get what you need from low-fat protein sources like lean meats, poultry and fish, low fat or nonfat dairy products, and vegetarian protein sources like tofu.
If you have kidney problems, you may need to limit how much protein you eat. Your registered dietitian can help select the amount of protein that is right for you.
Fats
Fat is another important part of your diet. Remember that fat has twice the calories as equal amounts of carbohydrate or protein. Limiting the fat you eat will help you control your weight and prevent heart and blood vessel disease.
Fats are found in:
- Butter and margarine
- Oils, like vegetable oil, olive oil and canola oil
- Salad dressing and mayonnaise
- Nuts and seeds
- Meat and protein foods, like beef, cheese, bacon and hot dogs
Some fats and oils are heart healthy; others are not. Take the time to make low fat choices, and choose heart-healthy fats.
How to Eat a Balanced Diet
It is important to eat a varied and well-balanced diet, especially when you are trying to lose weight to manage your diabetes. Cutting calories should not lead to cutting nutrition. There are a variety of meal planning tools that you can use to help plan healthy, balanced meals.
My Food Pyramid
The food pyramid is one tool that can be used to guide food choices. An interactive website – www.mypyramid.gov – helps you create a personalized meal plan based on your age, gender and physical activity. This system emphasizes the importance of daily exercise, eating more whole grains, lower fat dairy products and leaner meats. It provides tips for selecting nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables and healthier fats. My pyramid also gives tips for food portions and includes sample menus. Visit www.mypyramid.gov.
Exchange Lists for Diabetes: Choose Your Foods
In the exchange system, foods with a similar amount of carbohydrate, protein and fat per serving size are grouped together. The foods within each list can be “exchanged” for one another during meal planning and end up with about the same amount of calories and nutrients.
Of course, we don’t think of food as purely protein, purely fat or purely carbohydrate. Different foods are usually a mix of all three. To deal with this, we put food into six major exchange food groups based on each food’s main content:
- Starch List
- Fruit List
- Milk List
- Vegetable List
- Meat and Meat Substitutes List
- Fat List
The chart below shows you the amount of calories and nutrients in one serving from each exchange food group:
Food List |
Carbohydrate (grams) |
Protein (grams) |
Fat (grams) |
Calories |
Carbohydrates |
||||
Starch |
15 |
0-3 |
0-1 |
80 |
Fruits |
15 |
- |
- |
60 |
Milk Fat-free, low-fat, 1% Reduced-fat, 2% Whole |
12 12 12 |
8 8 8 |
0-3 5 8 |
100 120 160 |
Non-starchy Vegetables |
5 |
2 |
- |
25 |
Meat and Meat Substitutes |
||||
Lean Medium-fat High-fat Plant-based proteins |
- - - varies |
7 7 7 7 |
0-3 4-7 8+ varies |
45 75 100 varies |
Fats |
- |
- |
5 |
45 |
It is important to eat foods from all six lists. The exchange system is designed to help you eat a balanced diet with the right amounts of carbohydrate, protein and fat. No category of food is off limits.
View a sample list of food exchanges (PDF)
When learning to use the exchange system for the first time, follow these helpful steps:
- Think about your usual foods and food preferences, and locate where each food falls on the exchange list.
- Familiarize yourself with the specific serving sizes listed for each food item that equal one exchange.
- Learn the number of exchanges you need from each food list to plan your daily meals and snacks.
Meal Planning Tips
The menu-planning table below can be used to stay within a specific calorie goal.
How to use this table
Choose your daily calorie allowance from the first column on the left. Then look across the table to see how many starch, fruit, milk, vegetable, meat and protein, and fat exhanges you can have. These are the total portions or exchanges for the entire day – and should be divided up between the different meals and snacks. For examples of 1200 calorie and 1600 calorie meal plans using the exchange lists, see the links below the table.
Sample Exchange Daily Meal Plans |
||||||
Calories |
Starch Portions |
Fruit Portions |
Milk Portions* |
Vegetable Portions |
Meat & Protein Portions |
Fat Portions |
1200 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
1300 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
1400 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
1500 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
1600 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
1700 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
1800 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
5 |
1900 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
5 |
2000 |
9 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
2100 |
10 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
2200 |
11 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
2300 |
12 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
2400 |
12 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
2500 |
13 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
* Based on non-fat milk, 50% selections from lean meat list, and 50% selections from medium fat meat list. |
||||||
- View a sample list of food exchanges (PDF)
- View a sample 1200 calorie meal plan using the Exchange Lists for Diabetes (PDF)
- View a sample 1600 calorie meal plan using the Exchange Lists for Diabetes (PDF)
It may seem overwhelming at first – but like any new skill, with practice it becomes second nature. Your registered dietitian can help you choose a calorie goal and meal plan that keeps your food, medication and physical activity in mind.