Meal Planning

I had a recent class at Lifelong Medical, my clinic, about putting together meals at home. Most of what I remember about the class was taking little plastic renditions of food -- like corn, or a steak, or fruit -- and positioning them on my plate. One-third was fruit or nonstarchy vegetables, one-third was protein (like fish or steak), one-third was breads or grains or starch (like potato or corn). I found it quite enlightening.

I just got a little booklet that I ordered through one of my Diabetes magazines. It's called Meal Planning for People with Diabetes. And it's quite helpful. Yes, it gives me the calories for, say, a small apple, but what's more important is that it gives me what a portion size is for each of these choices. One-third of a cup of baked beans is 80 calories. One four-ounce apple is 60. 17 grapes, or 3 ounces, is 60 calories. In fact, all of their fruit choices are 60 calories because they tell us how much will make 60: 1/2 a banana, 3/4 cup of blueberries, etc. Very useful. If I think I can eat a whole bag of cherries in one sitting.... well, the book tells me that I can have 12 cherries. That's one serving.

And there's a visual to help me. A closed fist is equivalent to 1 cup. The palm of my hand is 3 ounces. What fits inside my closed palm, palm side up, is 1 ounce.