Making healthy food choices at home and at the grocery store is an important part of managing blood glucose (blood sugar) levels and can help prevent and manage heart disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and other health problems.
But knowing which foods are the healthy choice can be difficult and time consuming, which is why putting together an action plan before you shop will help remove a lot of the guesswork.
Start by using these four tips:
Step 1: Make a weekly menu
Create a list of what you’d like to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the upcoming week.
Check your grocery store’s ad for sale items and incorporate those foods into your menu ideas. Let’s say chicken breasts are buy one get one free this week. Plan for Asian Chicken and Vegetable Stew on Sunday and Air Fryer Buttermilk Fried Chicken on Thursday.
Gather your favorite recipes so you can make sure the items are added to your list. Menu planning can help save time through the week, save money at the store, and keep you from being overwhelmed when dinner time rolls around and you have to answer the question, “What should we eat tonight?”
Take inventory of the foods you already have in stock as you write your shopping list. “Shop” your pantry first to help reduce food waste!
Not sure what you want to eat this week? For creative dinner ideas, incorporate theme nights like Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, or Breakfast for Dinner Wednesday. Check out the hundreds of delicious diabetes-friendly recipes we have in our Diabetes Food Hub® for inspiration!
Step 2: Prep once, eat twice
You don’t need to eat something different every day. Instead, you can alternate between one or two breakfast and lunch menu ideas throughout the week. Developing a standard way of eating (eating meals each with similar foods each day) can help you know how your body responds to specific types of foods. This can also help with learning how your body responds to any changes made to your treatment plan by you and your health care team.
If you’d like to add more variety to breakfast and lunch, you can simply swap the type of fruit, vegetable, or grain at the meal. Or try sprinkling a different spice or herb on your dish. If you prefer, you may eat the same breakfast and/or same lunch every day. That’s totally up to you.
In a hurry at breakfast time? Try the Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats recipe you can prepare the night before, so breakfast is ready when you are.
Step 3: Shop with a grocery list
Make your grocery list and stick to it. The grocery list plays an important role in saving time while shopping and keeping you on track with the foods you need for preparing your meals for the week.
Categorize your list according to the route you will take while at the store. Think: fruits and vegetables; grains; canned goods and staples; meats, poultry, and fish; dairy; and frozen foods.
Be adventurous! Challenge yourself to try a new fresh food or spice each week. This will add more variety to your meals as well.
Step 4: Read food labels
As you are making decisions at the shelf, flip the food package over and review the Nutrition Facts label. A good rule of thumb is to pick options that have at least a good source (10% daily value) of positive nutrients like protein and fiber, and less than 10% daily value for nutrients you may be trying to eat less of, like sodium and added sugars.
Fresh produce and meats can often be found along the outside walls of the grocery store, while packaged foods are often found in the middle aisles. Even though the foods we consider traditionally healthy are found along the outside wall, healthy choices can be found throughout the grocery store—including the middle aisles. Just be sure to review all the information on the Nutrition Facts label to find out if a packaged food fits into your meal plan.
Bonus tip: Take a few extra laps around the store to get more steps into your day as part of your physical activity plan. Every step counts!
