Page 165 - Cook with Ease: Tips and Recipes for Small Families - Serving 1-2

Chapter 5
Appendices

Tips for meal planning
All kinds of carbohydrates, including starch, fructose and lactose,
can affect blood glucose levels and should be evenly distributed
in meals and snacks for blood glucose control. The common meal
planning approaches are as follows:
1. Carbohydrate Exchange Method

• People with DM can incorporate different kinds of carbohydrate-
rich foods into their meal plan using the “Carbohydrate Exchange
Method”, combined with the advice from healthcare professionals
on portion control. This means that they need to consider their
overall intake of carbohydrates (including rice and noodles)
in meal planning. For example, the carbohydrate content in 2
chestnuts equals that in 1 Tbsp of rice. For every 2 chestnuts
eaten, carbohydrate-containing foods in the same meal need to
be exchanged, which means 1 less Tbsp of rice should be eaten.
People with DM should learn to make carbohydrate exchanges in
meal planning. The following examples show how different foods
of similar carbohydrate content can be exchanged:

Example 1
If 10 grams of carbohydrates is assigned as a snack portion, choose 1 serving
from the following items which contains 10 grams of carbohydrates each:
= 1 slice of small white bread (without bread crust)
= 4 square soda crackers

= 1 small fruit (e.g. 1 small orange or kiwi fruit)

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