Food Pyramid For Diabetic
Another meal planning option that help you make wise food choices.

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder, where utilization of carbohydrate, especially glucose is less than optimal. In another word diabetes is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism. Diabetes Food Pyramid was designed by ADA (American Diabetic Association) to help guide the diabetic patient to select their everyday diet based on the Diabetes Food Pyramid.

Diabetes food pyramid divides our common foods into six general categories. In preparing the diabetic food pyramid the American Diabetic Association has taken the carbohydrate, proteins and fats content of foods into consideration. The basic aim of diabetes food pyramid is to help the diabetic patients make the right choice of their food without going into detailed nutritional values of individual foods, which may not be possible for all the diabetic patients, who do not have much knowledge about the nutritional values of individual foods.

In general the foods of the base and the second layer of the diabetes food pyramid should be consumed liberally with restriction of the higher layers of the diabetes food pyramid. The higher the group in the diabetes food pyramid the lesser quantity of that particular group should be consumed with sparing consumption.

Grains and Starches:
At the base of the diabetes food pyramid are the grains and starches, which consist mainly of carbohydrates. Rice, wheat, rye, oat, corns, peas potato, pinto beans, and other commonly used staple food grains belongs to this group.

Vegetables:
This group is situated just above the base of diabetes food pyramid. Vegetables are naturally low in fats content, low in calorie and rich in vitamins, minerals, fibers and micronutrients.

Fruits:
This group is also situated just above the base of the diabetes food pyramid along with vegetables group. Fruits are rich in vitamins, minerals, fibers and also carbohydrates.

Milk:
This group is above the second layer (vegetables and fruits) of diabetes food pyramid. Milk group contains a lot of proteins and calcium as well as many vitamins. From milk category a diabetic patient should select milk products with low fat content.

Meat, Meat Substitutes and Other Proteins:
This group is alongside the milk group in the diabetes food pyramid, which contains very high amount of proteins, good quantity of vitamins and minerals.

Fats, Oils, Sweet and Alcohol:
This is at the top of diabetes food pyramid, which signifies that very little of this group should be consumed by diabetics and preferably avoided.