Exchange Meal Plan
(
Plan de intercambio de alimentos
)
Many people with diabetes use a food-balancing program called
the exchange meal plan to guide what they eat each day. For this
meal plan, foods are divided into six groups: starch, fruit, milk,
fat, vegetable, and meat. The plan sets a serving size (amount) for
each food, and, within each group, each serving has a similar
amount of calories, protein,
carbohydrate
, and
fat
.
This allows the person flexibility in planning meals by
"exchanging" or substituting choices from lists of foods
with similar nutritional content. Using the plan to balance the
amount of carbohydrates eaten is particularly important for people
with diabetes because these are the foods that are mainly
responsible for the rise in blood sugar that occurs after
eating.
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice,
diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
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