If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, rethinking your approach to food can be challenging, and if you’ve got others to feed it can seem overwhelming. Dietitian Dr CHARLOTTE ROWLEY shares 7 ideas for making meals healthier without extra work. 

Being diagnosed with diabetes can be overwhelming – there are appointments to attend, new information and new technology. And then there’s mealtimes.  

Something that once seemed simple can now feel like an uphill battle. Creating one meal for the family takes time and energy – and now you’re expected to prepare a separate meal for yourself or a loved one with diabetes? Not necessarily. Another option is to make healthier meals for the whole family, including those with diabetes. Here are some tips.  

1. Start small 

My first recommendation when making any dietary changes is to stick to what you know and just adjust your quantities.

If you’re a pasta lover, swap a big bowl of pasta for a smaller serve and add more veggies. If you eat stir-fry regularly, try throwing in a couple of extra handfuls of veg, while keeping the amount of rice or noodles the same.

These small changes reduce the carbohydrate portion in the meal while increasing the vegetables, which can help to manage how much your glucose levels rise after you eat.  

2. Look at your carbs 

Next, swap your refined carbs for healthier options, such as replacing white bread with multigrain. The aim here is to choose fewer processed carbohydrates.

Again, we are keeping our meals the same, just making a small tweak. If you have fussy eaters at home who won’t eat these “strange” foods, find some middle ground.

With bread, for example, kids might dislike multigrain bread, but you could choose a high-fibre white bread, which is still a healthier option than standard white bread but looks and tastes the same. 

3. Introduce new recipes gradually 

While it seems simple, trying out a new recipe can be mentally draining compared to throwing together something you’ve made many times before.

It will always require more thinking and take longer than a meal you are familiar with – and you don’t even know if the kids will eat it!

Pace yourself for long-term success by trying out one new meal per week and add the ones that everyone likes to your collection of family recipes as you go along. 

4. Cook double 

While you’re in the kitchen, let’s maximise your efforts by batch cooking. Double the ingredients and make two meals, then freeze the extra one for those busy evenings when you need something on the table quickly.

If you’re short on space, freezer bags can be stacked and take up less room than plastic tubs.  

5. Get the kids involved in cooking 

If you have little ones who are fussy eaters, get them involved in the cooking process – this helps them to become familiar with new ingredients, making them seem less scary. 

Remember that healthy food doesn’t have to be fancy. Simple meals consisting of chicken salad with dressing, spaghetti Bolognese or sandwiches are all healthy options that are easy for your kids to help prepare.

6. Make room for some treats 

A diabetes diagnosis doesn’t mean the end of desserts for the whole family. While reducing the amount of ‘treat’ foods in the house is beneficial, you don’t need to get rid of them completely.

Keep in mind, though, that a healthy diet for someone living with diabetes is also a healthy diet for anyone living without diabetes.

Reducing treats might have an immediate impact on the blood glucose levels of one of your family members, but everyone will benefit from a healthier diet, be it now or in twenty years’ time. Even small changes make a difference. 

7. Be positive about food with your kids 

It can take kids up to 20 times of simply seeing a food before they might be willing to interact with it. Try including a little bit of new food on their plate alongside foods they are familiar with and let them eat what they want. This will reduce battles at mealtimes, which is good for everyone.

While you’re at it, make sure you talk positively about your new foods – kids pick up on our opinions, so try to make only positive or neutral remarks about new foods, modelling the behaviour you want to achieve.

Helping kids establish healthy eating habits now, regardless of whether they live with diabetes or not, sets them up for a healthier future. 

Would you like to learn more? 

CarbSmart and ShopSmart are both great free workshops, run by Diabetes WA on behalf of the NDSS, that will help you with diabetes self-management.

Visit our programs and education page to find out more.

You can also book online or contact us on 1300 001 880.