The diabetic exchange diet is a helpful and effective meal planning method that has been designed by the ADA (American Diabetes Association) and the American Dietetic Association. Typically, these are made available through your diabetes education or a registered dietitian. These exchange are very similar to other diets in which you count calories however, you are actually given all the necessary tools to plan delicious and nutritious meals for yourself and your family.

These lists published by these organizations for the exchange diet include a list of foods that are most often consumed by people. These foods are grouped together in different categories allowing you to exchange between lists to offer flexibility in meal planning and keeping the boredom out of eating. Some of the groups are as followed. The group of carbohydrates, which includes items containing milk, fruit, starch and other such foods. The meat substitutes and meat group, which allows for lean and very lean meats with substitutes. The group of fats provides list of saturated, poly-unsaturated, and mono-unsaturated fats.

Aside from easy to follow groups, the exchange diet provides you with information such as the count of carbohydrates for each food on the list. It even provides you the recommended portions in regards to weight in ounces. The exchange diet lists offers great alternatives for those opting for the vegetarian lifestyle, as well as giving you specific tools to plan all of your meals from breakfast all the way to dinner, and even snacks in between.

The whole idea of the diabetic exchange diet is to allow you more flexibility in your diet. Instead of your physician, nutritionist, or dietician providing you with a specific meal plan, you have the freedom of choosing foods from the list and controlling what you eat and how much. This makes you responsible for your diabetic treatments, which means you know exactly what is going on and when. You no longer have to sacrifice the foods you love, just because you are diabetic, you simply need to control it.