Food, family and T1D: 6 tips for creating a type 1 diabetes meal plan

When a member of your family is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D), one of the first questions to come up is how to create a type 1 diabetes meal plan that can support their health. As there is currently no standard meal plan for individuals living with diabetes, there is room for you to determine what works best for your family.

While this may seem a bit daunting at first, you can get creative and have some fun with meal planning! Unlike previous diabetes best practices — like pairing structured meals and snacks with regular and intermediate-acting insulin injections — there is now more flexibility in how children living with T1D can nourish themselves.

While the steps toward building the optimal meal plan may vary from family to family, most dietary schedules follow a balanced diet that achieves in-range blood glucose levels, overall physical health, a positive body image and harmony in the home. Here are six steps you can take to create a T1D meal plan your whole family enjoys.

1. Assess your needs

Some families try to follow a diet that is as well-rounded as possible, if they have no additional restrictions. Others structure their diabetes meal plans around low-carb principles or omit certain foods due to allergies, sensitivities or strong preferences in the home.

Tip: Evaluate your family's preferences and build a meal plan for the week ahead. Heading to the grocery store with a list that includes some of their favorite foods can help you feel more confident. Plus, it can save you time!

2. Play like a team

The nutritional recommendations for people living with T1D are good for everyone — including family members without diabetes. Families typically find the most success in adhering to their chosen way of eating when everyone participates.

If your child sees that they are eating something different from the rest of the family, they may feel left out (and that can cause arguments and other issues). If possible, stock your home with foods that work well with your child's blood glucose while avoiding foods that cause conflict.

Tip: One way you can incorporate the nutritional needs of the whole family in one meal is to serve meals a la carte. Doing so enables each family member to choose meal components that work best for their personal nutritional needs. This way, everyone can eat what they want, and no one will feel left out.

3. Get reacquainted with food facts

We all have an idea of what foods are considered healthy or unhealthy. Once you start building balanced, T1D-optimized meals for your family, your understanding may shift. Researching how to utilize nutritional information — including serving size suggestions — is a great place to start. As you experiment with bolusing insulin for different foods, you may see there are foods that seem difficult to manage, but in smaller portions can still be part of a balanced plan with in-range blood glucose levels.

Tip: Use measuring cups when creating serving sizes for more accurate carb-counting. It also can't hurt to spend a little extra time plating the food, so it looks as good as it tastes!

4. Make new food friends

This is a great opportunity to take a look at the ingredients in your family's go-to foods and make changes or substitutions that will benefit the health of everyone (while also helping to manage diabetes needs). For example, some popular substitutions for families living with T1D include using cauliflower in place of potatoes or using alternative flours and milks instead of wheat flour and dairy milk, as this can help lower overall carb counts.

Keep in mind that sugar-free foods — and those labeled as "no sugar added" — still have carbohydrates that need to be considered for insulin dosing! Some can even induce gastrointestinal side effects. These modified items may or may not be a better choice than the regular version of that food, depending on your family's food philosophy and your child's needs.

Tip: Don't be afraid to ask for a little help when branching out! Ask your doctor, dietitian or certified diabetes educator for their recommendation around counting foods with fiber or sugar alcohols. They can provide advice around bolusing for net carb items and answer any other food-related questions that come up while you're working on your type 1 diabetes meal plan.

5. Think about your language

Misplaced stigmas due to lack of education about T1D have allowed for loaded relationships between people living with diabetes and the foods they need to survive. Negative self-talk around food and body image can have a powerful impact on all individuals, not just those living with diabetes.

Additionally, T1D requires great focus on what you're eating, when it is being eaten and how your body reacts. According to the National Institutes of Health, people living with T1D are more likely to develop an eating disorder or engage in disordered eating.

Tip: Consider how you speak about food and diabetes because your child with T1D is listening — their relationship with food and T1D (as well as their body image and self-worth) can be affected. Educate non-parental caregivers about the food philosophy your family is embracing, so they can help create a supportive, stigma-free environment for your child.

6. Nourish body and soul

Know that developing a type 1 diabetes meal plan is an ongoing process. Give yourself a break! You will do your best and, even still, not every snack and meal will be perfect. Sometimes the perfectly balanced, T1D-friendly meal may still result in your child experiencing out-of-range blood sugars. That's OK — it's part of the learning process.

Aiming to eat for overall health and well-being is a worthwhile goal, so don't allow yourself to be side-tracked by days when you miss the mark. Learn, make adjustments and keep going! It can also help to plan a "cheat meal" every so often, so you don't feel deprived of the foods you want to enjoy. To prepare, try setting a temporary basal increase on your insulin pump to cover the period of time you'll be indulging.

Curious to learn more about managing T1D while addressing physical and mental health needs? Explore the Edgepark website to discover new insights around living with diabetes.