Diabetic Diet Vegetarian Meal Plan (With Examples)

Setting up a healthful meal plan can be challenging for anyone, even without restrictions on your diet. As a person with diabetes and a vegetarian, it can be extremely challenging balancing things out for optimal results.

A diabetic diet vegetarian meal plan should include meals that contain the essential nutritional requirements needed for healthy living. It must also stand by the virtues of vegetarianism while also meeting the requirements of a diabetic diet.

Thankfully, it’s not as complicated as it may seem.

Whether you want to go on a diet to lose weight or just want a lean and healthful meal plan that meets vegetarian standards, there are many vegetarian food choices that may not be the best for a person with diabetes. It is important to follow any dietary guidelines that may have been provided to you by your healthcare provider.

In order to confront the issue of having both diabetes and vegetarianism restrictions on a meal plan, this article will examine the highest acclaimed diets for people with diabetes that meet a strict vegetarian requirement. I’ve also included a convenient table with a possible week-long meal plan that mee these requirements.

What Should A Vegetarian Diabetic Eat?

Before we jump into the meal ideas, let’s just take a moment to consider three concepts of the requirement of our meal plan:

Human Nutrition Requirements
Diabetic Nutrition Requirements¹
Vegetarian Nutrition Requirements

Human Nutrition Requirements

According to Medical News Today, the six essential nutrients that people need¹ are:

Carbohydrates
Fats
Minerals
Protein
Vitamins
Water

All of these nutrients should be included in the meal plan. Daily recommendations for each of these will vary from person to person, depending on age, sex, and gender.

According to the World Health Organization, increasing your intake of healthful nutrients like fiber can decrease the risk of noncommunicable diseases. Simultaneously, reducing your intake of processed foods and added sugars can also help reduce the risk of many noncommunicable diseases.^2.

Diabetic Nutrition Requirements

The basic idea of the diabetic nutrition requirement is to control the blood sugar by healthful eating practices. It includes monitoring the intake of carbohydrates and other foods that alter blood sugars.

If you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, it is best to consult your doctor and/or dietitian to ensure that your diet is appropriate. However, the general rule is to eat high fiber foods, and healthful foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, and good fats like those in nuts and avocados.

Try to limit saturated fats (butter, lard, chicken skins), trans fats (shortening, fried foods, bakery items), and high sugar content foods, such as candy and processed juices.

When you have diabetes, you might be interested in something you might know already as the glycemic response. There are several factors that affect our body’s glycemic response. According to The American Diabetes Association, these factors⁷ in food include:

Carbohydrate amount
Type of sugar (glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose)
Starch (amylose, amylopectin, resistant starch)
Cooking and processing (starch gelatinization etc.)
Food digestive altering components (fats, lectins, phytates, tannins, starch-protein, and starch-lipids)

Vegetarian Nutrition Requirements

The concept of vegetarianism is to avoid eating meat. However, there are varying degrees of vegetarianism, ranging from some who will accept fish in their diets (pescatarian), to those who take milk, eggs, and cheese (lacto-ovo vegetarian), to those we know as vegans who won’t take any of the above even honey.

There is no particular set rule that states that a vegetarian must adhere to any of the above strict dietary restrictions, but to make some sense of the matter, we will assume that a vegetarian simply will not eat meat and makes an attempt to adhere to an all-plant based diet save for the odd cheese or egg added into cooking.

Despite some of the chaos surrounding vegetarianism’s exact meaning, we’ll take a quick look at what the Mayo Clinic has to say on the matter.

“There’s no single vegetarian eating plan.” States M. Regina Castro, M.D. in the Mayo Clinic article on the subject³, Dr. Castro goes on to state, “For example, some allow dairy products or eggs while others don’t allow any animal products (vegans).

The benefits of a vegetarian diet depend on the type of diet you choose and the food choices you make when following the diet.”

The Mayo Clinic³ states the benefits of a vegetarian diet to include:

Promoting a healthy weight
Promoting blood sugar control and insulin response
Reduces the chances of cardiovascular disease

Types Of Meal Examples For Diabetic Diets and Vegetarians

Breakfast

Pear and microgreen salad. Mix some fresh microgreens like kale, sunflower and purple basil with slices of pear, artichoke hearts and almond slices. A nice light raspberry vinaigrette and this becomes a fantastic way to start your day.
Pinto gallo – A traditional Costa Rican breakfast dish consisting of rice, black beans, red peppers and a variety of spices such as garlic and turmeric. The Ticos of Costa Rica typically lightly flavor this dish and serve it along side a garden salad and fresh papaya or pineapple.

Lunch

Avocado and black bean tortilla wraps. Include some diced red onion, parsley, cilantro, lime juice, cumin and poblano chile to really bring a Central American flair to lunch.
Barley and black bean salad. The nutty flavor of barley pairs beautifully with cherry tomatoes, black beans and green bell peppers. I like to include some avocado as well.

Dinner

Baked spiced tofu, topped with lemon and capers, a side of brown rice with lentils, and a greens salad topped with a sprinkle of white balsamic vinegar. If you are allowing fish your diet, try substituting the tofu for wild salmon.
Mushroom and Zucchini Tostados. Try re-fried kidney bean mash spread on the tostados with sauteed mushrooms and zucchini topped with diced red pepper and shredded lettuce.

Snacks

Baked beans, roasted tofu, or steamed peas make great snacks. All are high in protein, which helps stabilize blood sugar and reduces sugar cravings while delivering a steady energy supply to the body⁸.
Rice, noodles, and fried vegetables. When I was in school, I would eat a rice and noodle product that would be fast fried in a pan and then water added to bring the noodles and rice to life. Fast fry some cooked rice and noodles along with sweet onion, peas, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes for a filling snack.

Desserts

Fresh berries are the best raw dessert; try them with some graham crackers and nut butter. However, if you want to try something a little more festive, try roasting sweet potato with a touch of cinnamon for a harvest time dessert.
Apricot, Oat, Ginger and Coconut Crisps. Finely chop some dried apricot and mix with ground ginger, tahini, shredded coconut, oats and a sprinkle of water. Puree the mixture and add a tiny bit of honey (be careful not to overdo it or it could throw off your blood sugar!) Mash into cookies, bars or balls. Then lay them on some parchment inside a container and refrigerate. That’s it, they are ready to eat. A simple and tasty little treat.

Diabetic Diet Vegetarian – 7-Day Sample Meal Plan

This meal plan is intended as an example of what a single week could look like and should not be considered a long term perfect diet.

A proper diet is varied and thus should change from week to week and from day to day within the parameters of your particular dietary preferences.

The plan includes a variety of culinary adventures around the world with different cultures represented. The variety brings a decent balance of nutrients, and if paired with a good practice of drinking lots of water, ought to prove an effective and useful addition to a diabetic and vegetarian diet.

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Breakfast	Gallo Pinto (Black Beans, Rice and Red Peppers)	Pear and Microgreen Salad	Arugula, Artichoke and Pistachio Salad	Melon and Almond White Gazpacho	Sichuan Fava Bean, Radish And Onion Sprout Salad	Watermelon and Mint with Lime	Kale, Avocado and Blueberry Salad with Mango Dressing
Lunch	Roasted Chick Peas and Cauliflower on Brown Rice with Curry	Whole Wheat Pasta with Shitake Mushroom Sauce	Three Pepper and Mushroom Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust	Grilled Vegetables and Quinoa	Basil and Chickpea Whole Wheat Flatbread	Crispy Fried Noodles with Tofu and Peanut Sauce and Shredded Carrot	Pan Fried Garlic Green Beans and Asparagus with Broiled Cherry Tomatoes
Dinner	Kale, Butternut Squash and Tofu Stir Fry	Stuffed Eggplant with Almonds and Couscous	Baked Spiced Tofu With Lemon And Capers	Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Cilantro and Lime Vinegrette	Baked and Stuffed Peppers with Mushrooms, Artichoke and Linguine	Basil Pesto with Grilled Veggies	Roast Vegetable and Bean Stew with Garlic, Lentils and Cilantro
Snacks	Baked Beans	Fried Tofu and Mushrooms	Steamed Peas	Steamed Broccoli	Carrots, Celery and Raspberry Puree Dip	Fried Brown Rice, Whole Wheat Noodles and Veggies	Asparagus and Tomato Basil Baked Whole Wheat Pitas
Desserts	Fresh Raspberries	Cinnamon Sweet Potato Slices	Strawberry Smoothie	Baked Acorn Squash with Nutmeg and Cinnamon	Slow Roasted Tomatoes	Apricot, Oat, Coconut and Ginger Balls	Mango Raspberry Smoothie

Here’s another set of recipes from YouTube that show seven meals. They call it a 1-week diabetic, vegetarian meal plan, but this plan seems only to cover one meal per day, and we both know that won’t do – but it does have some great recipe ideas to get the chef in you thinking.

Quick Fact About Type 2 Diabetes, Diets, and Dieting

Did you know? With type 2 diabetes, the top 4 diets recommended⁸ are:

Vegetarian
Vegan
Paleo
Mediterranean

According to the Mayo Clinic⁴, a diabetes diet is based on:

Eating 3 healthful meals per day
Eating the meals at regular times with consistency

The diabetes diet ought to fulfill the following goals⁵:

Improve overall health
Achieve and maintain desired body weight
Stabilize glycemic, blood pressure and lipid goals
Delay or prevent the complications of diabetes

Quick Facts About Diets Vs. Dieting

A diet is not necessarily a meal plan to lose weight. Many people consider the term to solely render the impression that one is eating ‘light’ to lose weight when, it may also mean a simple controlled meal plan.

A number of diets all share one specific similarity: the concept is to achieve a goal through a controlled and selective choice of foods. There are numerous amount of diets, but Wikipedia breaks them down into seven basic types:

Belief based diets
Calorie and weight control diets
Crash diets
Detox diets
Diets for specific medical reasons
Fad food diets
Vegetarian diets

There’s no shortage of diets, and there’s no shortage of recipes. Which recipes for people with diabetes do you like the most?

Final Word On Diabetic Diet Vegetarian Meal Plans

We’ve covered the basics of what you need to look out for with your meal plan. A registered dietitian is your next step to individually customize more details specific to you. Remember that it is important to receive the right nutrients, and in the right amounts and portions⁶, in order to obtain the best possible results.

Always consult a medical provider before making any radical changes to your diet.

Sources

LeeAnna Stock-Luoma RD, LD, CD, CDCES

Thanks for stopping by my Dealing With Diabetes blog! My name is LeeAnna.

Diabetic Diet Vegetarian Meal Plan (With Examples)