Interchangeability of Products

Product interchangeability

So, you have already learned how to calculate your own energy costs. You know what percentage of energy should come from carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Now you can easily divide your daily food intake into six meals, including both main and additional meals. Using the bread unit correspondence table, you can easily select the right foods to get the required amount of carbohydrates. This is especially important for diabetic patients receiving insulin. The same can be said about foods containing proteins and fats.

All this is wonderful, and yet the knowledge you have acquired is not yet enough to create a menu without errors. The fact is that there are no products that contain only proteins or only fats and carbohydrates. And, for example, when weighing meat for dinner, you focus on the protein content in it and do not take into account the fat in the meat. Whereas meat, no matter how lean it is, always contains at least a little of it.

Therefore, you need to understand how to find out the energy value of a serving of a particular product, taking into account all its components. Based on these considerations, diabetic patients were asked to divide all foods into six groups.

This:

1. Starchy foods, including high carbohydrate vegetables

2. Fruits

3. Low Carb Vegetables

4. Dairy

5. Meat and all products containing large quantities of protein

6. Fats

All of these foods within the same group contain approximately the same amount of calories, as well as carbohydrates, proteins and fats, and are therefore easily interchangeable within the group.

The following describes in detail the composition of each food group and their approximate calorie content. Explains how to choose the right foods based on their composition for a balanced diet for diabetes. It is concluded that knowing the energy value of different food groups, you can easily create a complete menu.