Although there is no specific diet for diabetes, there are guidelines to follow which are helpful for most diabetic diets. Diabetes friendly recipes follow these guidelines, allowing you to enjoy the foods you love, while keeping your carbohydrate and fat levels low to ensure your overall health. The American Diabetes Association and the National Institutes of Health both recommended eating foods with a low glycemic index and avoiding trans fat and saturated fats as much as possible. The following diabetes recipes not only follow these guidelines, but are designed to provide you with foods that are high in nutritional values as well.

 

Diabetes Friendly Recipes to Try

 

Aloha Chicken

Ingredients

  • 1 lb boneless/skinless chicken
  • 6 cup romaine lettuce, torn
  • 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 fresh mango
  • ½ cup canned pineapple, bite-sized drained
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 8 oz plain yogurt
  • ¼ red onion
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • Cooking spray

 

Instructions

Mix the mango, pineapple, red onion, and cilantro in a medium bowl and allow it to refrigerate for two hours. Afterwards, use a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, salt, pepper, and garlic. Pour the chicken and the yogurt mixture into a re-sealable bag. Turn the chicken to fully coat and then place the bag in the refrigerator for an additional two hours. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and the mango mixture and place upon a plate. Discard the marinade. Allow the mango topping to sit at room temperature until the chicken is cooked.

Preheat the oven to a medium high setting.  Coat the grill grates with the cooking spray and grill the chicken for 3 minutes on each side. Continue cooking until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. When done, divide the lettuce among 6 plates. Divide the chicken among the plates as well and spoon the mango topping on top of each serving. Garnish with cilantro before serving.

 

Diabetic Breakfast Bars

Ingredients

  • 4 medium apples
  • 1 cup of all purpose flour
  • 1 cup oats, rolled
  • ½ cup vegetable shortening
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ baking soda
  • ½ tsp. ground cinnamon

 

Instructions

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Then, pour the flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, oats, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir until combined. Add the shortening to the bowl. Next, use two table knives to mix and cut the mixture into crumbs. Take a baking dish and lightly grease the bottom and sides of it with the shortening. Spread ¾ of thee crumb mixture into the greased dish.

Remove the core of the apples, slice them, and add them to the baking dish. Top this with the rest of the crumb mixture. Bake the mixture for 40-45 minutes, allow it to cool, and then cut it into squares.