Diabetic

Diabetic Meal Delivery for Seniors and the Elderly

Top Rated Senior Meals

Prepared Diabetic Meals Delivered

What is a Diabetic Meal?

If you, or the senior you are buying for has diabetes, prepared diabetic meals provide a tremendous solution to help the one you love maintain healthy blood sugars. It's a great idea to maintain an inventory of diabetic prepared meals for people of any age. Say you do not have diabetes. You pre-meal blood sugar is about 100. You and a person with diabetes decide to have some pizza for dinner, and you both eat two slices.

Your blood sugar will probably go up to 130 because it converts carbs to sugar, and uses the circulatory system to get this energy to different parts of your body. Your body will automatically produce insulin, which will lower the sugar in your blood. After a couple of hours, your blood sugar will go back to 100. Your diabetic dining partner will have a different experience. Chances are, their blood sugar is already higher before the meal, let's say 140, but can be much higher if your dining partner doesn't monitor and maintain their diabetes. Once they eat the same amount of pizza, their blood sugar can go up to 300 or more.
A diabetic's body either doesn't produce enough insulin, their body doesn't absorb the insulin they produce, or both. This is why their blood sugar jumps so high. Worse than that, if the diabetes goes unmanaged, it can stay high. It takes a very long time for a diabetic's blood sugar to come down naturally. And more often than not, snacks or the next meal prevents it from returning to where it should be.

High blood sugar, as the name implies, means there is a large amount of sugar in the blood. Your blood is thin, and has no difficulty circulating throughout your body. A diabetic can have blood that is thick like syrup.

Most people think sugar is the culprit, but it is carbs, (sugars are carbs too) which convert to sugar in the body. The body does need carbs to function, so the solution is putting limits on the amount of carbs a diabetic eats, normally around 30 grams per meal. One slice of pizza is about 35 carbs. A bagel can have 50 to 60 carbs.

A diabetic prepared meal is nutritionally balanced to have a limited amount amount of carbs. Usually around 30 to 40 grams. There is not standard rule because every diabetic body reacts differently, but it is safer for a person with diabetes to consume carb-managed meals, than not. 
A diabetic's body either doesn't produce enough insulin, their body doesn't absorb the insulin they produce, or both. This is why their blood sugar jumps so high. Worse than that, if the diabetes goes unmanaged, it can stay high. It takes a very long time for a diabetic's blood sugar to come down naturally. And more often than not, snacks or the next meal prevents it from returning to where it should be.

High blood sugar, as the name implies, means there is a large amount of sugar in the blood. Your blood is thin, and has no difficulty circulating throughout your body. A diabetic can have blood that is thick like syrup.

Most people think sugar is the culprit, but it is carbs, (sugars are carbs too) which convert to sugar in the body. The body does need carbs to function, so the solution is putting limits on the amount of carbs a diabetic eats, normally around 30 grams per meal. One slice of pizza is about 35 carbs. A bagel can have 50 to 60 carbs. A diabetic prepared meal is nutritionally balanced to have a limited amount amount of carbs. Usually around 30 to 40 grams. There is not standard rule because every diabetic body reacts differently, but it is safer for a person with diabetes to consume carb-managed meals, than not. 

Prepared Diabetic Meal Delivery Services

Diabetic Meal Delivery Comparison for Seniors and the Elderly
Diabetic Meal Comparison

Here are two prepared diabetic meals. Both have nutritional values that support a healthy lifestyle but the EasyLife meal is superior in quality, taste, cost, and value. One of thing we like about them is that they give their customers an extra serving of vegetables and the Salisbury Steak tasted like you made it at home.

The MagicKitchen meal is produced by a company called Tradition Meal Solutions. These are very low quality "assembled" meals with a long history of shipping issues that include cracked trays, broken seals, and excessive water in the trays of the meal compartments. The diabetic meal at MagicKitchen are twice the cost of the meals at EasyLife Meals. 

Note: If a meal has 5 or more grams of fiber, you are allowed to deduct the fiber grams from the carbs, giving you "net carbs." 

Seniors can be more sensitive to high blood sugar because they are less likely to exercise. A stroll around the block counts, but it's intensive, sweat-dripping exercise for long periods of time that help a person with diabetes the most.

The best way to manage diabetes is to digest just the carbs the body needs, and that's where an inventory of diabetic prepared meals can contribute to the overall; health of a person with diabetes.

Each of the senior meal delivery services we review and publish here will have diabetic meal choices. You don't have to be diabetic to enjoy diabetic meals.

Some companies label them as such, but be sure to read how they quality their diabetic meals. It's not that the company intentionally makes them, with the exception of EasyLife Meals, it more that the company looked at the nutritional values of each meal, and said it qualifies as diabetic.

We put these in the order of quality meals and ease of shopping, meaning it's convenient to find diabetic prepared meals that suit your personal needs, which can vary.
  • Diet To Go - Easy and convenience meal planning for people with diabetes. Customize the menu to your exact needs and budget.
  • DineWise - No more than 45 grams of carbs, most are in the 30's.
  • BistroMD - High-quality weekly meal plans for Diabetics.
  • EasyLife Meals - 52 carbs is their max, but they do have a filter feature on their website which allows you set the high-limit of carbs you want to eat per meal. Very convenient.
  • Homestyle Direct - They call these meals "carb controlled," and allow you to filter their menu based on this setting. Once you do, the highest carb meal we found was 45g. Most are under 40g. Poor quality with repeated shipping and packaging issues.
  • HMR Entree - They don't specifically call their meals diabetic, but none of their entrees exceed 42 carbs.
  • Magic Kitchen - Poor meal quality. Their diabetic-friendly definition sounds like gibberish that doesn't make sense or support diabetic diets. The highest diabetic meal we found had 56 carbs. Generally, not the company's best offering of meals.
  • Mom's Meals - Not to exceed 60 carbs. Our most improved company.
  • Home Bistro - No specific diabetic meal category. Look at each nutritional label for total carbs. High quality diabetic dining.
Carbs per Meal vs. Carbs per Day

It is important to note that it's the amount of carbs a diabetic has per day provides long-term blood sugar management. A 45 carb meal is generally okay for lunch when matched with a 25 carb meal for dinner. The goal is to try to average carbs through the day. 

Obviously, you want to follow your Endocrinologist and Dietitian advice, but these diabetic prepared meals are a much better alternative to eating without counting carbs.
  • Tip: If you select a diabetic prepared on the higher end of the scale, simply eat half of the carb portion.
If you need an assistance in helping you choose the right diabetic prepared meals for your unique needs, please contact us. 

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